Ignaz Semmelweis, the "Saviour of Mothers"

The Extraordinary Career of a Hungarian Doctor

Ignaz Semmelweis's Birthplace (1930) by UnknownOriginal Source: Fortepan/Saly Noémi

Biography

Ignác Fülöp Semmelweis was born on the 1st of July 1818 in Buda. The house in the Tabán neighbourhood where he came into the world was rented by his father, József, and accommodated both the family grocery store and the home where Ignác and his seven surviving siblings were raised. The well-to-do, German-speaking bourgeois family came to Hungary as the descendants of “Hienz” Germans from Burgenland. During the Reform Era, the Semmelweis family were among the Hungarian-Germans who supported the Hungarian independence movement. Six of the Semmelweis brothers were educated at the Catholic High School (of the University of Budapest). Among them Károly chose theology while Ignác decided to go to medical school. He graduated in 1844 in Vienna and he stayed there for his internship and residency, but moved back to Hungary to build his career here. In 1857 he married Mária Weidenhofer (1837–1910). Three of their children survived to adulthood, but only their youngest daughter, Antónia had children of her own. 

Ignaz Semmelweis, Agoston Canzi, 1857, From the collection of: HNM Semmelweis Museum, Library and Archive of the History of Medicine
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Mrs. Ignaz Semmelweis born Mária Weidenhofer, Agoston Canzi, 1857, From the collection of: HNM Semmelweis Museum, Library and Archive of the History of Medicine
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Marriage certificate of Ignaz Semmelweis and Mária Weidenhofer, Unknown, 1865-09-06, From the collection of: HNM Semmelweis Museum, Library and Archive of the History of Medicine
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Widow and daughters of Ignaz Semmelweis (c 1900) by UnknownHNM Semmelweis Museum, Library and Archive of the History of Medicine

Family

Ignác Semmelweis married Mária Weidenhofer (1837-1910), who came from a well-to-do German-speaking family from Pest, on 1 June 1857. At that time, Ignác Semmelweis had already been an appointed professor at the university of Pest, and in 1857 he was also invited to teach at the University of Zurich. However, he did not accept the position, a decision most probably influenced by his upcoming wedding. The marriage was blessed in the parish church of Our Lady of the Snows in Krisztinaváros, Budapest.

Ignaz Semmelweis’s death certificate (1865-08-19) by UnknownHNM Semmelweis Museum, Library and Archive of the History of Medicine

His early death can be attributed to his insidiously spreading central nervous system syphilis and an infected wound on his hand.

He suffered from a monomaniacal obsession, and he mounted almost paranoid attacks against those of his fellow physicians who refused to accept or only partially accepted his doctrines.

Professors of the Medical Faculty at the Royal Hungarian University of Science (1863) by József MarastoniHNM Semmelweis Museum, Library and Archive of the History of Medicine

Medical Career

Following his studies in Pest and Vienna, Semmelweis worked as an Assistant Professor in the 1st Gynaecological Clinic in the imperial capital of Vienna until March 1849. It was here in May 1847 that he devised his thesis on the origin of childbed fever, discovering that it was not an infection that occurred and spread independently, but one caused by the degradation of organic materials, which was in fact passed on by medical personnel to the women in their care. In 1851 he became a senior physician in the department of obstetrics at Rókus hospital in Pest. Later, in 1855, he began teaching as a Professor of Obstetrics at the University of Pest and simultaneously led the Obstetrics Clinic at Újvilág Street where not a single woman died due to childbed fever in the period of 1860–1861.

67-995-1HNM Semmelweis Museum, Library and Archive of the History of Medicine

His observations were based on statistical research, namely the difference in perinatal mortality between two departments of obstetrics, one attended by medical students...

...who participated in autopsies and another staffed by midwifery students who did not perform autopsies.

That the symptoms of childbed fever are identical to those of sepsis. He ordered the introduction of thorough hand-washing with chlorinated lime as an infection control and prevention measure.

The Allgemeines Krankenhaus in Vienna, Bernhard Albrecht, c 1800, From the collection of: HNM Semmelweis Museum, Library and Archive of the History of Medicine
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However, he only gave a single lecture on his results and later tried to disseminate his findings to a wider audience via correspondence.

