Today in Medical History

September 7 in Medical History

23 entries: discoveries, epidemics, drugs and the people who shaped medicine.

Events

9
  1. 1916Workers' Compensation Act is passed by US CongressPublic health / PolicyOnThisDay
  2. 1970Jerry Lewis 's 5th annual Muscular Dystrophy telethon raises $5,093,385Healthcare institution / ProfessionOnThisDay
  3. 1981Jerry Lewis 's 16th annual Muscular Dystrophy telethon raises $31,498,772Healthcare institution / ProfessionOnThisDay
  4. 1987Jerry Lewis 's 22nd annual Muscular Dystrophy telethon raises $39,021,723Healthcare institution / ProfessionOnThisDay
  5. 1988NY Daily News reports boxer Mike Tyson is seeing a psychiatristMental healthOnThisDay
  6. 2020India overtakes Brazil to record the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases with 4.2 millionDisease / EpidemicOnThisDay
  7. 2021Mexican Supreme Court rules that making abortion a crime is unconstitutional, setting an important precedentPublic health / PolicyOnThisDay
  8. 2021US records more than 40 million cases of COVID-19, daily cases at 161,000 (5 September), daily deaths at 1,560, with hospitalizations averaging 102,000 per day (New York Times figures)Disease / EpidemicOnThisDay
  9. 2022Discovery of the earliest evidence of surgery from a 31,000-year-old skeleton with an amputated lower leg in a cave in East Kalimantan, Borneo, published in "Nature"Surgery / Procedure / DeviceOnThisDay

Born on this day

9
  1. 1524Thomas ErastusSwiss physician and theologist, born in Baden, Switzerland (d. 1583)Physician / SurgeonWikipedia
  2. 1737Luigi GalvaniItalian anatomist and physicist ("animal electricity"), born in Bologna, Italy (d. 1798)Medical scientistOnThisDay
  3. 1795John William PolidoriEnglish physician and author (died 1821)Physician / SurgeonWikipedia
  4. 1908Michael DeBakeyLebanese-American cardiac surgeon and artificial heart pioneer, born in Lake Charles, Louisiana (d. 2008)Physician / SurgeonWikipedia
  5. 1918Harold AmosAmerican microbiologist and academic (died 2003)Medical scientistWikipedia
  6. 1928Donald HendersonAmerican epidemiologist, led world campaign that eradicated smallpox, born in Lakewood, Ohio (d. 2016)Medical scientistOnThisDay
  7. 1928John MewBritish orthodontist who developed the practice of mewing, born in Tunbridge Wells, England (d. 2025)Dentist / Pharmacist / AlliedOnThisDay
  8. 1935Dick O'NealAmerican basketball player and dentist (died 2013)Dentist / Pharmacist / AlliedWikipedia
  9. 1959Drew WeissmanAmerican scientist (2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for mRNA vaccine technology), born in Lexington, MassachusettsMedical scientistWikipedia

Died on this day

5
  1. 1721Bernhard AlbinusGerman-Dutch court-physician (Frederick of Prussia), dies at 68Physician / SurgeonOnThisDay
  2. 1799Jan IngenhouszDutch-English physiologist (discovering photosynthesis) and personal physician of Maria Theresa, dies at 68Physician / SurgeonOnThisDay
  3. 1922William Stewart HalstedAmerican pioneering surgeon (introduced anesthesia and antisepsis while addicted to cocaine and opium), dies at 69Physician / SurgeonOnThisDay
  4. 1991John H. LawrenceAmerican physician (nuclear medicine pioneer), dies at 87Physician / SurgeonOnThisDay
  5. 2007Joseph W. EschbachAmerican doctor and kidney specialist, dies at 74Physician / SurgeonOnThisDay

Sources: onthisday.com and Wikipedia's “On this day” (text under CC BY-SA 4.0), screened for medical relevance. Each entry links to its source.