Medical milestones, landmark publications, and notable births and deaths associated with January 21.

Events

1677 – The first medical treatise printed in the United States written by Reverend Thomas Thacher, printed and sold by John Foster of Boston titled A brief rule to guide the common-people of New-England how to order themselves and theirs in the Small pocks, or Measels. This marked the beginning of medical literature in America, showing early efforts to disseminate health information to the general population.

---

Births

1865 – Heinrich Ernst Albers-Schönberg (1865-1921), German radiologist; described Albers-Schönberg disease (1904), Osteopoikilosis (1915) and invented Die Kompressionsblende (1903)

1926 – Wilma Canada (1926-2017), American radiologist; described Cronkhite–Canada syndrome (1955)

1937 – Philip Gaylord Lindsay (1937-2017), American physician and psychiatrist; described Lindsay nails (1967)

---

Deaths

1926 – Camillo Golgi (1843-1926), Italian biologist and pathologist. Multiple eponymous terms including Golgi apparatus, Golgi tendon organ, Golgi-Mazzoni corpuscles and Golgi cells (type I and II). Shared Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1906) with Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852-1934)

---

Further reading

• Brief rule to guide the common people of New England how to order themselves and theirs in the small pocks, or measles. Library of Congress