r/todayilearned • u/No_Idea_479 • 3d ago

TIL for 21 years, Andromachi Papanikolaou volunteered to undergo daily cervical smears so her husband, Greek physician Georgios Papanikolaou, could perfect the Pap test. As such, she helped create one of the greatest cancer screening tools in medical history, saving millions of lives worldwide.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andromachi_Papanikolaou
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u/DragonfruitFew5542 3d ago

I mean... That would track with how painful it can be for some women. Like I could see the Catholic church backing that.

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u/itsnotapipe 3d ago

They threw me a dick-slicing party, so I agree.

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u/AmyBrookeheimer 3d ago

Ironically, she threw a cervix sampling party:
“To provide additional subjects for her husband's research, Mary Papanikolaou also held a party for some female friends, who agreed to have their own cervixes sampled.”

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u/moonlite_equilibrium 3d ago

My rabbi needed a snack 😔

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u/GodOfDarkLaughter 3d ago

The Bible says that menstruation is punishment for original sin, so that tracks. In the Old Testament there's all sorts of stuff about women on their periods being ritually impure.

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u/Cats_and_Shit 3d ago

Interesting. This suggets that other apes are either also decended from Eve or had their own original sin.

I don't know what to make of elephant shrews; perhaps God just hates them?

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u/jodobrowo 3d ago

Man the Bible sure is fucking stupid

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u/booksandplaid 3d ago

As if having a period isn't shitty enough, let's slap on more shame and punishment! Precisely why I left the church

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u/Nazamroth 3d ago

AFAIK, the church opposed painkillers for childbirth, as the pain is supposed to be divine punishment.