October 24 in Medical History
17 entries: discoveries, epidemics, drugs and the people who shaped medicine.
Observed today
- World Polio Day
Events
- Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded to Dutchman Willem Einthoven "for his discovery of the mechanism of the electrocardiogram"
- Cole Porter Falls from HorseAmerican songwriter Cole Porter (46) and his horse fall during a ride at the Piping Rock Club in Locust Valley, New York; Porter's pelvis and legs are crushed, crippling him for the rest of his life
- UN Person of the YearKenyan marathon runner Eliud Kipchoge is named UN Person of the Year for setting a new marathon world record and for his work with AIDS/HIV in Kenya
- Colombia records more than 1 million cases of COVID-19, the 8th globally and 3rd in Latin America
- COVID-19 cases in Eastern Europe surpass 20 million, with Russia, Ukraine, and Romania among the top five countries reporting deaths globally
- China continues its COVID-zero policy with 28 cities and 207 million people affected by some form of lockdown, including Wuhan
Born on this day
- Antonie van LeeuwenhoekDutch microbiologist, microscopist who was the first to observe bacteria and protozoa and naturalist (Philosophical Transactions), born in Delft, Dutch Republic (1632-1723)
- Steven BlankaartDutch entomologist (died 1704)
- Patricia GriffinMontserratian nurse and social worker (died 1986)
- Julius YoungnerAmerican scientist, helped develop Salk polio vaccine, born in Manhattan, New York (d. 2017)
- John Brereton BarlowSouth African cardiologist and physician (died 2008)
- William H. DobelleAmerican biomedical engineer (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2013 nominee), born in Massachusetts (d. 2004)
- Stephen R. BloomEnglish physician and academic
- Joy Browne [née Oppenheim]American psychologist and media personality (The Dr. Joy Browne Show; Up Close and Personal), born in New Orleans, Louisiana (d. 2016)
Died on this day
- Mary CalderoneAmerican physician and founder of Planned Parenthood, dies at 94
- Ross Taylor [Robert Murray Taylor]Scottish transplant surgeon who pioneered kidney transplantations in the UK, dies from cancer of the stomach at 70