George Washington, the American revolutionary leader and
first president of the United States, died at his estate in
Mount Vernon, Virginia. He was 67 years old.

Modern medical authors largely have concluded that the
former president likely died from extensive bloodletting
which may have caused hypovolemic shock.  

 

George Washington’s Death Mask.

On December 3, 1967, 53-year-old Louis Washkansky received
the first human heart transplant at Groote Schuur Hospital in
Cape Town, South Africa.

Washkansky, a South African grocer dying from chronic heart
disease, received the transplant from Denise Darvall, a 25-year-
old woman who was fatally injured in a car accident. 

The new heart recipient died eighteen days later of pneumonia,
largely brought on by the anti-rejection drugs that suppressed
his immune system.

Surgeon Christiaan Barnard, who trained at the University of Cape    
Town and in the United States, performed the revolutionary medical      
operation.

Christiaan Neethling Barnard (1922 – 2001)

On October 2, 1965, during a football game between
the University of Florida Gators and the Louisiana
State University Tigers, UF players test a newly
concocted sports drink to help them regain the
essential chemicals their bodies lose from profuse
sweating.

Developed in their own school’s science labs, the
drink is designed to fight dehydration, rebalance
their bodies’ electrolytes and restore blood sugar,
potassium and body salts so they can continue to
perform at a high level through their games.

The Gators go on to win the match, after the heavily
favored Tigers wilt in Florida’s muggy, 102-degree
heat.

The drink, nicknamed "Gatorade," eventually became
a mass-market phenomenon and made its inventors
wealthy.

James Robert Cade (1927 – 2007)

Cade was a physician, university professor,
research scientist and inventor.

The Geneva Convention of 1864 for the Amelioration of the
Condition of the Wounded and Sick of Armies in the Field
was adopted by 12 nations meeting in Geneva.

The agreement, advocated by Swiss humanitarian Jean-
Henri Dunant, called for nonpartisan care to the sick and
wounded in times of war and provided for the neutrality
of medical personnel. It also proposed the use of an
international emblem to mark medical personnel and
supplies.

In honor of Dunant’s nationality, a red cross on a white
background—the Swiss flag in reverse—was chosen. The
organization became known as the International Committee
of the Red Cross. In 1901, Dunant was awarded the first
Nobel Peace Prize.

The signing of the first Geneva Convention.

(8 May 1828 – 30 October 1910)

Just before breakfast on the morning of March 4, Private
Albert Gitchell of the U.S. Army reported to the hospital at
Fort Riley, Kansas, complaining of the cold-like symptoms
of sore throat, fever and headache. Soon after, over 100
of his fellow soldiers had reported similar symptoms,
marking what are believed to be the first cases in the
historic influenza pandemic of 1918, later known as
Spanish flu.

The flu would eventually kill 675,000 Americans and an
estimated 20 million to 50 million people around the world, proving to be a far deadlier force than even the First World
War.