Ignaz Semmelweis
Discovered that handwashing could drastically reduce the incidence of puerperal fever, though his findings were initially rejected.
Most quoted
"When I look back upon the past, I see the error of my ways, but I also see the error of the ways of my opponents. I see that I was too impatient, too impetuous, too unyielding. But I also see that they were too blind, too prejudiced, too obstinate."
— from Reflections on his career
"Puerperal fever is a blood poisoning caused by the absorption of putrid organic matter, originating from cadaveric particles, into the blood of the parturient woman."
— from Die Ätiologie, der Begriff und die Prophylaxis des Kindbettfiebers, 1861
"I have discovered the cause of puerperal fever, and it is nothing but the cadaveric particles adhering to the hands of the examining physicians and students."
— from Letter to Professor Skoda, 1847
All quotes by Ignaz Semmelweis (353)
The prophylaxis is so simple, it offends the pride of learned men.
I have been exiled from the very hospitals I sought to save.
Every medical discovery must first pass through the stage of ridicule.
The cause of childbed fever is not in the stars, but in our unclean hands.
Truth, like surgery, may hurt, but it cures.
I am condemned for being right too soon.
A single experiment—the chlorine washings—was worth a thousand learned debates.
The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, but the illusion of knowledge.
They would rather see women die than admit they were wrong.
My life's work is written in the falling mortality rates of the maternity ward.
Cleanliness is not just a moral virtue; in medicine, it is a life-saving commandment.
I fought against invisible killers that my colleagues refused to see.
The history of medicine will vindicate me, but history's verdict comes too late for the victims.
Contemporaries of Ignaz Semmelweis
Other Medicines born within 50 years of Ignaz Semmelweis (1818–1865).