Karl Landsteiner an Austrian-born American immunologist,
physician and pathologist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1930 for
Physiology or Medicine for detecting the major blood groups and creating the
ABO system of blood typing that revolutionized the process of blood transfusion
and medical practice related to it.
Early Life and Education:
Born
in 1868 in Vienna, Austria to a journalist father, Karl Landsteiner was a
bright student who was allowed to study medicine when he was merely seventeen
years old. He acquired a degree in medicine from the University of Vienna.
Landsteiner envisioned that the future of medicine was in research, so he
preferred to become a research scientist rather than an ordinary medical
practitioner.
Contributions and Achievements:
Karl
Landsteiner was the first biologist to identify different blood types and to
sort out blood into groups. Before him, scientists thought that the blood of
every person was the same. Blood transfusion was often considered dangerous.
When it did not work, it was believed that the blood from the donor “clumped
together” in the recipient’s body and resulted in his death. Landsteiner
demonstrated that there are certain differences in the structure of human blood
types.
After
working hard for almost one year testing several blood samples, Karl
Landsteiner announced in 1901 that there were three major human blood groups:
A, B and C (which was later called O). One year later in 1902, Landsteiner’s
three fellow scientists discovered a fourth blood type named AB.
The
role of Landsteiner’s contributions in medicine is crucial and thousands of
lives were saved in hospitals during World War I, and are still being saved to
this day. Blood types are used by the police and criminologists to solve crimes
by examining blood samples at crime scenes.
Later Life and Death:
Karl
Landsteiner was a notoriously private person who disliked publicity and rarely
gave interviews and speeches, although much in demand. He became a naturalized
United States citizen in 1929.
Landsteiner
died of a heart attack in 1943 while still performing his duties at his
laboratory at the age of 75. He was honored with a Lasker Award in 1946, three
years after his death.
