Golding Bird (1814–1854) was a British medical doctor and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. He lectured at Guy's Hospital, and published a popular textbook on science for medical students. He developed an interest in chemistry as a child, and through self-study was advanced enough to deliver lectures to his fellow pupils at school. He later applied this knowledge to medicine and became a great authority on urinary deposits. He was the first to describe oxaluria, a condition which leads to a particular kind of kidney stone. Bird was innovative in the medical use of electricity, designing much of his own equipment. He was instrumental in rescuing medical electrotherapy from quackery and bringing it into the mainstream. He was quick to adopt new instruments of all kinds; he invented the single-cell Daniell cell and made important discoveries in electrometallurgy with it. In 1840 he designed a flexible tube stethoscope, and published the first description of such an instrument.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golding_Bird

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1194:

King Richard I of England gave the city of Portsmouth its first Royal Charter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portsmouth

1559:

Scottish clergyman John Knox (pictured) returned to Scotland from exile to lead the Scottish Reformation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Knox

1757:

Konbaung forces captured the city of Bago, Burma, to end the Konbaung–Hanthawaddy War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konbaung%E2%80%93Hanthawaddy_War

1982:

Falklands War: HMS Conqueror launched three torpedoes and sank ARA General Belgrano, the only ship ever to have been sunk by a nuclear submarine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARA_General_Belgrano

1986:

Henri Toivonen was killed in an accident while leading the Tour de Corse rally, resulting in FISA, the sport governing body for motor racing events, banning the powerful and popular Group B rally cars for the following season. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Toivonen

2011:

Osama bin Laden was shot and killed by U.S. Navy SEALs in a private residential compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Osama_bin_Laden

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

cucumiform: Shaped like a cucumber; having the form of a cylinder tapered and rounded at the ends, and possibly curved. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cucumiform

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

True anarchy is the generative element of religion. Out of the annihilation of every positive element she lifts her gloriously radiant countenance as the founder of a new world… --Novalis https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Novalis