Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis
GERMAN-HUNGARIAN PHYSICIAN
Alternative Titles: Ignác Fülöp Semmelweis, Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis
Ignaz Semmelweis, in full Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis or Hungarian Ignác Fülöp Semmelweis, (born July 1, 1818, Buda, Hungary, Austrian Empire [now Budapest, Hungary]—died August 13, 1865, Vienna, Austria), German Hungarian physician who discovered the cause of puerperal (childbed) fever and introduced antisepsis into medical practice.
Educated at the universities of Pest and Vienna, Semmelweis received his doctor’s degree from Vienna in 1844 and was appointed assistant at the obstetric clinic in Vienna. He soon became involved in the problem of puerperal infection, the scourge of maternity hospitals throughout Europe. Although most women delivered at home, those who had to seek hospitalization because of poverty, illegitimacy, or obstetrical complications faced mortality rates ranging as high as 25–30 percent. Some thought that the infection was induced by overcrowding, poor ventilation, the onset of lactation, or miasma. Semmelweis proceeded to investigate its cause over the strong objections of his chief, who, like other continental physicians, had reconciled himself to the idea that the disease was unpreventable.
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