Medical milestones, landmark publications, and notable births and deaths associated with December 21.

Events

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Births

1857 – John Benjamin Murphy (1857-1916), American surgeon; described Murphy’s Sign (1903), Murphy’s Percussion Test, Murphy’s Punch Test, the Murphy Button, Murphy’s sequence, and Murphy’s Drip

1877 – Louis Virgil Hamman (1877-1946), American physician; described Hamman’s sign / Hamman’s cruch (1934), Hamman-Rich syndrome (1935), and Hamman syndrome (1939)

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Deaths

1824 – James Parkinson (1755-1824), English surgeon; described Parkinson disease (1817)

1979 – Gilbert Dalldorf (1900-1979) was an American virologist; isolated and characterized the Coxsackie viruses for the first time

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Further reading