The Man Killed For Saving The World

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When we look back on the history of science and scientific progress, we celebrate the pioneers who dared to make life-changing discoveries. The truth is that the first people to introduce a paradigm-shift almost always face persecution, and many are overshadowed by the less-controversial minds who follow them.
Such is the case of Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian doctor who fought a lifelong battle against a disease he couldn’t see and that the medical establishment repeatedly told him wasn’t real. How does a scientist or doctor combat bacteria when they don’t even know it exists? The epidemics bacteria, viruses, and germs brought to innocent hospital patients wracked hospitals of the day, but the history of medicine is as much one of complacency and cosmic explanations as it is about breakthroughs.
Ignaz Semmelweis used incredible powers of logic and deductive reasoning to isolate a problem so complex that it stymied all the scientific minds of continental Europe, first by examining data within the clinics of his own hospital, and then identifying the source of infection. Through years of refining an antiseptic regimen that would end up saving an incalculable number of lives -- and paving the way for better-known scientific giants like Lister and Pasteur -- Semmelweis compiled one of the era’s great medical texts, one that would change healthcare worldwide.
And for that, he was ridiculed, criticized, fired, dismissed, institutionalized, and beaten to de*th. The shocking story of Ignaz Semmelweis is the real story of scientific progress.
** Additional Reading **
Semmelweis, Ignaz. “The Etiology, Concept, and Prophylaxis of Childbed Fever,” 1861; Translated by K. Codell Carter, 1983: www.amazon.com/Etiology-Proph...
Semmelweis, Fjernsynsteatret (Television Theater, Norway), 1983: tv.nrk.no/serie/fjernsynsteat...
Semmelweis, 1952 (Courtesy of the Hungarian National Film Archive): • Semmelweis, 1952.
Sla*ghter, Frank J. “Immortal Magyar: Semmelweis, Conqueror of Childbed Fever,” 1950: www.amazon.com/Immortal-Magya...
Obenchain, Theodore G. “Genius Belabored: Childbed Fever and the Tragic Life of Ignaz Semmelweis,” 2016: www.amazon.com/Genius-Belabor...
** CREDITS **
Vsauce2:
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Hosted and Produced by Kevin Lieber
Twitter: / kevinlieber
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Research and Writing by Matthew Tabor
/ tabortcu
Editing by John Swan
/ @johnswanyt
Huge Thanks To Paula Lieber
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#semmelweis #history #medicine #surgery #germs

[@Vsauce2]

Use code VSAUCE250 to get 50% off your first Factor box at bit.ly/3mG5rbL

[@Psi_Fan123]

What 17 mins ago?

[@nathanielhayden5919]

​@@Psi_Fan123he posted before the video which he can do since it's his video

[@Psi_Fan123]

This video wasn't posted 17 mins ago

[@nathanielhayden5919]

​@@Psi_Fan123yeah he had it on private when he commented

[@Psi_Fan123]

@@nathanielhayden5919 wow

[@mrlloyd149]

he did not save 'millions' he saved 'billions'. His work set the foundation for the high standards we witness in all of medicine today.

[@JamecBond]

Ummm.... Jesus?

[@Bidmartinlo]

Standards are not high, least not in Norway. I lost my grandmother this year due to the hospital's laziness and lackluster hygiene. Last year I had spent 5 months taking medicine which only caused me to go up in weight! A few years earlier they could've killed me from a magnesium overdose hadn't I stopped taking their medicine! Like seriously, we would've been better off here with a Middle Eastern doctor... FROM THE MIDDLE AGES! Edit: And for the love of the final braincells in your brains; YES, the point is that the Arabs WERE good doctors. There is 800+ years in between now and then, the whole point is that their doctors would at least have the common sense to wash our BLOODY HANDS. If they had HALF our technology and were around today then our lives would be many times considerably less miserable.

[@funkyfox7996]

he technically saved an ever expanding number of people, so really he saved an indefinite amount of people

[@gelo1238]

@@Bidmartinlo My mother died from aortic hemorrhage after being send to home from hospital. Two times. They also told they that she 'pretends'. Our world is developing in reverse.

[@mrlloyd149]

@@Bidmartinlo I'm very sorry to hear about your grandma. I lost mine last year too and I know how much it can tear you apart. Stay strong and I hope you find peace

[@ElectroPotato]

The world might have forgotten him, but his home country didn't. We have streets, a metro station, a medical history museum, a university and a huge teaching hospital complex named after him.

[@zciliyafilms5508]

Let me tell you: when you're kind of person that he is, knowing that might be the case someday doesn't help much. We need to stop that tragedies before they get this far.

[@tracesprite6078]

The world is much more committed to the scientific method now. However it is crucial for us to keep supporting scientific research and to keep disseminating scientific knowledge.

[@Ancient_Entity]

The same countrymen that chastised him in life... im sure he would rather had more doctors in his time simply wash their hands than have buildings hollowly named after him generations later to cover up guilt.

[@christal2641]

Thank you for keeping this memory alive.

[@KarstRats]

@@zciliyafilms5508well ya see something has to happen before anyone knows to even start doing anything about it. And with how humans are bacterially interlinked with people we’ve never even met it becomes hard to “nip anything in the bud” medicine is and always will be reactive.

[@eliannafreely5725]

"These murders must cease". His empathy for the women is very moving. Those "learned men" at the clinic would not have characterized what was happening that way, but I suspect the women giving birth on the street to avoid the clinic would have. But what voice did they have? Thank you for telling me the name of someone to whom I owe so much.

[@MrNoot39449]

He saved everyone, not just mothers

[@giuliakhawaja7929]

@MrNoot How many fathers died of puerperal fever!

[@UltimateKyuubiFox]

@@giuliakhawaja7929How many PEOPLE died in surgery from infection?

[@keiyakins]

​​@@giuliakhawaja7929 More than zero. He himself did! And in hindsight, it wasn't just the one disease. If you've ever undergone even the most minor of surgical procedures, it's virtually certain the ideas he championed were implemented to protect *you*.

[@giuliakhawaja7929]

@@keiyakins puerperal fever is a bacterial infection of the female reproductive tract. So while men can get bacterial infection they cannot get a specific infection of puerperal fever.

[@alidaaaaa7160]

The most outstanding thing to me is his sympathy and appreciation of women. So many of these men waved their lives away, but he fought for us. He didn't just say "oh it's their emotions" or something else pinning the blame on women, but he looked into it and wasn't afraid to point out who truly was to blame. Thank you Semmelweis.

[@ontruthsside9293]

His wisdom came from God, given Jewish cleanliness practices.

[@Puremindgames]

I got the the sense that he didn't do it because they were women, he did it because they were people. It didn't just kill the mother it killed the child too, male and female alike.

[@atherasybil4353]

@@Puremindgames true, but at the same time, they ARE women. he helped women in a time when it was so easy to just blame it on them for what they're experiencing. he would probably do it for men too, but the fact that he went against the heavy sexism that was happening at that time, to stop himself from thinking, "ah, it might be because women are emotional," that's what makes him a hero to those women he helped.

[@Celisar1]

Dying isn’t an emotion. Not even the biggest misogynists could blame it on emotions.

[@atherasybil4353]

@Celisar1 you would be surprised how many women underwent lobotomy because they experience normal human emotions. and you might be surprised about how many died because of fhat. and if you watched the video, those men did blame their deaths on being emotional women, rather than what it actually was. death is not an emotion, but every normal emotion experienced by women lead to lobotomies or being medically ignored because women were never taken seriously. even now, young girls dont receive medical attention for their pain (an emotion) because some doctors still think they are just being emotional.

[@SiiriCressey]

My maternal grandmother's mother died of childbirth fever shortly after birthing her. So did several other women who had given birth that month in her town. The reason? The attending doctor didn't believe in germ theory, so he did not sanitize his tools or himself between patients. This was in rural New Hampshire in the early nineteen twenties.

[@rojnx9]

Wow, this story makes me angry (at that doctor), what horrible things this one person's stupidity did. Exactly the same with antivaxers.

[@SiiriCressey]

@@rojnx9 Thank you.

