August 31 – On This Day in Medical History

Medical milestones, landmark publications, and notable births and deaths associated with August 31.

Events

No major medical milestones added for this date yet — this page is being expanded


Births

1821Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894), German physician; described Young–Helmholtz Trichromatic Theory of Colour Vision and invented the Ophthalmoscope (1850)

1841Edward Gamaliel Janeway (1841-1911), American physician; described the Janeway lesion (1899)


Deaths

1953Ralph Lee Huber (1889-1953), American Dentist; invented the Huber point needle (1943)

2023John Marius Opitz (1935-2023), German-American medical geneticist; described Opitz-Kaveggia syndrome (1974) [FG syndrome type 3], The N syndrome, Herrmann-Opitz syndrome (1969), Herrmann-Pallister syndrome, and more


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. Co-founder and CTO of Life in the Fast lane | On Call: Principles and Protocol 4e| Eponyms | Books |