When you're in need of a blood transfusion, you'll be given blood that matches the blood your own body produces. But this wasn't always the case. The reason we know about it is because of an Austrian and American biologist by the name of Karl Landsteiner, who discovered the blood groups in 1901.
Landsteiner, who died in June 1943, would have been 148 years old on June 14.
Prior to Landsteiner's discovery, blood transfusions had been attempted as early as the 17th century. Successful transfusions were conducted between animals, but when attempts were made to transfuse animal blood into humans, the human immune system rejected the blood. This can get fatal. The host's antibodies can attack the new red blood cells, breaking them down and causing blood to clot in the veins.
This can occur when a transfusion recipient is given incompatible human blood, too. While some successful human transfusions had taken place in the 19th century, it was largely by luck that they did succeed, and many did not.
Karl Otto Landsteiner, M.D. (1868–1943)
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Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
1930, “for his discovery of human blood groups.”
Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award
1946, with Alexander Wiener and Philip Levine “for the discovery of the Rh factor and its significance as a cause of maternal, prenatal and neonatal morbidity and mortality.” Click here for more details.
AAI Service History
Joined: 1922
President: 1927–1928
Councillor: 1926–1927, 1928–1933
The Journal of Immunology
Advisory Board: 1924–1935
Board of Editors: 1937–1942
Associate Editor: 1943