[@atashgallagher5139]

How could he not believe in that at that point, he had to have seen a microscope at some point, we'd had microscopes for over 330 years at that point and they'd been popular for 253 years. He had to have seen bacteria at some point in his life. We discovered bacteria 244 years before 1920 in 1676 and Pasteur published his germ theory in 1861 60 years before 1920. So unless this dude completed medical school when he was 20, never once looked at any other book or paper or doctor, and didn't even think about updating his knowledge he'd have to be 81 years old and still delivering babies in mass in 1920. Almost 90 if it was 1929 and even older if it was to be a bit older when he finished school. And again, never even once looking at a textbook after schooling. And maybe there's a bit of leeway for whatever institution(s) that taught him being behind the times, but he'd still have picked it up later if he had even two brain cells to rub together. And if he heard about and still didn't believe it he could just look at a microscope, it ain't hard just go to a university once. Or I'm sure there are drawings and pictures in books.

[@UnitedSovietParty]

The Coronavirus gave us an even scarier reality: there are still germ theory deniers out there today.@@rojnx9

[@spudsbuchlaw]

I'm so sorry for her 😭

[@zsoltsemperger529]

Semmelweis is a real hero nowadays in Hungary, with our biggest medical univeristy and hospitals named after him. This part of the story is never mentioned thought, so it is amazing to bring it into light!

[@csabahegedus1744]

Not to mention Semmelweis Day on July 1st.

[@kramarancko1107]

@@csabahegedus1744let’s not pretend likes anyone’s ever heard of this holiday.

[@csabahegedus1744]

@@kramarancko1107 I don't. I'm fully aware it's a Hungarian holiday that only exists since a decade or so. It was only a personal reply to an obviously Hungarian user.

[@kanadashyuugo873]

Also not to forget he could only ever get ANY recognition by LEAVING Hungary due to the usual backstabbing we're so "good" at. The leaders of the medical field here basically kept gaslighting him because until they were FORCED to admit they were wrong by the international medical community, they refused to admit they've been doing something and this "newcomer" got it right. Hungary. The darkest pit even of the Balkans where you can always expect your own countrymen to backstab you for their personal greed and jealousy.

[@Sollaze]

​@@kanadashyuugo873Were you paying attention at all during the video? I won't say that us Hungarians are saints but he didn't start his medical career in Hungary at all. He went to Vienna to study medicine and started his medical career there as well. And Vienna is most certainly not in Hungary but in Austria.He went TO Hungary to practice AFTER he was ostracized for his conclusions.

[@KevinATJumpWorks]

I'll start saying 'I Semmelweis'd it' whenever I have to disinfect a wound in the future. The guy deserves way more props than he got.

[@jessicahay9305]

I'm with you. I'm a caregiver for disabled vetrans and from now on that's the term I'm going to use.

[@FroggyMosh]

I'll Semmelweis my hands well before preparing that food.

[@Forcommentingpurposes]

Him not writing anything down with absolute faith his foreign students would simply bring his teachings back with them breaks my fragile heart. A man so sure that his empathy for his patients was universal in all doctors is naive at best and downright ignorant at worst. He’s a doctor that saw patients as people who needed help, not a learning tool that could be picked apart once they had passed. I’m grateful he didn’t let go of his dreams to save as many people as possible.

[@landonrice]

Years ago I cut my finger rather deeply while performing a necropsy on a cow. Although I didn’t know this story then, I suppose Dr. Semmelweis deserves some credit for me knowing to immediately scrub the wound like I’d never scrubbed before. The man continues to save lives today!

[@poupdujour]

Yikes, power of the dog vibes

[@valeria-cg5wy]

@@poupdujour i thought if that too 😭😭

[@samanthapateman8054]

Glad your okay

[@Ostr0]

Close Shave

[@bobthebox2993]

28:29 It feels bad that this was written about him. He cared so much about saving lives that he became increasingly frustrated when people just rejected what could be proven to be true. As a result of this irritation, someone writes about him that he is psychopathic, i.e. doesn't care about other people, yet caring about other people is the whole reason he found himself in this position to begin with.

[@juanausensi499]

A mental issue was involved, but it wasn't Semmelweis'. It's called wishful thinking. If Semmelweis was right, then the doctors he was trying to convince were the ones who had those women killed. The mind refuses to accept new information that goes against self-identity. Those doctors thought of themselves as saviours: seeing themselves as killers was too simply too much.

[@rodjacksonx]

@@BianTheWerewolf - "Antivax?" Really?

[@rodjacksonx]

@@eduardmedrea1930 - What exactly was the judgment made?

[@apriljk6557]

​@@rodjacksonx yes, really. Vaccines are another marvel of medicine people reject because of their stupidity and stubbornness.

[@rodjacksonx]

@@eduardmedrea1930 - No prob, it happens.

[@Raozwire]

If you ever visit Budapest, the family home of Ignác Semmelweis is now a museum of medical history, it is well worth a visit. Also this whole story echoes heartbreakingly today.

[@VanBuren0926]

That's exactly what I was thinking. With the virus we recently experienced and how some doctors were persecuted for having differing opinions on it.

[@charlesatanasio]

​@@VanBuren0926Question the science. Always.

[@sardikiducoeur]

"The savior of mother's!"

[@jpteknoman]

@@charlesatanasio Trust the science = trust that the government (that has a list of human rights violations that stretches to the moon) and the corporations (that will do anything for profit) care about you and are not using this as a chance to promote their interests.

[@charlesatanasio]

@@jpteknoman Yup

[@illyr8590]

I learned this in college as I was studying to become a pharmacist. My teacher explained that "Because of the Egos of a handful of proud men, mothers and children were sent to the grave. And it repeated over and over despite having one man show facts, numbers, and results to stop it. " I remembered how sad and angry I felt then, but this video just made me feel absolutely livid. I also learned a lot about Ignatz's personality. It was a nice touch comparing him to Cassandra

[@oszaszi]

I recommend watching the documentary of BURZYNSKI and his fight on cancer cure.

[@Our4gedFiresOfOld]

I myself often feel like Cassandra. The points I have to make become less prominent in the eyes of others as if it doesn’t have influence like I think it does. One point that’s being somewhat overlooked is the fault of the school/education system for causing drop outs and failures rather than the dropouts themselves. It’s always the same damned thing that dooms man; himself.

[@marjorie6573]

I cried. The name of Semmelweis should be known to every mother's child. Thank you so much for telling his story.

[@wearefromserbia9714]

i shed a tear, the man that did so much for humanity, only to be rejected by all

[@viscache1]

The great heros of this story were the midwives. These were mothers, wives and nurses who knew one secret that the doctors ignored. They habitually did the one thing that doctors eschewed. They washed their hands. Mothers have known for much longer than anyone else that cleanliness and health go together. Moms are the true heroes here. Doctors of the time were so proud of their profession that they purposefully went throughout the hospital with blood and gore on their hands and forearms and hold them out in front of them as they walked through the hospital to announce with great pride that they were a surgeon… this caused more deaths around the civilized world that every poorly trained midwife by many times. As a 50 year collector of journals and books from 1400-1800 I came across many such texts. Semmelweis was perhaps one that stood out but not the originator of the theory.

[@Andreadel96]

I also cried, what a hero. He really deserved better.

[@jonnawyatt]

"Every mother's child". So everyone?😊

[@user-qp5ik1ke9x]

​@@Andreadel96BEING HER0 ISNT AS ATRACTIBLE N0W AY

[@keikazazic3296]

In vienna there's a birth clinic/hospital named after him where I was born, that's why I was told the importance of his contributions at the age of like 4, super cool to finally see something detailed about it

[@falkeborg9432]

@@simsisqwertyx5686Why were they creeped out? And how does this relate to the original comment?

[@Irish_Georgia_Girl]

​@@simsisqwertyx5686Why were they creeped out? What in the world could a baby creep anyone out about unless it's Rosemary's baby!?

[@Frank-im2ku]

​@@Irish_Georgia_Girlimma leave a comment here to get notified in case they comment, im curious too.

