PHYSICIAN

Ignaz Semmelweis

1818 - 1865

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Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (German: [ˈɪɡnaːts ˈzɛml̩vaɪs]; Hungarian: Semmelweis Ignác Fülöp [ˈsɛmmɛlvɛjs ˈiɡnaːts ˈfyløp]; 1 July 1818 – 13 August 1865) was a Hungarian physician and scientist of German descent who was an early pioneer of antiseptic procedures and was described as the "saviour of mothers". Postpartum infection, also known as puerperal fever or childbed fever, consists of any bacterial infection of the reproductive tract following birth and in the 19th century was common and often fatal. Semmelweis discovered that the incidence of infection could be drastically reduced by requiring healthcare workers in obstetrical clinics to disinfect their hands. In 1847, 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. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Ignaz Semmelweis is the 15th most popular physician (down from 14th in 2019), the 11th most popular biography from Hungary (up from 13th in 2019) and the most popular Hungarian Physician.

Ignaz Semmelweis was a Hungarian physician who discovered that doctors could reduce the number of women dying in childbirth by washing their hands with a chlorine solution before delivering babies.

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Among PHYSICIANS

Among physicians, Ignaz Semmelweis ranks 15 out of 726. Before him are Joseph Lister, Edward Jenner, Anthony Fauci, Albert Schweitzer, Andreas Vesalius, and Edgar Adrian. After him are William Harvey, Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi, Alan Hodgkin, Pedanius Dioscorides, Nestorius, and Róbert Bárány.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1818, Ignaz Semmelweis ranks 5. Before him are Karl Marx, James Prescott Joule, Christian IX of Denmark, and Alexander II of Russia. After him are Emily Brontë, Ivan Turgenev, Charles Gounod, Jacob Burckhardt, Marius Petipa, Lewis H. Morgan, and Tewodros II. Among people deceased in 1865, Ignaz Semmelweis ranks 3. Before him are Abraham Lincoln, and John Wilkes Booth. After him are Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Leopold I of Belgium, William Rowan Hamilton, Emil Lenz, Anna Pavlovna of Russia, Christian Jürgensen Thomsen, Johann Franz Encke, William Jackson Hooker, and Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston.

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In Hungary

Among people born in Hungary, Ignaz Semmelweis ranks 11 out of 1,077. Before him are Theodor Herzl (1860), Elizabeth Báthory (1560), Louis II of Hungary (1506), Rudolf Steiner (1861), Stephen I of Hungary (975), and John von Neumann (1903). After him are Matthias Corvinus (1443), Miklós Horthy (1868), Harry Houdini (1874), Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria (1868), Louis I of Hungary (1326), and Leo Szilard (1898).

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Among PHYSICIANS In Hungary

Among physicians born in Hungary, Ignaz Semmelweis ranks 1. After him are Gabor Maté (1944), Albert Szent-Györgyi (1893), Kálmán Kalocsay (1891), Eva Klein (1925), Thomas Szasz (1920), Moritz Kaposi (1837), Edith Farkas (1921), Emil Zuckerkandl (1849), Vilma Hugonnai (1847), Gabriele Possanner (1860), and Jenő Kamuti (1937).

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