Medical milestones, landmark publications, and notable births and deaths associated with April 11.

Events

1938 – At the University of Rome, Ugo Cerletti (1877-1963) and Lucio Bini (1908–1964) conducted the first electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) on a human. After extensive animal studies they applied a controlled current to a patient with paranoid schizophrenia. The induced seizure resulted in significant improvement after repeated sessions.

---

Births

1755 – James Parkinson (1755-1824), English surgeon; described Parkinson disease (1817)

1883 – Demetrius Chilaiditi (1883-1975), Austrian born, Ottoman Radiologist of Greek descent. Described Chilaiditi sign and Chilaiditi syndrome (1910)

---

Deaths

1854 – Karl Adolph von Basedow (1799-1854), German general practitioner, surgeon and obstetrician; described Basedow disease (1840) and presented evidence for Schweinfurther Grün and the arsenic wallpaper

1876 – Ludwig Traube (1818-1876), German physician. Described the Traube sign and Traube ‘double-tone’ (1867), Traube space (1868), Traube phenomenon (1871), and the Traube pulse (1872)

1916 – Harald Hirschsprung (1830-1916), Danish pediatrician; described Hirschsprung disease (1886)

1951 – Woldemar Mobitz (1889-1951), German physician. Mobitz applied a mathematical and graphical approach to cardiac arrhythmias [Mobitz type I (Wenckebach)], [Mobitz type II (Hay)]

1961 – Vivian Bartley Green-Armytage (1882–1961), English gynaecologist; designed the Green-Armytage Forceps (1937)

---

Further reading

• Cadogan M. History of Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT). LITFL