[@RuthvenMurgatroyd]

​@@simsisqwertyx5686 You're never going to tell us why they were creeped out are you? 😅

[@m1ian11]

i was born there too

[@ChrisM-tn3hx]

What a tragedy, how his ideas were tossed aside. Imagine the frustration of knowing, and nobody listening, or worse, vilifying you. Is it any wonder he lost his mind? Excellent episode. You never disappoint. Thanks.

[@Here4TheHeckOfIt]

This has happened many times throughout history. It's amazing how much we take for granted. Because of people like Semmelweiss, we have safety standards, clean water, food and air. The list goes on. This is far more valuable to society than having a Walmart in every corner.

[@figlego]

People who warned about a certain lab in China and about forcing a mostly untested "poke" as a magic solution.

[@screwyourhandle]

A strikingly similar thing happened to the mathematician Georg Cantor, who conceptualized an infinite number of infinities. Nobody at the time could swallow that, he was widely ridiculed, and suffered from deteriorating mental health and multiple institutionalizations before eventually dying destitute in a sanatorium.

[@valentinstefanov489]

Happens today constantly in politics

[@ChrisM-tn3hx]

People who warned about a certain orange president likewise were ridiculed. I warned people back in 2016 of the exact situation we've got right now.

[@DavidJohnsonFromSeattle]

Could you imagine knowing you were accidentally responsible for hundreds of deaths, if not more, and when you tried to tell everyone how they were doing the same, they didn't believe you? Truly tragic...

[@everestjarvik5502]

“That’s why you grew up with a mother” *one single orphan tear*

[@mite3959]

sip-sipping on orphan tears-

[@generictimestamperstupendi9021]

@@mite3959 DAMMIT YOU BEAT ME TOO IT

[@jeplica7011]

My grandma was an orphan, her dad and new stepmother orphaned her after Spanish influenza took her mother. She told me never to trust anyone, and was always worried about exposure to the night air. The miasma. These guys are the miasma

[@RecardoGuillermo]

@@mite3959why sipping on it?

[@jamesiii7291]

​@@RecardoGuillermo young one

[@theprogressivewest]

I love the tenacity of his defensiveness for his theory. Those passages where you read his writing were my favorite parts of the video. Thanks for telling his story, that was very moving

[@pewpewdragon4483]

You can hear the conviction behind his words, truly respectable

[@alemaaltevinden]

He sounds like vegans sound today

[@kanadashyuugo873]

You do know he only had to do this because of how hard the local medical community was gaslighting him so THEY don't have to admit they've been doing something WRONG and an outsider can be RIGHT

[@theprogressivewest]

@@alemaaltevinden as a vegan I will take this as a compliment

[@alemaaltevinden]

@@theprogressivewest That's how it was meant

[@MyouKyuubi]

Semmelweis: WASH YOUR FKING HANDS! Everyone: So you have chosen death...

[@Sadlander2]

I remember watching an interview with two doctors and, with no context, one of them said _"Yeah, that was the time when people avoided going to a hospital because you had a better chance of surviving if you didn't go"_ and it took me a long time to understand why. This video was very well done! I enjoyed every second of it, it didn't feel like almost 50 minutes spent on one video on KZbin at all, which isn't easy to do! Well done!!!

[@xdragon2k]

This is perhaps the same reason people hated hospital nowaday. When they are put in the waiting room along with all the rest of sick people that is coughing their germs in the air... we're not doing anything to combat that. Until COVID. Even then, some people are fighting their right to not wear mask because it was an inconvenience.

[@surgeeo1406]

Good point, this narrator is really good.

[@lukew6725]

@@xdragon2k If the mask actually does anything it should be fine for anyone who cares about getting sick to wear one. Anything more is an infringement of rights.

[@theshadowfax239]

​@@lukew6725 cry more crybaby

[@MrMonkeybat]

I am puzzled as to why any mother would go near that hospital instead of home birth

[@vonwux]

I had never heard this particular story before. As depressing as it is fascinating

[@fiusionmaster3241]

I must agree

[@putumban7738]

I’ve heard of it, but never this in depth

[@truth.speaker]

Trust me - there are similar things today that we will be talking about soon Just think about it

[@nemtommi0017]

I heard it too much time in depth. I have a friend who is learning in the medical university named after him. Guess how many times did he heard the story...

[@parkb5320]

Anti handwashers in the 1800s is as depressing as anti maskers today.

[@ICM0n3y]

Feel like I just learned about arguably the most important man that ever existed and I just learn about him today. The internet can be beautiful sometimes. Thanks Vsauce!

[@dh2032]

same here, we owe, a great debt, that cannot be repaid,

[@joshyoung1440]

I think it'd be pretty weird to argue that just from seeing one video about a guy and instantly forming an opinion but 🫥

[@joshyoung1440]

But you're right about the rest, refreshing positive attitude

[@angryman9333]

Internet used for good is the most good u can find

[@jaminelvers7250]

​@@joshyoung1440a very well researched video with listed sources...

[@realfuckinggas]

I totally understand why he got progressively more pissed off after what the world put him through. The stress of having everyone around challenging him and the weight of his own misdeeds must have crushed his mind as time went on.

[@dyingbreed5386]

Sad thing is this epidemic persisted so long before someone decided to think outside the box because these "highly educated" individuals were unable to fathom the possibility that what they had been taught could be incomplete/ incorrect. It's a problem that continues today in the medical field as well as many other high skill professions. The main difference today is the field has become so specialized that you get even fewer professionals digging deeper. Instead they just pass you along to another specialist; starting a merry-go-round that can go on for years, and in particularly challenging cases, decades.

[@johnbash-on-ger]

It's very sad that things being contagious was considered outside the box thinking.

[@niobedragones7347]

A lot of the time that Merry-Go-Round effect is caused by medical professionals ignoring or not believing their patients, completely refusing to acknowledge them entirely at times. Examples of this commonly happening is endometriosis were tons of women's pain is ignored and their gaslighted into believing that writhing in agony is normal.. or intersex people that are born with varying traits of both sexes, whose existence are ignored entirely, pushed under the rug no matter what they do. And often have invasive surgeries as babies and toddlers to "correct them" without giving that person any choice in matter.

[@ghoulbuster1]

Now we are being injected by poison, while being promised it's a cure.

[@seeker296]

Thats not true. There are a lot of incompetent docs that will pass you along, but once your dermatologist has referred you to every other possible specialist, they'll start studying and thinking outside the box or refer you to a tertiary care center where they specialize in INTERDISCIPLINARY medicine. If they don't do this, you can sue them bc they're not practicing in line with their training and duties.

[@dyingbreed5386]

@seeker296 Maybe, depending on your symptoms, but when they have a diagnosis, even a "who knows" diagnosis like chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia that they can slap on you, any hopes of actual treatment end. You complain of worse than normal or new symptoms and you get passed around so a half dozen doctors can get their $200 appointment fees and thats that. To make things worse the demonization of opioids is quickly removing the only symptom management method many have. Especially when you consider the only other medical "treatment" is to take immunosuppressives which are not an option for the majority of individuals with the most severe symptoms because they often suffer from other conditions that those drugs exacerbate. And good luck with taking legal action for failure to do their duty. All they have to say is XYZ is not within the "recommend guidelines" and they are off the hook and if you know anything about how these guidelines are developed you know ensuring proper care does not go into their development.

[@tubthungusbychumbungus]

Its telling of the arrogance of those scholars that none of them considered that maybe it was something they were doing that the midwives weren't, that they must've known better than experienced women that work with mothers. No, it mustn't be us, it must be the mothers. Semmelweiss saw through that.

[@catherinebaldwin6580]

Well you know how men act towards women, especially 1800s men.

[@nahometesfay1112]

This video has opened a whole can of worms for me. The conversation is obviously a lot more nuanced then just wash your hands. Why did Semmelweis need to use chlorine when the Midwives didn't?

[@dsan17]

@@nahometesfay1112 Because he wanted to completely eliminate the childbirth fever not just in his hospital but everywhere so he wanted something very effective. The midwives still had deaths in their care, the numbers were just lower because they weren't performing autopsies in between delivering children.

[@asuperiorcat]

@@nahometesfay1112 The midwives didnt open any corpse whereas the doctors did.

