May 31 – On This Day in Medical History
Medical milestones, landmark publications, and notable births and deaths associated with May 31.
Events
1987 – The World Health Assembly initially called for April 7, 1988 to be observed as a “world no-smoking day.” The following year (1989), WHO member states formalised World No Tobacco Day as an annual observance on May 31, aimed at spotlighting the tobacco epidemic, industry tactics, and the preventable burden of tobacco-related disease and death.
Births
1889 – Woldemar Mobitz (1889-1951), German physician. Mobitz applied a mathematical and graphical approach to cardiac arrhythmias [Mobitz type I (Wenckebach)], [Mobitz type II (Hay)]
1898 – Louise Littig Sloan (1898-1982, American ophthalmologist. Designed the Sloan Test (1946), and the Sloan Optotypes and the Standardisation of Visual Acuity Testing (1952)
Deaths
1907 – Moritz Litten (1845-1907), German physician; described Litten spot (Roth spots)
1910 – Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910), English physician; first woman to graduate from medical school in the United States, and second female physician on the Medical Register of the UK General Medical Council (after Elizabeth Garrett Anderson)
Further reading
- World No Tobacco Day. WHO
MBChB, BSc Physiology (University of Bristol), DTMH, MSc Tropical Medicine & International Health (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine). Emergency Medicine Trainee. Interested in emergency medicine, global health and infectious diseases. Very good at making cakes
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. Co-founder and CTO of Life in the Fast lane | On Call: Principles and Protocol 4e| Eponyms | Books |