Childbed Fever: A Scientific Biography of Ignaz Semmelweis

The life and work of Ignaz Semmelweis is among the most engaging and moving stories in the history of science. Childbed Fever places his life, and his discovery (the cause of childbed fever was a result of a spread of infection because medical personnel in hospitals did not wash their hands thoroughly after conducting autopsies), in the context of his times. While everyone in his era rejected his account because his theory was fundamentally inconsistent with existing medical beliefs about how diseases were transmitted, in time Semmelweis was proven to be correct. His work led to the adoption of a new way of thinking about disease, thus helping to create an entirely new theory - the etiological standpoint that still dominates medicine today.