May 9 – On This Day in Medical History

Medical milestones, landmark publications, and notable births and deaths associated with May 9.

Events

1960 – U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Enovid-10 as the world’s first commercially produced oral contraceptive


Births

1822 – William Cumming (1822-1855), English ophthalmic surgeon; pivotal work in the early development of the ophthalmoscope


Deaths

1926 – Jacques Rodolphe Edmond Landolt (1846-1926), Swiss-born ophthalmologist; introduced the Landolt C (or Landolt ring) as a universal optotype (1899), and Landolt Bodies (1871)

2000 – Leslie Zieve (1915-2000), American hepatologist; described Zieve Syndrome (1958)


Further reading

BA MA (Oxon) MBChB (Edin) FACEM FFSEM. Emergency physician, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. Passion for rugby, medical history, medical education, and asynchronous learning #FOAMed evangelist. Editor-in-Chief and Webmaster of Life in the Fast lane, LITFL | On Call 4e| Eponyms | Books | Horology |