Science is Fun Fridays!

Today's Google Doodle honors Ignaz Semmelweis, an early pioneer of antiseptic procedures and hand disinfection.  A timely look back.


An Austro-Hungarian physicist born July 1, 1818 - working in Vienna General Hospital in 1847, he was called "The Savior of Mothers" as his hand washing measures drastically reduced the incidence of puerperal fever.  He noticed that the mortality rate was higher with doctors than with midwives, and then realized that many doctors were coming from autopsies into the delivery room.  He proposed the use of chlorinated lime solution before examining pregnant women and the mortality rate dropped from 18% to just 2.2% over a year.

His ideas weren't widely accepted until years after his death, when Louis Pasteur confirmed germ theory around 1864.

Germ theory states that microorganisms known as pathogens, or germs, can lead to disease through their growth and reproduction within a host.


Pasteur's pasteurization experiment illustrates that spoilage was caused by particles in the air rather than the air itself, which supported germ theory.


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