Medical milestones, landmark publications, and notable births and deaths associated with November 1.

Events

1848 – The Boston Female Medical College opened its first term, becoming the first U.S. institution to teach medical subjects to women. The inaugural class began with 12 students and two instructors. The school later became the New England Female Medical College and merged into Boston University in the 1870s.

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Births

1847 – Walter Holbrook Gaskell (1847-1914), British physiologist central to our current understanding of cardiac physiology

1898 – William Dock (1898-1990), American cardiologist; described Dock’s murmur (1967), Sutton’s Law (Dock’s Law) (1961), and the 99 diphthong misnomer (1973)

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Deaths

1865 – Jean-Baptiste Octave Landry (1826-1865), French physician and neurologist. Provided the original description of Guillain–Barré syndrome (1859) as Landry ascending paralysis

1919 – Johann Hoffmann (1857-1919), German neurologist; described the Hoffmann reflex (1911), Werdnig–Hoffmann syndrome (1891, 1893), Hoffmann syndrome (1897), and Charcot-Marie-Tooth-Hoffmann syndrome (1897)

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Further reading

• Sargent H. When Boston first admitted women to medical school. Boston.com 2015
• Herwick III, EB. The ‘Doctresses Of Medicine’: The World’s 1st Female Medical School Was Established In Boston GBH 2016