Ignaz Semmelweis
| Ignaz Semmelweis | |
|---|---|
Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis, aged 42 in 1860
copperplate engraving by Jenő Doby |
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| Born | Semmelweis Ignác Fülöp July 1, 1818 Buda, Hungary |
| Died | August 13, 1865 (aged 47) Vienna, Austrian Empire (now Austria) |
| Residence | Hungary |
| Citizenship | Kingdom of Hungary |
| Fields | Obstetrics, surgeries |
| Alma mater | Universities of Vienna and Pest |
| Known for | Introducing hand disinfection standards, in obstetrical clinics, from 1847 |
| Spouse | Maria Weidenhoffer (1837–1910), married in 1857 |
Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (born Semmelweis Ignác Fülöp; 1 July 1818 – 13 August 1865) was a Hungarian physician of German extraction now known as an early pioneer of antiseptic procedures. Described as the "savior of mothers", Semmelweis discovered that the incidence of puerperal fever (also known as "childbed fever") could be drastically cut by the use of hand disinfection in obstetrical clinics. Puerperal fever was common in mid-19th-century hospitals and often fatal, with mortality at 10%–35%. Semmelweis proposed the practice of washing hands with chlorinated lime solutions in 1847 while working in Vienna General Hospital's First Obstetrical Clinic, where doctors' wards had three times the mortality of midwives' wards. He published a book of his findings in Etiology, Concept and Prophylaxis of Childbed Fever.
Despite various publications of results where hand washing reduced mortality to below 1%, Semmelweis's observations conflicted with the established scientific and medical opinions of the time and his ideas were rejected by the medical community. Semmelweis could offer no acceptable scientific explanation for his findings, and some doctors were offended at the suggestion that they should wash their hands. Semmelweis's practice earned widespread acceptance only years after his death, when Louis Pasteur confirmed the germ theory and Joseph Lister, acting on the French microbiologist's research, practiced and operated, using hygienic methods, with great success. In 1865, Semmelweis was committed to an asylum, where he died at age 47 of pyaemia, after being beaten by the guards, only 14 days after he was committed.
Ignaz Semmelweis was born on 1 July 1818 in Tabán, neighbourhood of Buda, Hungary, today part of Budapest. He was the fifth child out of ten of the prosperous grocer family of József Semmelweis and Teréz Müller.
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