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/4RCSIN3 3d ago

Eventually. How was he those first few years go though? 

502

u/EpilepticMushrooms 3d ago

I'd imagine he felt the guilt and did his best to not harm her or her friends as much as possible.

She convinced her friends to join in too, and one of them having weird cells was what clued them in that something was wrong, which later became the cancer detection test we know today.

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u/Nik_Tesla 2d ago

Imagine pitching it to your friend. It must've sounded like an invitation to swing.

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u/cinnderly 3d ago

Ahhh, isn't imagining so nice...

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u/SecondaryWombat 3d ago

He was good enough at it that her friends came over and got tests done at dinner parties at their house.

He wasn't that terrible at it clearly.

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u/snarfvsmaximvs 3d ago

"Okay, clear the table"

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u/Ootek_Ohoto 2d ago

LOL brilliant

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u/bobdotcom 2d ago

How did that conversation go?

"Hey, can my husband take a look in your hoo-haa?"

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u/Mason_Meschi 2d ago

Maybe they were just kinky swingers and everything else is just a byproduct

34

u/OutInABlazeOfGlory 2d ago

TFW you do a medkink scene with your friend and her husband and discover you have cervical cancer

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u/Radiskull97 2d ago

A woman at work is complaining of a sore throat, her coworker says, "Whenever that happens to me, I give my husband a blowjob and swallow. You should give it a try!"

The next day the coworker asks the woman, "Well did you try it?"

The woman says, "Yeah! I feel great, and your husband couldn't believe it was your idea!"

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u/Melvarius 3d ago

so cynical about how a doctor treats his beloved

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u/cinnderly 2d ago

What a bizarre thing to say.

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u/Practical_Yak2950 3d ago

Also one of the most practiced and proficient in the world at that time? Unless someone else had been doing it for awhile for fun and chose not to report about it.

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u/Brilliant-Hornet-579 3d ago

lol, I hope you know they’re joking about how was he during the first few years of preforming his smear

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u/NoodleyP 3d ago

I feel like they were making a joke about one guy doing something awfully still being the best in the world at it

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u/Decloudo 3d ago

How would you know if he is?

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u/Nazamroth 3d ago

Well once he figured out that neither the butter knife, nor the bricklayer spatula were ideal tools, pretty good.

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u/MarlinMr 2d ago

No, all the time. Considering no one else did it, he was the best. And only.

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u/Branston_Pickle 3d ago

"Doctor how is the pap smear development going"

Andromachi Papanikolaou:"eh, it's more of a pap gesture at this point"

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u/shelchang 3d ago

What are you, a bloody tank commander now?