[@SubvertTheState]

​@@catherinebaldwin6580This is another false narrative. The midwives simply did not autopsy. And if men hated women, why was Semmelweis racked with guilt over the women who died before his practices were implemented? His prodigy killed himself thinking of the women he inadvertently killed before he also adopted the hand sanitization. I think its spitting in the face of the men who sacrificed their careers and lives, just to save lives. Feminism is the most contagious, poisonous, and resentful worldviews adopted in the modern age. Men are still risking themselves and dying, right now, just doing the work necessary to keep civilization going. We never complain, but I can't just watch another resentful comment...Especially after this video. The greatest men who contributed to the world, often ended up dying alone and ostracized from the society which benefits from their genius. Nikola Tesla spent his last days alone in a NY hotel room, overlooking the lit up skyline, all enjoyed due to the perseverance and obsession with incandescence. Same with Semmelweis, died alone, beaten, imprisoned, stripped of his position and of the disease he had figured out how to kill. I know many female inventors too, like Lynn Margulis, who came up with the symbiogenesis theory of the origins of Eukaryotic life. I just don't think all of society, assuming the intentions of long dead men is either fair, or correct.

[@AceMoonshot]

I recall my teacher telling me that surgeons used to wash their hands after surgery. Never before. And when the germ theory was presented, it received universal push back. Even in the early 20th century, doctors still stubbornly resisted. Why?

[@Vincent_Beers]

They couldn't imagine what they couldn't see. Humans are profoundly ignorant by default. And they fear what they don't understand, then lash out at the things they fear. It still happens today even with much more access to information. If someone isn't introduced early to the concepts of deep thinking and introspection, they act on instinct based on fear rooted in ignorance.

[@xponen]

it is the same as chilly-temperature of surgery room (warmer is better) and the debate/resistance of surgeon wearing mask (1920s), because it's all for personal comfort & convenience of the physician/surgeon.

[@rashkavar]

Two basic factors of psychology at play here: denial and comfort. Denial is the big one. Every surgeon in the world at the time had lost several patients to post-operative infection of some kind or other. (Excluding a few freshly graduated students and such who weren't really established in the field yet.) Those patients died because their surgeons, or the broader hospitals that they helped run, gave them an infection. A surgeon who has lost 100 patients to infection is a surgeon whose actions caused 100 deaths. When your whole profession is built around an oath that starts with "First, do no harm," that's one hell of a pill to swallow. Much easier to tell yourself that it was fate, God, miasma, something else that falls outside the realm of a surgeon's personal responsibility. Then there's comfort. Modern surgical preparation does everything it can to minimize how arduous the process is. Modern scrub cleaners mix in moisturizers to minimize the amount of damage they do to the skin, and they're still unpleasantly aggressive compared to ordinary soap. I can't imagine what Semmelweiss's chlorine wash and sand scrub procedure was like, but I can assume it was a fairly torturous experience. The pandemic recently taught us all just how unpleasant wearing medical masks is, just how much self discipline it takes to leave it on. We also got a taste in the early days when the going theory was hand-to-face contamination just how much we touch our face and the rest of our bodies without really paying too much attention to it. Every time a surgeon does that, they have to go back and re-scrub because their hands become contaminated with whatever's on their face. You've probably felt how miserable it is to wear latex gloves long term, just imagine how it'd feel when your 14 hours into a delicate surgical procedure? Being a human being is, inherently, being a microbiome to a whole ecosystem of microbes. Being a surgeon means going through the process needed to contain that ecosystem so that those microbes stay out of a patient's body, because many of the things that are actually quite healthy to have living on the surface of our skin can do fairly nasty things if they get into your body, particularly if you're already busy healing from major trauma and thus can't mount a full immune response. It's a lot to go through, and any modern surgeon will say it's just part of the job....but any modern surgeon grew up in a world where germ theory is something that's taught by our parents before we even get to school, was educated using textbooks and lecture notes that show pictures of many of the microbes that cause disease, and attended labs where they saw got to watch bacteria doing stuff first hand with a microscope they could control themselves. The amount of proof of the existence of microbes available to a modern surgeon is overwhelming to the point where denying germ theory would be absurd. Historical surgeons of the 19th and early 20th centuries had far less proof to go on. Semmelweiss's hand washing doctrine doesn't even present a theory as to what, specifically, is the cause of the contagion. He couldn't see it, he could only smell it. With that, and his intimate knowledge of the statistical records that demonstrated the effectiveness of his doctrine, that was enough. For others, it was a bunch of figures thrust before them to prove a point - something that, then as now, could easily be fabricated - and this nebulous idea that this specific smell was the cause and that this specific treatment was the only way to prevent it from transiting to patients. That's fairly vague when up against the monumental force that is the human capacity for denial, particularly when tempered with the fact that this solution he proposes is so unpleasant. When germs were first seen with microscopes, they were a new technology, rare and often poorly understood by those who were far from the handful of prestigious places of research that got the first few microscopes. You could look into a box and see a moving picture of stuff moving around. But by the late 1800s, there's another box you can look into and see moving pictures. That one was the kinetoscope, and you could see *Butterfly Dance* a performance of a woman dancing. So...who's to say this other box you look into that you say shows me life forms so small I can't see them is showing me the truth. There's definitely not an actual woman dancing in the Kinetoscope! As for why surgeons wouldn't wash their hands before doing surgery anyway...it's simple. Same reason your mechanic probably doesn't wash his hands before doing an oil change: his hands are dirty, sure, but he's about to get them a hell of a lot dirtier doing this job, so why bother cleaning them now? It's a waste of soap! If you don't have a good reason (like an established belief in germ theory) to wash your hands before getting them all covered in blood and whatever else leaks out of a patient during surgery, then...what's the point? And yes, it's very weird to think like that. Germ theory has fundamentally changed how we think of the importance of cleanliness and sanitation, to the point where the kind of thinking that is quite rational in the absence of it seems absurd. Honestly the thing I'm typically most surprised by when I think about medicine in this time period is just how late the development of Germ Theory really is. It feels like one of those basic scientific truths, like Newtonian physics, if not even more fundamental. (I remember being surprised when I learned 2 equally sized balls of differing weights would fall at the same speed; I don't remember ever being surprised at the idea of life that's too small to see.) But...Newtonian physics is the 1600s. A lot of the fundamentals of mathematics that we take for granted come from stuff like ancient Babylon (interesting tidbit of trivia: there's 360 degrees in a circle because Babylonian numbering was in base 6. They counted 10 degree increments - that got split by a later civilization that used base 10, but Babylon divided the circle into 6 parts, and each of those parts into 6 subparts. Those are what became degrees. So yes, most of the math you learn before going to university is stuff we've known for thousands of years). Germ Theory feels like it should be part of these truly old pieces of knowledge, so deeply is it ingrained into our modern concept of the world. The fact that it took until the 1890s, a time when my great grandparents were being born, to become widely accepted is genuinely astonishing.

[@abhishekak9619]

​@@rashkavarwhere? Do you get the motivation to write something that long?

[@bickyboo7789]

Not all academics are reputable people, even today. Academia is still fallible and will likely continue to be so for the rest of human history.

[@jacobp.2024]

Semmelweis relentlessly confronting and challenging his critics is part of why he's so compelling to me. He wasn't diplomatic, nor did he sit idle. he did *everything* he could, constantly, unwaveringly to contend with the ideas of the day. From a practical perspective, this wasn't the best strategy, but it showed how passionate and caring he was, and how he would refuse to compromise or employ half-measures when he *knew* he identified the problem. It was to a fault, but you can't help but root for him. He hated writing, but was capable of absolutely *eviscerating* his critics. He was right, too. He was correct, and the person he criticized was, in fact, a *Medical Nero.* And, Semmelweis was one of the rare few at the time who was brave and intelligent enough to both correctly identify and absolutely dismantle works of misinformation. But he could not let go of his emotions and, in fact, fueled his work with them to a degree that eventually caused him to self-destruct. It's funny how the most objective researcher who most effectively applied the scientific method.. Was also the most emotional and empathetic to the patients. It wasn't the cold calculating student researchers that cracked the case through emotionless experimentation, but the almost manic and overly compulsive doctor who cared about their patient above all. It's tragic.

