Today in History- March 1, 1864- Rebecca Lee Crumpler became the first African American woman to receive a medical degree and the only to receive a degree at the New England Female Medical College, which closed in 1873. Dr. Crumpler was born in Delaware to Absolum Davis and Matilda Webber in 1831. Interestingly enough, the [...]

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Today in History – December 14, 1967 – DNA was first created in a test tube. Working with a variety of bacteria, Arthur Kornberg synthesized genetically active DNA. He used very small bacterial viruses (phages), such as the phi X174 and M13 viruses of E. coli, for his study. Their relatively comparatively short DNA strands [...]

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Today in History – December 2, 1982- Dr. William C. DeVries carried out a series of five implants in Utah over the next three years using the Jarvik total artificial heart. Although the first patients did not live past a year, further patients received the artificial heart designed by Robert K. Jarvik, MD, as a [...]

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Today in History – November 29, 1944 – doctors at Johns Hopkins performed the surgery that laid the foundation for today’s heart surgery, such as coronary bypass surgery. Working as a team, the Johns Hopkins Hospital’s chief surgeon, Dr. Alfred Blalock (left photo), African American surgical technician Vivien T. Thomas (center portrait), and pediatric cardiologist [...]

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Today in History – November 24, 1859 – Charles Darwin publishes his “On the Origin of the Species“, explaining the theory of evolution. Although controversial in some circles, the theory of evolution is a fundamental part of our understanding of biological systems and agricultural engineering and genetic engineering. The BioQuest biological curriculum uses controversy as [...]

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