Biography ignaz science semmelweis timeline chart

Semmelweis discovered that the incidence of infection could be drastically reduced by requiring healthcare workers in obstetrical clinics to disinfect their hands. In , he proposed hand washing with chlorinated lime solutions at Vienna General Hospital 's First Obstetrical Clinic, where doctors' wards had three times the mortality of midwives' wards.

Despite his research, Semmelweis's observations conflicted with the established scientific and medical opinions of the time and his ideas were rejected by the medical community. He could offer no theoretical explanation for his findings of reduced mortality due to hand-washing, and some doctors were offended at the suggestion that they should wash their hands and mocked him for it.

In , the increasingly outspoken Semmelweis allegedly suffered a nervous breakdown and was committed to an asylum by his colleagues. In the asylum, he was beaten by the guards.

Ignaz semmelweis hand washing

He died 14 days later from a gangrenous wound on his right hand that may have been caused by the beating. His findings earned widespread acceptance only years after his death, when Louis Pasteur confirmed the germ theory , giving Semmelweis' observations a theoretical explanation, and Joseph Lister , acting on Pasteur's research, practised and operated using hygienic methods with great success.

Ignaz began studying law at the University of Vienna in the autumn of , but switched to medicine. He was awarded his doctor of medicine degree in After failing to obtain an appointment in a clinic for internal medicine, Semmelweis specialized in obstetrics.

Where was ignaz semmelweis born

Two maternity clinics were at the Viennese hospital. Women begged to be admitted to the Second Clinic, due to the reputation of the First Clinic. Women began purposefully giving birth in the streets, pretending to have given birth en route to the hospital so they could avoid being admitted to the clinic where the risk of infection, birth complications and death were substantially higher.

Semmelweis was puzzled that puerperal fever was rare among women giving street births, prompting his curiosity as to what protected those who delivered outside the clinic.