Ignaz Semmelweis’s letter in German to Lajos Markusovszky (1847) by Ignaz SemmelweisHNM Semmelweis Museum, Library and Archive of the History of Medicine

„...the case of childbed fever goes on well, the council of hospitals in Paris, London, Dublin, Strassbourg, The Hague, Berlin, Göttingen, Prague, etc. Have been asked to research or refute the findings through experiments.”

Ignaz Semmelweis’s printed instructions for the students, Ignaz Semmelweis, 1861-05-27, From the collection of: HNM Semmelweis Museum, Library and Archive of the History of Medicine
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Ignaz Semmelweis’s document case, Unknown, c 1850, From the collection of: HNM Semmelweis Museum, Library and Archive of the History of Medicine
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Ignaz (Philipp) Semmelweis: Die Aetiologiae, der Begriff und die Prophylaxis des Kindbettfiebers, Ignaz Semmelweis, 1861, From the collection of: HNM Semmelweis Museum, Library and Archive of the History of Medicine
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He published his first article on the subject in Hungarian in 1858 and his main treatise in German was only published in 1861.

Plan of Tombstone Semmelweis (1894) by Albert SchickedanzHNM Semmelweis Museum, Library and Archive of the History of Medicine

Remembrance

Bacteriological research verified Semmelweis’s claims after his death, and even though his disciples carried on with his clinical research and there was no doubt about the recognition of his work, conscious efforts to recognise him as one of the medical greats only began in 1891. The closing of the Vienna cemetery where Semmelweis was buried provided the opportunity to transfer his remains to Hungary and inter them in an honorary grave, including him in the pantheon of Hungarian scientists and artists established in the Kerepesi Street cemetery.  In 1894, Albert Schickedanz (1846–1915) completed a marble sarcophagus meant to convey universal esteem, and its dedication ceremony was part of an international demographic convention.

Memorial plaque from tomb of Semmelweis (1894) by UnknownHNM Semmelweis Museum, Library and Archive of the History of Medicine

The Semmelweis Memorial Executive Committee jointly established by the Medical Faculty of the University of Pest and the Budapest Royal Medical Association was tasked with providing a fitting grave for the physician and scientist, having an artistic portrait made, while also preserving, translating and issuing a collection of his works. In addition to starting an international collection for his tomb, donations were also accepted for a sculpture to be erected in a public space. They wished to spread and promote his recognition both nationally and internationally.

Semmelweis’ first statue in Budapest (1908) by UnknownHNM Semmelweis Museum, Library and Archive of the History of Medicine

Semmelweis's Statue

The Memorial Committee only completed its tasks in 1906 when the sculpture of Semmelweis by Alajos Stróbl (1856–1926) erected in Erzsébet Square was unveiled in the presence of illustrious international scientists. This sculpture was later moved and re-erected in front of St. Rókus Hospital. According to the specifications of the Committee, Semmelweis was depicted wearing Hungarian national attire, but the simple clothing of the other figure in the sculpture, a mother expressing her gratitude, was meant to represent mothers all over the world.

Complementary figures of Ignaz Semmelweis's statue, Unknown, 1906, From the collection of: HNM Semmelweis Museum, Library and Archive of the History of Medicine
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Patterns from plaster of Semmelweis’s statue and complementary figures, Unknown, 1906, From the collection of: HNM Semmelweis Museum, Library and Archive of the History of Medicine
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Portrait of Ignaz Semmelweis, Lajos Jambor, 1923, From the collection of: HNM Semmelweis Museum, Library and Archive of the History of Medicine
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The Royal Medical Association named the newly built assembly hall in its Szentkirályi Street headquarters after him (1912), and his portrait painted by Lajos Jámbor was placed on its wall in 1923.

Ignaz Semmelweis's Tomb by Eszter BlahákHNM Semmelweis Museum, Library and Archive of the History of Medicine

Semmelweis's tomb is located in the garden of his former birthplace, today HNM Semmelweis Museum of the History of Medicine.

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VIRTUAL EXHIBITION OF HNM SEMMELWEIS MUSEUM, LIBRARY AND ARCHIVE OF THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE

CURATOR: ILDIKÓ HORÁNYI

PHOTOS: ESZTER BLAHÁK

© HNM SEMMELWEIS MUSEUM, LIBRARY AND ARCHIVE OF THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE, BUDAPEST, HUNGARY

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