The Life and Work of pioneering physician Ignaz P. Semmelweis, who discovered the causes and means of prevention of the pandemic of his day, childbed fever. Called the Father of Antisepsis, he was largely ignored, placed in an asylum and murdered. He was a man who did good for women. His life was a beneficial example for all mankind. Kurt Vonnegut To be sure, Semmelweis was a pioneering physician and scientist whose accomplishments should be studied for their contributions to science. But he was also a feminist, and his work should be understood in that vein, also. –Ellen Nerenberg, Hollis Professor of Romance Languages & Literatures, Wesleyan UniversityLooking at and understanding someone like Semmelweis on a deep level and how he combated prejudices and prevailing thoughts and changed the way medicine is practiced is as relevant today as it was in the 1840s.-Prakash Sampath, M.D. President, Rhode Island Neurological Institute.Readers feel like they are with Semmelweis in the hospital wards where women are dying mysteriously of puerperal fever. We feel with him as he hunts down the cause of the disease with observation and deductive reasoning. We share the exhilarating joy of discovering the cause and then, once the establishment resists the findings, and rejects the easy prevention of the disease, Semmelweis’s initial outrage and anger– —Eric Goldman, professor, University of ConnecticutOur history, so full of tragedies like his, unrealized potential: failed reformers and inventors, scientists and artists embittered and ignored, driven to early death. -Akoes Ostor, professor, author, filmmakerRead this book, men and women alike. It is one of Valerio’s best.-Rebecca West, emeritus, University of ChicagoFrom the author: I wrote the last draft of this book in the winter of 2019, more than a year before the current pestilence, which kills indiscriminately, and more than 170 years after the one witnessed and suffered by Dr. Semmelweis, namely childbed fever, killing hordes of new mothers and, often, their babies. Wash Your Hands! He exclaimed, to little avail.-Anthony Valerio. 20/20 … the hope is that today, around the world, at this moment, when one is passing and using surely one of millions of hand sanitizers, a thought can possibly go out to Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis and a fuller understanding, and appreciation, of his life and work. thank you, Anthony Valerio
