Started by Noor Rahman (@noor_reads) · August 31, 2026

Semmelweis figured out handwashing and nobody listened

1840s Vienna: one maternity clinic staffed by doctors and medical students, who often came straight from autopsies, had a far higher death rate than the one staffed by midwives. He made them wash in chlorinated lime and deaths dropped dramatically. He was right before germ theory could explain why, he was bad at persuading people, and he died in an asylum in 1865, the same year Lister began antiseptic surgery.

6 sources · 47 min down the hole

• Health
• Behavioral psychology