Health Jul 19 Happy birthday to the woman who revolutionized endocrinology Rosalyn S. Yalow was a giant of medicine. A Nobel laureate and medical physicist, Yalow co-discovered the radioimmunoassay, an exquisitely sensitive means of using “radioactive tracers” to measure hormones in the bloodstream. By Dr. Howard Markel
Health May 15 In 1850, Ignaz Semmelweis saved lives with three words: wash your hands On this date in 1850, a prickly Hungarian obstetrician named Ignaz Semmelweis stepped up to the podium of the Vienna Medical Society’s lecture hall to give his fellow doctors advice, which could be summed up in three little words: wash… By Dr. Howard Markel
Health Jun 16 How Dr. Heimlich got his maneuver 40 years ago In 1972, the New York Times reported that more than 3,000 people in the U.S. choked to death that year, making it the sixth most common cause of accidental death. Up until that time, the usual response upon discovering a… By Dr. Howard Markel
Health Feb 22 Happy birthday to Renato Dulbecco, cancer researcher extraordinaire Every elementary school student knows that Feb. 22 is George Washington’s birthday. Far fewer (if any) know that it is also the birthday of the Nobel Prize-winning scientist Renato Dulbecco. While not the father of his country — he… By Dr. Howard Markel