Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis, the son of a prosperous shopkeeper, was born on July 1, 1818, at Buda, a city united with Pest in 1873 to form Budapest. After 2 years at the University of Pest, 19-year-old Ignaz matriculated at the University of Vienna as a law student. Unhappy, he returned to the University of Pest and studied medicine (1838-1840). After completing further studies at the University of Vienna, he received a medical degree in April 1844. Following 4 months of special instruction in midwifery, Semmelweis became a provisionary assistant at the First Obstetric Clinic in the large Vienna Lying-In Hospital. Two years later he became a regular assistant to the director of this clinic.

Semmelweis was especially distressed by the horrors of puerperal fever. Within a few hours after delivery, numerous mothers would be afflicted with high fever, rapid pulse, distended abdomen, and excruciating pain. One out of 10 would die as a result of this infection. One observation haunted Semmelweis. The hospital was divided into two clinics: the first for the instruction of medical students, the second for the training of midwives. The mortality due to puerperal fever was significantly greater in the first clinic. Traditional ideas ascribed puerperal fever to epidemic influences; if this were true, both clinics should be equally affected. Overcrowding was suggested; yet the second clinic was ordinarily more crowded than the first. Semmelweis incessantly searched for a better understanding of his puzzling observations.

In 1847 Semmelweis's colleague J. Kolletschka unexpectedly died of an overwhelming infection following a wound he sustained while performing an autopsy. Semmelweis realized that the course of the disease in his friend was remarkably similar to the sequence of events in puerperal fever. Here was an explanation of the difference in mortality between the two clinics: the medical students and teachers dissected corpses, whereas the midwives did no autopsies