UW History of Science and Medicine Curator

Looking at history through the lens of disease is one of the things I love about the history of medicine. As noted here, it can change the course of history!

Disease has changed the course of history.

On this day in 1841, President William Henry Harrison died of pneumonia. A respiratory disease, pneumonia affects about 7% of the global population each year, resulting in millions of deaths.

Harrison was the first president to die during his term, and his death allowed John Tyler to assume the presidency. Tyler would later chair the Virginia secession convention. He was the only former president elected to the Confederate congress.

Image credit:
Detail from "Death of Harrison, April 4 A.D. 1841," Library of Congress.

Or limes... A little history of medicine humor! 🍋🍋🍋 (h/t Ann Glusker) For more on this topic check out "James Lind: The man who helped to cure scurvy with lemons:" https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-37320399

At the start of the Civil War, Dr. Mary Edwards Walker went to Washington D.C. to enlist in the Union Army as a medical officer. As a woman she was denied the opportunity, but volunteered nonetheless, working near the front lines at Fredericksburg and the battles that today make up Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park. Walker would gain her commissions in 1863 as the first female surgeon in the U.S. Army. Following the war, she was awarded the Medal of Honor, the first, and inexplicably still only, woman to to be given this highest honor.

Pretty big day here at the University of Washington as the Huskies take on the University of Michigan for the national football championship. 🏆

The UW's fight song 'Bow Down to Washington' was composed by Lester J. Wilson, '13, in response to a competition for a new song in 1915. The prize was $25!! 🎵

First used at the UW-Cal game in 1915, it is typically played at UW sporting events.
💜 🏈 💛 🏈 💜

Did you know January 6th is National Smith Day? Dr. Clarence A. Smith (1861-1953) was an early Washington physician who arrived just in time for the Great Seattle Fire of 1889. Pictured here is the makeshift tent Smith and fellow physician James Eagleson erected to see patients following the fire.

The Unviersity of Washington houses the Clarence A. Smith papers, 1889-1929 (Acc. 3893-001.)

📸 University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections SEA1242.