The Poor Historians: Medical History Misadventures

In addition to introducing us to our prior guest, James Wilke, the International Surgical Science Museum also joined us to talk about the work that their museum is doing.  We'll talk about a variety …

Thanks to a listener suggestion we have this week's masterpiece.  In this week's episode we'll talk about "Dr." John Brinkley who's affection for transplanting goat balls would be impressive if he we…

Our guest this week is author Paul Craddock, here to share his new book with us.

Spare Parts is his first published work and is an excellent read into the history of one of the most complicated front…

Addendum: There were some errors in the original audio file caught by early listeners.  These were corrected but early downloaders may have the old version.  Apologies for that.

This week we bring you…

Tik Merauke - An Epidemic Like No Other by Dr. John Richens, available from Melbourne University Publishing. 
---->> Click HERE to purchase.

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Any medical history podcast needs to spend some time talking about perhaps the worst and most culturally influential infectious disease we've known: smallpox.   So we're going to do this in two parts…

This week brings us to the Lancaster Medical Heritage Museum in Lancaster, Pennsylvania to talk with their director, Kim Jovinelli.  She does just about everything at the museum and you might recogni…

If you can believe it, there once was a time when your friendly neighborhood barber might do more than cut your hair and give a close shave.   For many centuries, barbers took on numerous surgical, m…

Welcome to the first of a series of episodes taking a deep dive into some of the most interesting medical museums in the world, starting here in the U.S. with our friends of the show at the National …

It's about time we talk about one of the most iconic physicians of ancient Greece.  Galen is a well known name in medical circles.  Many precepts in medicine can be traced back to him.  His teachings…

Episode 37

In this week's show, Aaron will take us on a tour of the medical historical explanations  behind some of the most iconic creatures of the night.  Myths arise from many places and, as it tur…

As we approach the objectively best holiday of the year in Max's humble opinion, we thought it best to do some Halloween themed episodes for the month of October. 

In this episode we'll talk about th…

What was missing from this point in this podcast was a good true crime episode.  So here you go!  This is the story of Dr. Thomas Neill Cream, a physician and serial killer that, despite his best eff…

While we’re usually reaching far into the past on this show, this week’s episode will feature a discussion of the tragic death of Princess Diana.  We’ll focus on the details of the case from the stan…

We are joined by special guest educator Patrick Kelly on this collaborative episode.  Here we'll talk about severe allergic reactions and how early discoveries in the treatment of such led to a revol…

Not all of the ideas a person has while under the influence of drugs and alcohol are winners. There are exceptions, however.  This is a fascinating story about the discovery of a revolutionary anesth…

This episode features a special guest!   We welcome Erik and Russ, the hosts of the Wisconsin Drunk History Podcast to the show to share in this unexpectedly far-reaching homegrown tale.

We'll dive i…

This week's episode features a special guest collaboration!  Kyle Dalton, from the National Museum of Civil War Medicine joined us on the show to talk about the origins of ambulance service.  Believe…

This week's episode features a dig through an interesting article from the British Medical Journal with a proposed medical diagnosis for King George III--you know the one who was supposedly "mad".  I…

In this super-exciting special episode the Poor Historians interview author Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris about her new book, The Facemaker. 

The Facemaker centers on the incredible achievements of Dr. Haro…