Happy Birthday April 11

James Parkinson was born April 11, 1755 in Shoreditch, London. He is best known for his 1817 essay An Essay on the Shaking Palsy, in which he was the first to describe the condition "paralysis agitans." His recommended treatment was applications of mustard plaster to the back of the neck. In 1876 French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot renamed it Parkinson’s disease. 

Parkinson was also a noted paleontologist with one of the largest fossil collections in the world. He was one of the first to suggest that fossils were the remains of ancient extinct creatures.

For more April 11 anniversaries, including the founding of Ten Aviv, the most boring day of the 20th century, and the marriage of Roger Federer to Mirka Vavrinec, check out OnThatDay.