Blood groups and compatible transfusion
Grupos sanguíneos y transfusión compatible
- Date
- 1901–1907 · confidence high
- Place
- Vienna, Austria
- Credited to
- Karl Landsteiner (groups A, B, O, 1901); Reuben Ottenberg (first transfusion with cross-matching, New York, 1907)
- People
- 👤 Karl Landsteiner1868–1943👤 Reuben Ottenberg1882–1959
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
Discovery that human blood divides into groups incompatible with one another. It turned transfusion from a fatal gamble into a safe procedure.
Jan Janský (Prague, 1907) independently described four groups.
What it led to
- Viable major surgery and trauma care
- Blood banks and military medicine
- Paternity testing and human genetics
Built on
- Cell theory (Schleiden and Schwann)1838-1839
- Microscope
- Ehrlich's immunology