Medical milestones, landmark publications, and notable births and deaths associated with July 25.

Events

1944 – Robert Reynolds Macintosh (1897–1989) patents his curved Macintosh laryngoscope blade (US 2,354,471). This formalised a design that exposed the larynx by placing the blade tip in the vallecula to indirectly elevate the epiglottis. Originally intended to facilitate intubation in unparalysed patients, yet remaining a dominant airway tool decades later.

The Macintosh laryngoscope…probably the most successful ‘durable’ in the history of anaesthesia to date.

Sir Anthony Jephcott, 1983

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Births

1847 – Paul Wilhelm Heinrich Langerhans (1847-1888) was a German physician and zoologist; described Langerhans cell (1868), and Islets of Langerhans (1869)

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Deaths

1842 – Dominique-Jean Larrey (1766-1842), French military surgeon. Defined flying ambulances and triage as well as cold injury and therapeutic hypothermia

1865 – James Barry (Margaret Ann Bulkley) (1789-1865), British surgeon; performed first recorded successful caesarean section (in the English-speaking world) with survival of both mother and child (1826)

1963 – Ugo Cerletti (1877-1963), Italian neuropsychiatrist. Implemented Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) with the Cerletti–Bini Electroshock Apparatus (1938)

1984 – Ferdinando Gianotti (1920-1984), Italian pediatric dermatologist; described Gianotti-Crosti syndrome (1955)

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Further reading

• Cadogan M. Macintosh laryngoscope. LITFL
• Patented July 25, 1944 Laryngoscope. Robert R. MacIntosh, Oxford, England, assignor to The Foregger Company