[@SeekingTheLoveThatGodMeans7648]

It amazes how God uses the "madman" to preach what will ultimately be regarded as deepest sanity.

[@tylerspeegle6494]

​@@SeekingTheLoveThatGodMeans7648 god doomed those countless women to an early grave

[@behemothking6081]

I work at a hospital as a housekeeper and part of my training was focused on his findings to drive home how important his work was for our line of work.

[@tmym6374]

That is so sad to hear that someone who wanted to save lives so badly was disregarded and mistreated to the extent that they went mad.

[@stellasternchen]

I have the feeling that individuals caring about others and not themselves get treated poorly by society. They are not popular, they are inconvenient and you can not bribe them.

[@ayoCC]

​@@stellasternchenpeople who elevate others into positions of power want someone bribable.. But on a smaller scale it's not like that. I've seen numerous times people who got recognized for good work and not just strange corruption. There's much more honest productive success than corruption. However, Semmelweis couldn't have gotten enough love to really get better... He needed to play politics, make friends and get allies, find doctors who are strangers to him and work in his doctrines and have them discover by the numbers

[@peggyjaeger9280]

inconvenient ,yes@@stellasternchen

[@konuralpyldzkan1495]

i don't even believe he went mad. i think they claimed he went mad to get rid of him

[@kamigoroshi9459]

I cried so many times, not only because of this tragedy, but mainly because of how relevant and widespread the issues faced by Semmelweis still are in this day and age, be it power harassment, pseudoscientific criticism, being punished for shedding some light on the truth just because the "faith" of the mob is in contradiction with it and much more.

[@Irish_Georgia_Girl]

@kamigoroshi9459 ~ I had the exact same thoughts!

[@midnightduo1]

But literally cry? Pathetic

[@VueiyVisarelli]

Don't forget to trust "The Science," but don't mention beagles and flies.

[@darkzeroprojects4245]

On top of snakes in the grass that use their power to do as choose.

[@Celisar1]

If you cry about some historical medical facts you’d better seek therapy.

[@ReubenAStern]

Semmelweis deserves recognition and praise. This is a very important video. Not only does it give recognition to a man who saved countless lives far into the future, but it also shows us what a toxic work environment will do to your personality. Good work.

[@johnbash-on-ger]

In this case a toxic work environment in both meanings!

[@redactedgamersgd1788]

​@@johnbash-on-ger he definitely means it on social levels, not literally like Nuclear Reactors

[@johnbash-on-ger]

@@redactedgamersgd1788 I meant the toxins from the micro-organisms DUH!

[@tracesprite6078]

And we can all make our work-places healthier by avoiding bullying and racism and sexism, and by practicing basic hygiene such as washing hands after using the bath-room, and also by keeping the workplace kitchen and refrigerator clean.

[@GippyHappy]

It's moving to me that Semmelweis was motivated by care for his patients, which was so uncommon in his day, especially for female patients. The fact that he was haunted by the deaths he inadvertently caused is so sad, considering he was the only one actually trying to change things, while others caused deaths out of willful ignorance and felt nothing.

[@risha5642]

Ngl I really cried at how he died. It really sucks to devote your life to demonstrably saving people only to have the world reject you so thoroughly that as a result, you die from the same thing you strove to save others from. Brutal. Amazing video. Even though his story made me sad, I'm glad that I know about him now.

[@achimdemus-holzhaeuser1233]

Yeah the description actually sounds like deliberate murder.

[@meliamckenzie3416]

That or suicide. I would not be surprised if it was, unfortunate though it be.

[@red71337]

I've heard that somewhere can't put my hand on it

[@fureszadam3160]

He saved billions of lives! ÉLJEN A HAZA, ÉLJEN MAGYARORSZÁG!!!

[@dangerousdays2052]

This is just more proof that humans are a filthy species that doesn't deserve to exist.

[@cadmium-ores]

Oh my god. That’s such a heartbreaking story - excellently told, but heartbreaking. It’s the constant struggle of scientific advancement and education, and the perennial failings of our medical systems - not just the mothers, but Semmelweis too; suffering from some affliction that may be treatable today, then being left to mistreatment and dying alone. Something that always gets me with stories like this is the bittersweet nature of someone genuinely CARING - genuinely trying to do good in the world; Semmelweis was doing what a doctor SHOULD do - and it just not paying off or being followed through like it should.

[@zciliyafilms5508]

"Heartbreaking" is the word for it. To die broken in a sanitarium and be forgotten at his funeral by even his own family, for saving the world. It doesn't get much more tragic than that.

[@kubikim]

​@@zciliyafilms5508it almost enrages me.

[@SeekingTheLoveThatGodMeans7648]

Kind of like trying to imagine how Jesus felt with people trying to get him to excuse parochial sin.

[@gordn_ramsi]

It's kind of ironic he was the one doing actual science. Solving problems - that's what science is really about, and there was a real and tangible problem to be solved, only no one else wanted to actually solve it.

[@margaretr5701]

@@gordn_ramsi He wasn't completely alone, as he used 'the English way', as an example, but he might as well have spoken to the walls, as the doctors he worked with were arrogantly stubborn in being right, no matter what. Poor man, his ending is heartbreaking, knowing how he suffered.

[@justinrush7463]

If there was one flaw in Semmelweis's way of thinking, it was his inability to understand that not everyone is a virtuous as their position requests.

[@DJGaming35744]

The shear number of amazing people who have died never knowing the greatness of the impact they made on the world is beyond depressing. I find solace in the fact that, even though they may never know the extent of how they are remembered, they are (hopefully) remembered and their work is kept alive as well as their memory.

[@RPcropland]

Not really. They knew that once dead they wont care and that those who remeber would be dead too. Obviously they didn’t do it for recognition😂

[@tracesprite6078]

Who should we each thank in the next week for being everyday heroes in the family, workplace and neighborhood?

[@storey662]

Rest in peace, Semmelweis. Thank you for ultimately giving your life so that woman could live and children could have mothers. What an amazing contribution to our society. Such a tragedy that he was ridiculed and shamed, but what revenge that his name will forever be echoed through history, and his detractors will suffer the ridicule in death that he faced in life.

[@sofiabravo1994]

A true man protecting women and children he was just one man and had more sense than most…

[@SavageGreywolf]

A person: "Hey maybe we should try to help people instead of trying to protect the egos, wallets and reputation of rich, influential men" *sounds of being murdered* ah, the sound of human history.

[@ekki1993]

Only as old as rich people, though.

[@Riskofdisconnect]

@@ekki1993 Rich people have been around longer than recorded history sadly, in one part of the world or another.

[@jaspertuin2073]

This, combined with general increase in inequality and just madness in public opinions everywhere nowadays (In an era of unreal wealth and science goddamnit!), are my main reasons for not having a kid in my life. Enough is enough, even considering how beautiful life can be too.

[@bungalowjuice7225]

Billions saved. He's the best medical professional in history, I'd argue. I hope we honor him forever.

[@lamebubblesflysohigh]

It is a crime that this was the first time I have heard his name. There should be streets near hospitals named after him in every town.

[@JonLundgren]

100 percent.

[@datrtzhush3734]

bit late but....here in Hungary we have lots of things named after him

[@joeyjohnson8452]

thank you for bringing this story to light, i’m so surprised this isn’t talked about more in schools

[@taquitolayton68]

Really? Where are you from? I was taught a slightly simplified version of this 2x in (public) highschool and 2x in (public) college in Latin America wish they had shown us this video instead though

[@joeyjohnson8452]

@@taquitolayton68 east coast usa, private education kindergarten thru high school, never taught a single part of this story

[@taquitolayton68]

I've had people 5 years younger than me from the east coast of the US help me with my maths homework, but when it comes to sociology (subject in which I was taught this).... there's not even an age gap, nothing is taught over there... shame really

[@iggyharl5780]

I remember a whole biology chapter in high school on this story. Uk

[@SithScribe21]

@@joeyjohnson8452100% agreed with you

[@xboxsteven]

As a physician anytime the story of Semmelwies is shared it hurts so much knowing that the battle against misinformation is never won that it makes me want to stop trying. In Greek, doctor means teacher but the world stopped wanting to learn as of recent.

