February 12 – On This Day in Medical History

What happened on February 12? Explore notable medical events, breakthroughs, births and deaths from across history in LITFL’s On This Day (OTD)

Medical milestones, landmark publications, and notable births and deaths associated with February 12.

Events


Births

1585Caspar Bartholin the elder (1585-1629), Danish physician; named nervus olfactorius and nervus vagus (cranial nerves)


Deaths

1841Sir Astley Paston Cooper (1768-1841), English surgeon; credited with the first or very early reports of sternoclavicular dislocationGalleazi fractureTillaux Fracture; and the Monteggia fracture

1889John Call Dalton Jr (1825-1889), American experimental neurophysiologist; introduced teaching physiology by demonstration of animals that had ablative lesions operated under ether anaesthesia.

1916Pietro Grocco (1856-1916), Italian physician; described the Grocco triangle (1902)

1952Elisabeth Hermine Winterhalter (1856-1952), German gynecologist and surgeon; described Winterhalter ganglia (1896)

1961Walter Stoeckel (1871–1961), German obstetrician–gynaecologist; introduced caudal epidural analgesia in labour (1909)


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 |