Ignaz Semmelweis (1818–1865) is hardly a household name, but it should be.
In 1844, the young Hungarian physician was assigned to an obstetrics hospital in Vienna, where puerperal fever, described today as postpartum infection, was rampant among mothers who had delivered babies. In one clinic, Semmelweis noticed that the death rate among these mothers was about 20 percent, while in another facility the rate was about one third of that percentage. The only difference between the two clinics was that the first was serviced by medical students, who often came straight from the dissection table, while the second clinic was a training ground for midwives.