[@zoezombie3223]

I understand your frustration and I agree, it seems as of recent people grow more and more ignorant. But today doctors wash their hands, most of us do. We appreciate Ignaz Semmelweis today. I know it doesnt feel like it, but I promise you our society is still changing for the better. Don't give up, Stay optimistic

[@arcticcircle9178]

@@zoezombie3223 I'm not a doctor or anything, but it just feels like people move on to the next thing a lot of the time instead.

[@dostal8775]

I do empathize with your frustration, however, I don't really believe people got more ignorant. Not that they got better, although that might very well be, speculatively. People were always like this - believing the world is just and hanging onto what they thought was true and right for their dear life. I'd guess we're actually preprogrammed to this from the good old days in the wilderness, for good reasons, such as hanging for our dear life. But as we progress towards a less evolutionarily natural form of society and specie really, those preprogrammed instincts will fail us, because they can't sufficiently solve the problems and really logical conundrums we face in today's world, and then again, we can't just discard them, as they're etched into our core set of survivalship methods and evolution is way too slow for this. That being said, misinformation does get progressively harder and tougher to manage. Being connected across the whole world is a great power to possess, but as famously said, with great power comes great responsibility. As less famously said: 'Truth does not do as much good in the world as the appearance of truth does evil.' -Daniil Dankovsky

[@VueiyVisarelli]

True. Stories of perfectly healthy people--even athletes--collapsing for "no reason" get swept under the rug quick, fast, and in a hurry. Too many people trust "The Science" w/o stopping to think if "The Science" is correct. "Hey, this new thing is scary, do what we tell you and you'll be fine." Never mind you might have a condition that is made _worse_ by it, no, just do it w/o question.

[@sanguine7599]

I mean hence the term doctorate, though many people don't connect the dots.

[@Berend-ov8of]

It's embarrassing to have to admit I didn't know this story until now. Being hospitalised even today still presents a risk of its own, which emphasises the importance of the story. Thank you for making and publishing this video.

[@tracesprite6078]

Yes, a simple problem in hospitals is that the patient's bedside table is often piled high with his/her personal belongings so the doctor/nurse has to balance medical stuff on the patient's bed while preparing to give the patient an injection or administer some ointment. A bed is not a very hygienic or stable surface.

[@poupdujour]

The number of lives this man has saved is an unbreakable record. It will be talked about until the end of our existence.

[@FlareBlossom]

As a hungarian I appreciate the time you dedicated to this story. Here in Hungary we learn this in elementary schools and later in high school too, but it never occured to me that other contries might not teach it or at least mention it in biology class. Now that I think about it, it makes sense because every nation learns more about their own heroes/politics etc. But yeah at least Semmelweis is well known here and have multiple streets sqares high schools a hospital and even a university named after him. The metro station where most of our hospitals are, is called Semmelweis Clinics.

[@availanila]

And, in countries like mine, this was never a problem. We wouldn't be interested in learning about someone who solved a problem that we didn't have at all. We even had C-sections and episiotomies long before colonization. But don't think too highly of us, most of this was as a result of rampant FGM.

[@FlareBlossom]

@@availanila ohh interesting, I thought it was a huge problem in most places, fair point.

[@Irish_Georgia_Girl]

​@@availanilaI'm sorry to be dumb but what's FGM?

[@availanila]

@@Irish_Georgia_Girl female genital mutilation. It's a cultural practice around the world but most recorded in West, East, North and Sahel Africa but is present elsewhere like in West Asia.

[@rfvtgbzhn]

I learned about Semmelweis in high school in Austria. Probably because he worked in Vienna and because the political conditions that led to his downfall are viewed different today, the 1848 revolution is now viewed positively also in Austria, as a first step towards democracy.

[@Taimoorabdullah]

I remember that scene from Schindler's list where at the end he cries and breaks down about 'i could have saved more' if he did xyz other things like sold his gold ring. It puts in perspective how Semmelweis' guilt probably played out in his mind and how it caused his behavior to change to be so aggressive to other physicians and be so gentle with patients. A very heavy burden to bear of what could have been if so and so and how something that makes sense to you does not make the smallest of change in saving lives when you tell it to others

[@theresahemminger1587]

Semmelweis *is* well-known and honored. What is new to me is the midwife element of this story and the women’s attempts to go to the midwives. It’s hard to understand why the doctors didn’t send their patients to the midwives until they learned to prevent the deaths in their own clinic. Childbirth was historically the province of women but the medical profession cut out midwives and it is only recently that midwives have been revived and work in conjunction with doctors in case of emergencies.

[@IreneWY]

Just another case of patriarchy thinking they know better than feeble minded women, but then botch it in the process 🤦‍♀️

[@MrDirzel]

It's actually easy to understand why they didn't do the sensible thing. Ego and arrogance.

[@dallyshallow6212]

also, don't forget that women back then were NOT comfortable around men naked, ESPECIALLY during childbirth! if a mother is in FEAR or panic mode, she and her baby are in DANGER, labor is DIFFICULT and LOTS can go wrong! I know back in the day women did NOT want men looking up their skirts bc even THEIR OWN HUSBANDS were NOT allowed in the delivery room. but MALE DOCTORS have an ego the size of the universe, especially back then, and looking EVERYWHERE ELSE for the problem WAS the problem. THEY WERE THE PROBLEM. men are not supposed to be a part of the birthing process, they know NOTHING about it, they CANNOT experience it EVER so how would they know and their mentality is WRONG for this whole process. ego has no place in the birthing room!

[@chupacabra304]

Hubris

[@RadishAcceptable]

I honestly can't blame him for going insane and being aggressive. The data was there! It was plain and clear! But people didn't want to listen because it was inconvenient. People were trading convenience for the lives of mothers. He had every right to be so angry. A very very sad end for a passionate, brilliant man. He should be remembered. Thank you for this video.

[@kdv9711]

I would honestly gone insane too. Imagine you've already proven and tested a solution to prevent deaths but you were ignored and people still keep dying because of "professionals" being prideful and ignorant? That shit will surely drive me insane . Hope Dr. ignaz semmelweis will be at peace and know somewhere that his contribution to humanity will forever save every lives until the end of time, he never deserved his end for the dedication he had done 🙏

[@wangkiyu]

This almost brought me to tears, I'm so glad his theories and practices were eventually adopted and weren't just silenced and forgotten, which could have easily happened ...

[@mitab1]

Imagine the death toll if people throw his work to the way side,

[@margaretr5701]

Hopefully, 'the English way' he mentioned as an example to back up his theory, would've become apparent. Poor man, having to deal with such stubborn arrogance, and his ending is heartbreaking, knowing what he through. Put in a straight jacket and left in a dark room, and beaten. Barbaric, and no one attended his funeral, not even his wife and children. This is hard to understand, did he not have one friend, or loving family member? Very sad.

[@Maphisto86]

I am so relieved to be born in a much more scientific time when medical science is much better than in many times and places. Yet, I have to wonder, if medical science and technology continue to improve, how will future generations cringe at our ignorance or medical practices?

[@2020_Visi0n]

I feel the same way about cars. We'll wince at how we allowed almost anyone to drive, unautomated vehicles no matter their state of mind considering how many lives the roads claim every year. Ancient history is another one. Look up Graham Hancock's series 'Ancient Apocalypse' if you haven't already

[@baneverything5580]

This very platform and the FDA lied about and censored DOCTORS since early 2020. And these doctors were proven RIGHT! Think about that. It was MURDER!

[@greengreen110]

i could imagine people in a world where cancer has a cure laughing about our current treatments

[@ryanb9873]

MRNA gene therapies for a manufactured, lab-leaked flu....

[@vectoralphaAI]

​@@2020_Visi0n100% full autonomous level 5 self driving cars are the future.

[@stevenmiller2427]

That was a powerful presentation. Hand washing and overall cleanliness in medical facilities is still a problem today. It is mostly due to laziness, not a lack of knowledge. I can say this because I see it as I work and teach in health care facilities. It is not a big problem, but it is still there.

