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Igho Ofotokun, MD, MSc
2025 Fellow American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Physician in Chief and Chair, Dept. of Medicine University Hospitals Case Western Reserve University
To Boil the Ocean, Start By Lighting One Candle: A How-To Manual for Achieving Gender Equity in the Biomedical Workforce
Dear IDC Idea Warriors,
May 6, 878: Alfred the Great and his West Saxon army defeated Guthrum the Old and his Viking army. Alfred promptly told to pick on someone his own age.
May 6, 1541: King Henry VIII orders a Bible to be placed in every church in England. Filling a gap that English priests and nuns had not previously realized existed.
May 6, 1682: Louis XIV of France moves his court from Paris to Versailles. Backstory: Fearing that his attentions were straying, Louis XIV's favorite mistress, Madame de Montespan, hired Catherine “La Poisoness" Deshayes to create a love potion (to give to the King) and various poisons (to get rid of rivals). When the love potion didn’t work as advertised, Madame de Montespan then hired a priest, Étienne Guibourg, to perform a black mass over her nude body. The ceremony supposedly included the sacrifice of infants because Fr. Guibourg assured Madame de Montespan that this would absolutely nail down the King’s affections. Surprisingly, it didn’t. But when a suitably appalled Louis XIV tried establishing a special tribunal to look into the matter things got complicated when it came out that just about all of the highest-ranking nobles in France were busy at that time channeling their inner de Medici and running around trying to poison each other. Humiliated, Louis shut down the tribunal and moved his court to Versailles to get away from it all. Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up.
May 6, 1840: World's first adhesive postage stamp, the “Penny Black,” is issued in Great Britain. May 7, 1840: First recorded utterance of “It must have gotten lost in the mail.”
May 6, 1851: Linus Yale Jr. patents the Yale cylinder lock. Mr. Yale's cat hides the key. Never found again.
May 6, 1990: Tom Cruise ticketed for "careless operation of a vehicle” in South Carolina.“No comment,” says Cruise when interviewed while simultaneously acting, flying, and operating the cameras on a helicopter doing a 360 degree corkscrew dive.
Other historic May 6 events:
• 1837: US blacksmith Mr. John Deere finishes production on the world’s first steel plow. Rumor that the plowshare had been made from hammered swords is persistent but unfounded.
• 1889: The Eiffel Tower, and its 1,665 steps to the top, opens (initially without a working elevator). “Are you kidding?” says public. “Hmmm…. I can work with this” says a time traveling Tom Cruise.
• 1904: American Lung Association holds first meeting. “Better get cracking, we only have 56 years left before we need to officially come out against smoking,” announce Board of Directors.
• 1915: Babe Ruth hits his first MLB home run. “Hah! Beginners luck. I bet you can’t do it 713 more times!” says opposing pitcher, Jack Warhop. “Neener Neener Neener,” replies Ruth.
• 1937: Hindenburg explodes. You can tour the crash site if you want, but it requires making a reservation two weeks in advance, passing a background check, and—starting after 9/11—providing proof that you are an American citizen. True story.
• 1960: President Eisenhower signs Civil Rights act of 1960 into law. “It's ABOUT TIME,” says rest of world.
• 1994: The Chunnel connecting England and France opens. “Oh là là, c'était l'idée pourrie de qui, ça?,” ask the French.
• 2020: Report released documenting that >90,000 heath care workers worldwide have become infected with Covid since December 2019. “So?” says RFK Jr.
• 2026: Dr. Igho Ofotokun presents on a super intriguing topic to the members of guests of the Infectious Ideas Dinner Club. "Be there or be lost to history!" threatens Dinner Club historian Kimbi Hagen.
Hope to see you online for dinner on May 6, 😊
-Kimbi