You’ll need to read the full Ignaz Semmelweis story for this to make sense. If you’re not an Oddballs subscriber, sign up here.
Semmelweis’ story is usually boiled down to a genius who died of rejection. The reality is more nuanced. The establishment rejected him, but he also missed opportunities to have his ideas accepted and self-sabotaged others.
He sent insulting letters calling those who didn’t believe him murderers. He never published his work in a medical journal, which led to misunderstandings. He eventually wrote a book but it was drowning in arrogance, convoluted, and meandering. The translator of the first English version of it wrote, “If Semmelweis had only spent more time in clearly stating his views and less in argument, his book would be twice as good and half as long.” He also never used a microscope and only performed a few rudimentary experiments. These did nothing to further his theory about the source and prevention of childbed fever.
Some argue this is the reason Semmelweis didn’t have a lasting impact on the medical community. It wasn’t until others rediscovered and elaborated on what he found that everyone looked back and realized he was ahead of his time. But everything he needed was right there beside him, hidden in his friends.
Some who believed in him went on to have distinguished medical careers. Ferdinand Hebra was one of Semmelweis’ closest allies and is considered a father of modern dermatology. Hebra navigated the office politics of the day and established a new medical field, he certainly could have helped Semmelweis spread his ideas. The Vienna Medical School was at the cutting edge of technology, and Semmelweis’ peer, Joseph Hyrtl, was a disciple of one of the school’s leading microscopists. What would his experiments have looked like with a cutting edge microscope at his side? It was over a decade after Semmelweis started washing his hands before Pasteur connected microbes to disease. Author Sherwin B. Lund wrote of a possible Semmelweis and Hytrl pairing, “they might even have anticipated [Louis] Pasteur.”
Whatever the reasons, Semmelweis never fully leveraged those around him and at times, pushed people away. The worst instance was when he left Vienna for Hungary without saying a word to anyone. He had been approved for a teaching position in Vienna, but behind closed doors the terms changed and with the final job offer he was restricted from teaching with cadavers. His friends were shocked and he was so embittered, he burned all his bridges on the way out of town.
In a commencement speech at the University of Houston, Arnold Schwarzenegger laid out his belief that the self-made man is a myth — no one can succeed without help. This was a lesson Semmelweis never figured out, he went to the edge of what he could contribute and no further. If he had explored the generosity tucked away in his friends, would we be drinking Semmelweised milk?