[@WCHMN3]

It's terrible to know what had happened to him during his life, but know that here in Hungary we not only remember him but respect him a great deal, there are a great deal of universities and hospitals named after him her in Budapest. I even live quite near to a universtiy named right after him. I'd be suprised to find a person here who is at least in there late teens to never had heared of him or know what he has done. Thank you for the video, it was great.

[@phauntis]

Working in a maternity hospital I can't appreciate this video enough. Had learned about him in college but only briefly, I really appreciate this. Thank you

[@missylissy200]

The medical university in Budapest is named after him! I think it's important to know the story of this man. It's comforting that despite the horrors he went through, his legacy lives on, and how hand disinfection is a routine practice nowadays.

[@kanadashyuugo873]

His home country and countrymen betrayed him at EVERY STEP they possibly could. They should be FORBIDDEN to use his name for anything, they don't deserve his inventions and ideas he had to TAKE ELSEWHERE to be actually recognized

[@MrCCFCfan]

​@kanadashyuugo873 while that may be true, those countrymen who betrayed him are long dead and his country now recognises the importance of his discoveries. I see no reason why modern Hungary shouldn't be allowed to honour him now

[@Irish_Georgia_Girl]

​@@kanadashyuugo873What's even more disgusting is that Budapest and Vienna suddenly BOTH wanted to claim Semmelweiss as their "son" AFTER his doctrine became widely accepted. But his hometown... which used to just be called Pesth... had put up a statue after he died prior to the one there now that honors him... calling him "The Great Pesth Fool"!

[@milokurain7293]

@@MrCCFCfan The most tragic aspect of humanity is the inability to rationalize that a child can be different from their parent, and a new generation can learn from the mistakes of the previous, without inheriting any of their sins Truly the epidemic of stupidity survives on the false belief that relations can carry blame

[@dravenoth421]

"A victim of his own heroism" -someone probably

[@stephenlignowski1915]

I recall the same thing happening relatively recently (1982) when it was proven that most stomach ulcers were the result of heliobacter pylori infection, and not stress as was the belief for decades.

[@LilKrazy9292]

Thank you for sharing his story, Kevin. Now I'm going to go semmelweis my hands

[@Timboyxxx]

Wow what a beautiful man this guy was... Idk how he isn't constantly celebrated for his empathy and devotion to saving lives.. So much so that the moment he realized he was inadvertently responsible for lives lost, the guilt drove him crazy. Never heard about this story and you told it so well. Crazy how you and Michael are able to create individual masterpieces of content. Its obvious he was one of few who knew what he was doing and was frustrated by the set in stone theories of medicine at the time. Unable to persuade others of his theories must have been extremely frustrating and caused him to resent so many of his peers. Because of your video, I now know how important this guy was and is to this day. Thank you!

[@YuriMomoiro]

well, back in those days people celebrated nuclear bombs killing millions. Not far fetched to have someone's idea to save millions, shunned, especially when it rejected a popular belief in that community. just sad

[@ducksongfans]

I don't think nuclear bombs existed lol

[@harrietjameson]

​@@YuriMomoironukes were invented almost one hundred years later

[@VariantAEC]

​@@harrietjameson 1800... 1940 1,000 years apart? Please revisit 1st grade math class.

[@solsospecial]

@@VariantAECWTF did you smoke?

[@davidhollenshead4892]

About the advancement of preventing infection in medicine. My grandfather trained as an OB/GYN just in time to serve as a Front-line Field Surgeon in the US Army during WWII. Medical care improved greatly due to both wars due to the sciences, particularly microbiology: In medical school he had to remove a plucked dead chicken from a jar without breaking the skin of the chicken. The chicken had been placed in the jar thru a large opening which was sealed. The purpose of this exercise was to verify that he and his fellow medical students could remove a dead baby thru the small opening without having sharp bones puncture the mother leading to infection. And yes, my grandfather could break the bones of a dead baby without puncturing it's skin. Like the way the KGB could break the bones of their victims without breaking the skin so that they could put the body in a suitcase without it leaking as they didn't have plastic suitcases. [ The KGB used lots of rags to prevent leaking from the mouth & other places.]... Cesarean sections were performed, but only when the mother was going to die anyway but the baby might be saved because antibiotics had not yet been developed... As a junior physician he, like the rest of the staff did their rounds while smoking a cigar because smoking was harmful to Tuberculosis bacteria. This was due to not having surgical masks that would prevent infection by bacteria. [ Viruses are about 10% of the size of bacteria. The N95 masks we used for the covid virus are great, but back then they didn't even have masks that would stop bacteria.]...

[@DTavona]

A shortened version of Max Planck's dictum -- "Science advances one grave at a time"; i.e., as the closed minds of the old guard are replaced by younger minds open to new ideas.

[@JamieShultz]

Dang. I could feel his guilt at the lives that he had innocently ended and that no number of lives saved would ever absolve him of that guilt. Great story and well told. Thank you.

[@iooog1]

im a nursing student and find this story to be INCREDIBLY fucking beautiful and inpireing. Semmelweis is a hero who I will look up to. I pray that One day I will have half of his determination and resolve to reduce suffering in this world.

[@hieronymusbutts7349]

I think the big lesson here is you don't have to change everything to change the world. One small goal can be enough.

[@tracesprite6078]

A useful thing you can do as a nurse is to keep encouraging people to practise good hygiene e.g. to wash their hands.

[@KilerkRazorclaw]

As a former medic, i can see the weight of knowing driving him to insanity. My few losses comparitively ate at me for years and years and still even to this day with a therapist and plenty of strong drinks when needed it still gets to me every now and then. I have to keep repeating in my head 'not your fault' till the point i at least halfway believe it. I DON'T want to even imagine the war his head must have been.

[@broEye1]

I always thought Semmelweis's story was incredible, and horrifically tragic. And indeed, it stands as one of the saddest demonstrations of the concept of "paradigm shift" as it was originally conceived. But one thing I really wish is that his name would be included in history and biology books. Any class that mentions Pasteur or talks about how infections happen ought to include his story. He deserves to be every bit as much a household name as those that finally brought his work to broad acceptance.

[@MrMidwife06911]

I will forever be grateful to Dr. Semmelweis. In my opinion, he made one of the top five most important discoveries in medical history. God bless you, my dear man.

[@gretaweiss6802]

What are the other 4 discoveries? I’m curious now! If you have time to respond, please do! Thank you 😊

[@shinobix4925]

I am also curious as to what the others are. I'm guessing one of them will be the discovery of soap

[@ElectrostatiCrow]

​@@gretaweiss6802I'd say fire, electricity, farming and the internet are the other most important inventions for me.

[@gretaweiss6802]

@@ElectrostatiCrow In medical history?

[@ElectrostatiCrow]

@@gretaweiss6802 My mind didn't register that part. I thought he was talking about inventions in general. I don't know much about the medical field.

[@stefanmilicevic5322]

Thank you for highlighting Semmelweis's outstanding contribution and shedding light on the somber reality of the immense difficulties he faced in his relentless pursuit of truth, which undoubtedly saved countless lives to this day. Rest in peace, Ignaz Semmelweis, may you find eternal rest.

[@bookworm_of_heaven]

that last quote of semmelweis moved me to tears. so powerful. wish wed learn about him in school or sth

[@MouthJaw]

Imagine being so bright about something that you're shunned and after you're dead you're praised

[@Logjambam]

For what this channel started as (not diminishing the previous content), it's been incredible how kevin has told some incredibly important stories not just about math, but human nature and how we can learn, and treat people better because of it. You have really made a special thing here. The work that goes into each them is inspiring to me and I'm sure many others

[@Irish_Georgia_Girl]

Definitely! I just discovered Kevin tonight and joined immediately after the video!

[@XiaolinDraconis]

Still disappointed that he doesn't mention magnets more often.

[@liamjones2131]

I watch few long videos in their full, but, Vsauce2, and Vsauce (1) have always been the ones I watch in their entirety. The videos they share with us, are not just videos. They are lessons in the way of history, lest we fall back upon our own progress. "Those who ignore the events of history, are doomed to repeat them."

