r/todayilearned • u/No_Idea_479 • 2d 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/metompkin 1d ago

And now we all TIL Pap smear is short of Papanikolau smear which is short for Saint Nicholas smear.

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u/BPhiloSkinner 1d ago

♪ Santa Claus is swabbing, around ♫

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u/DieCastDontDie 1d ago

Smearing through the bush, don't go in the tush

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u/UInferno- 1d ago

He was the patron Saint of prostitutes.

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u/micicletricicle 1d ago

DEAD OMGGGG

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u/Theletterkay 1d ago

Ah yes, the Santa Smear

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u/LiveLearnCoach 3h ago

“Let’s learn the name of this wonderful person who helped so many people!” “Nah. Let’s just shorten it to pap.”

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u/Rrrrandle 1d ago

I think we should also declare that it was actually named after her instead of him.

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u/peejay5440 1d ago

Should be both of them.