Ignaz Semmelweis
1 July 1818 – 13 August 1865
Ignaz Semmelweis was a Hungarian physician who discovered that the incidence of puerperal (childbed) fever could be drastically reduced by hand disinfection in obstetric clinics. Though his findings later proved foundational to antiseptic practice, they were rejected by the medical establishment during his lifetime.
Lived at the same time
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Life events
Ignaz Semmelweis was born in the Taban district of Buda.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHe received his medical degree from the University of Vienna and specialized in obstetrics.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHe became an assistant in the first obstetrical clinic, where he studied the high rates of childbed fever.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHe instituted a policy of hand washing with a chlorine solution, sharply reducing mortality from puerperal fever.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAfter leaving Vienna, he took charge of the maternity ward at Pest's Szent Rokus Hospital.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHe married the daughter of a Pest merchant, with whom he had several children.
He set out his findings and theory in a major book, which met with hostile reviews.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgSuffering a severe mental and physical decline, he was committed to a Vienna asylum.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHe died of an infection two weeks after being committed, at the age of 47.
Source: en.wikipedia.org