Imagine practising medicine without access to blood transfusions. It was Karl Landsteiner who classified human blood into groups based on the presence of naturally occurring agglutinating antibodies, and whose findings eventually established safe transfusion procedures. Landsteiner’s discovery literally saved millions of human lives. This article unravels the historic journey of this Nobel laureat e .
During 1902 Landsteiner, an Austrian-born American immunologist announced one of the major medical discoveries of the century of the ABO blood group system. His work permitted successful blood transfusion and the saving of so many lives. He was over 70 when in 1940 he announced the discovery of the rhesus (Rh) factor. Prior to his discovery, patients in need of blood received transfusions from animals such as sheep or randomly selected human donors – usually with disastrous consequences.…
