On January 11, 1964, United States Surgeon General Luther
Terry (above) released a groundbreaking government report
announcing a definitive link between smoking and cancer.

Knowing his report was a bombshell, Terry intentionally
chose to release it on that date, which fell on a Saturday,
in order to limit its immediate effects on the stock market.

The link had long been suspected. Anecdotal evidence
had always pointed to negative health effects from
smoking, and by the 1930s physicians were noticing
an increase in lung cancer cases.

Canadian scientists Frederick Banting (right) and Charles
Best.

On January 11, 1922, 14-year-old Leonard Thompson becomes
the first person to receive an injection of the hormone insulin
for Type-1 diabetes—a disease that for millennia had been
considered a death sentence for anyone who developed it. 
Thompson’s blood sugar levels stabilized and he suffered
no ill side effects. He became the face of a new wonder drug.

Laboratory on the University of Toronto campus where
Banting and Best carried out some of their research on
insulin.