Custodes Futurifor the advancement of humanity

Pioneer 10 of 21 · 1818-1865

Ignaz Semmelweis

Contribution. In 1847, at the Vienna General Hospital, he showed that childbed fever was spread on the hands of doctors and students coming from autopsies, and that washing with chlorinated lime prevented it. This was about two decades before germ theory became established.

Semmelweis is included as a counterexample because his correct discovery was rejected in his lifetime. His case shows what happens when the conditions that helped the other pioneers are missing.

Factor coverage

Favorable entries (helped or barrier absent) and adverse entries (barrier or not overcome) by factor. Factor tags are this site's classification.

Biological00Psychological01Economic10Societal12Cultural01Social14Environmental00Educational00Technological00

Barriers faced

FactorsStatement
Social SocietalNo support from the top. His chief, Johann Klein, opposed the idea and refused to renew his contract in March 1849. Political differences added to the conflict: Semmelweis's Hungarian patriotism offended Klein, a firm monarchist.
CulturalIt conflicted with prevailing beliefs. Many physicians believed disease spread through bad air (miasma), and his explanation implied that doctors themselves were killing patients.
SocialDelayed publication. He did not publish for years. A supportive colleague, Ferdinand von Hebra, published an editorial about the discovery in 1847, but Semmelweis's own book appeared only in 1861.
Psychological SocialHis response alienated allies. When his book was ignored or rejected, he wrote scathing open letters that alienated even his friends.

What helped

FactorsStatement
SocialColleagues. Josef Škoda and Ferdinand von Hebra supported him, though his chief did not.
Societal EconomicA second post. After moving to Budapest, he again reduced maternal deaths as a professor there.

Not overcome

FactorsStatement
Societal SocialHe left Vienna in 1850. In 1865 he was committed to an asylum, where he died two weeks later of an infection, probably from injuries inflicted by guards. Some historians suggest he may have had a form of dementia. His ideas were vindicated only after his death, as germ theory developed.

Notes

FactorsStatement
BiologicalThe evidence. In 1846, the clinic staffed by doctors and medical students lost 459 of 4,010 mothers (11.4%), while the clinic staffed by midwives lost 105 of 3,754 (2.8%). In 1848, after handwashing was fully in place, mortality in the doctors' clinic fell to 1.27%, slightly below the midwives' 1.33%.
noneHistorians still debate exactly why his evidence was dismissed.

Pattern summary

ElementIn this case
Door-openerŠkoda and Hebra, but not his chief
Knowledge sourceTraining alongside pathologist Carl von Rokitansky
Institutional supportVienna clinic until 1849
Built on recent workMortality records he compiled
Setback overcomePartly: renewed success in Budapest
Barrier not overcomeRejection, dismissal, early death

Sources

  1. Britannica: Ignaz Semmelweis
  2. Science History Institute: Ignaz Semmelweis
  3. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (2018): Ignaz Semmelweis, the "Savior of Mothers"30943-8/fulltext)
  4. GMS Hygiene and Infection Control: Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (1818-1865)
  5. Eurosurveillance (2018): Preventing sepsis in healthcare, 200 years after the birth of Ignaz Semmelweis
  6. The Lancet (2014): Searching for Semmelweis60062-3/fulltext)
  7. British Journal for the History of Science: Why Semmelweis's doctrine was rejected
  8. EBSCO Research Starters: Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis

Also relevant: Bell, A., Chetty, R., Jaravel, X., Petkova, N., & Van Reenen, J. (2019). Who becomes an inventor in America? Quarterly Journal of Economics, 134(2), 647-713. All references