[@jeplica7011]

Those who perpetuate the cycle and benefit from hiding the truth are doomed to fill the voids beneath those faulty foundations

[@liamjones2131]

@jeplica7011 If only, most of them are hoarding egregious amounts of wealth and power, and subsequently can sometimes entirely silence some breakthroughs that could save or enrich so many other lives.

[@basilunderworld]

this was so intense because I was born in that hospital, went there a few times, and still live in austria. its wild what happened. I feel so sorry for Semmelweiß and all the lives lost. its truly a tragic story.

[@wundermax1993]

Man, thumbs up for actually looking up the pronunciation of Budapest and then delivering it perfectly. You don't know how rare of a feat this is! Cheers, and greetings from Buda :)

[@danteking3596]

This video was phenomenally done and immensely educational. Before today, I had no clue who this man was, and now I can thank him for my life and countless other humans being born healthy.

[@Codexionyx101]

To be a hero is a sacrifice, one that can carry ramifications that affect someone for the rest of their life. It is, in my view, criminal, that those among us who bear the greatest burden receive the least support.

[@OlliGarch]

My great grandma died during childbirth. I wonder if this was the reason. My grandpa was born in the 1920s his mom who was full blooded Cherokee and he never got to see her. So sad

[@WynneL]

Thank you for this incredibly moving portrait of a man I never knew existed, who may be the reason I exist. While bipolar sounds possible, I could also see BPD. People with BPD can come across as abrasive from their extreme emotions. When you feel everything much more strongly than others, the world can seem full of unempathetic monsters. I find it ironic he was accused of psychopathy for feeling things much more deeply than most, but people with BPD have been misunderstood that way. Bipolar moods tend to swing up or down for days at a time; BPD is more mercurial, causing any emotion to spike in response to sudden emotional triggers. His passionate nature drove him to save lives. It breaks my heart that no one saved him back.

[@avaraportti1873]

Now, here's a person who fought convention and died and suffered suppression, insanity, degeneration and guilt for humanity; not just a hero, but a saviour and a martyr, a true messiah.

[@arcadiaberger9204]

The Messiah was supposed to triumph and conquer, of course....

[@TheBoss0110101001]

Just like with the covid jabs

[@arcadiaberger9204]

@@TheBoss0110101001 Yes, the amount of abuse and the vile accusations which Dr. Fauci has suffered for simply doing his job as he has quietly done for decades is profoundly saddening. There are people out there who speak with confidence about the coming "war crimes" trials at which Dr. Fauci will be the centerpiece. There is something deeply wrong with a disturbingly large minority of the U.S. population.

[@sirsir9665]

Think about how many doctors and scientists go through this daily...

[@arcadiaberger9204]

@@sirsir9665 That's the really heartbreaking thing.

[@C_Corpze]

Damn, that's a tragic story, but this man needs to be remembered as a hero for his discoveries and hard work.

[@PS3PCDJ]

The saddest thing is he never got to see the fruits of his struggle.

[@Arthion]

Good lord, this man should be celebrated as one of the greatest doctors in history yet I hadn't even heard about him before this. His name and work really needs to celebrated more as one of the foundations of modern clinical practise.

[@Slackow]

I remember us learning about this story in highschool, not to this level of detail, but the chlorine, and the two clinics, etc. it was very memorable how people didn't believe him despite his methods showing tangible results.

[@StormyHotwolf88]

I am grateful to live in the age of the internet, because I never heard of this man in school. Semmelwies is a name worth being a household name.

[@TheMattyMadMan]

I'm just shocked a priest from that era was actually like helpful and like "sure we can try your way"

[@KingaKucyk]

This man is trully a hero and an excellent example of "science" not always being in the right and the "crazies" sometimes being the key for real progress. Just because we cannot see it, doesn't mean it's not there. Soon, we will have better equipment and, lo and behold, what was invisible, becomes visible. He's a world's hero, and... He's my hero as well. He shows us that science, the REAL science, is ever evolving process, not a stationary thing and things should be percieved as possible, unless prooved impossible. This guy is the progress embodied, there's no other way I can describe it.

[@10Gpixels]

That quote from Max Planck goes so unbelievably hard. Also happy to see Ignaz Semmelweis getting the well-deserved credit for saving millions.

[@pyrmontbridge4737]

Sorry, I missed that (noisy background here). What was it?

[@10Gpixels]

@@pyrmontbridge4737 “A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.” -Max Planck

[@pyrmontbridge4737]

@@10Gpixels Thank you. I vaguely remember this. It is a truism.

[@dlbstl]

I was looking for your comment. It did not disappoint. I am so glad that you said what I was thinking too!

[@beepbop6697]

47:43 ftw

[@ZealoustranceTube]

Wow, the way you wrapped that up damn near brought tears to my eyes. It's always so painful to hear how some of the greatest minds had to deal with the beliefs of the day and often suffered because of those beliefs. So many brilliant minds.

[@rosebrown6381]

Who knows what chemicals he tried before chlorine that may have harmed his brain along the way too. I mean, it's not like long term exposure to stuff was well known back then anyway. And like many, he built knowledge so others could further the field, even if he didn't get the recognition in his own time (or even now). Some genius just does quietly great work, fighting to better the world.

[@BingQilin]

Imagine getting sent to the nuthouse for telling people to wash their damn hands

[@peterstangl8295]

As a hungarian, i knew who Semmelweis was, but never knew his full story. Thank you so much, Kevin, for making this video, it was enlightening!

[@toonedin]

My God! Man, that was enough to make a grown man cry! My grandmother died in Childbirth circa mid 40s for lack of Penicillin. As I heard the tale from my father, I could not feel the emotion behind that loss. (My grandfather was an important civil servant then who could, and did, arrange for the life-saving Penicillin but it couldn't reach the patient in time). Watching this video finally made that emotional connect for me. My throat is choked with emotion and my eyes, brimming with tears.

[@beepbop6697]

People don't die from "lack of penicillin". Penicillin is an antibiotic cure: she died from an infection which went untreated.

[@dezsomodos1314]

We recently watched a play in London about his life. As a Hungarian who learned medicine in the university which has his name I am proud how he stood against the establishment and saved billions. I hope I will be able to achieve a fraction of his work during my career. Public health and statistics are really important disciplines what we neglect during our curriculum.

[@nicolasjensen7221]

Seen all you films, and seen all in vsauce 1,2,3 this is top 5 of the best videos on Vsauce... plz make more of these...

[@hancocki]

It's crazy how this is all so obvious to us today, and so tragic how he was treated for his efforts.

[@CptVein]

Wow, this video made me feel something. How many Semmelweis in hisotry have existed that we have absolutely no idea about. I hope you make more of these. Thank you Kevin and thank you VS2.

[@johnbash-on-ger]

Great points made!

[@Arkios64]

The fact that the title is only a 'slight' exaggeration is mind-blowing. To so many people he definitely did just that, and to many more alive today he did so much more... thank you for telling us about this hero. May we remember him and through appreciation raise him just that tiny bit higher from the hell his peers cast him into. Hopefully he gets to take his rightful place among the stars, eventually.

[@calamityjehn]

A man whose warm heart and the cruel indifference of the world drove him mad. For a man to have such compassion, especially during the time he was alive for women and children is both sadly awe inspiring and so tragic that it was a rarity.

[@maricruzminter]

I am a new mother of two beautiful babies, and this hit home really hard for me. I can't imagine having to brave the situations this man fought tirelessly against. I hope he found peace and happiness after passing❤

[@Irish_Georgia_Girl]

And imagine what those poor mothers had to face to give birth back then before his doctrine became implemented. We are so lucky to not have to worry whether we'll ever leave the hospital alive with our child. Congratulations on your beautiful little angels! 💐🎉💕

[@maricruzminter]

@@Irish_Georgia_Girl I know😬 Thank you😊❤️

[@VerdadTruth]

His passion and power of character made him a hero. All women and men everywhere should give this man his much much deserved flowers.

[@TracinyaLachance]

I was given a lovely illustrated book on medical history when I was a child, and Semmelweis featured in it. It absolutely broke my 8-year-old heart to learn about him then, and it still does now. That poor man.