Editing Ignaz Semmelweis (section)

==Legacy==
[[File:Semmelweis statue.jpg|thumb|Semmelweis statue at the [[University of Tehran]]]]
[[File:50 EURO Gold Coin - Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis - Austria.jpg|thumb|right|alt=At left, the obverse of a golden coin depicts a bust of Semmelweis as an old man, accompanied by the rod of Asclepius; it bears the inscription "IGNAZ PHILLIP SEMMELWEIS 1818 1865 50 EURO 2008 REPUBLIK ÖSTERREICH". At right, the reverse of the same coin depicts a birds-eye view of the General Hospital in Vienna, inscribed with the text "ALLGEMEINES KRANKENHAUS WIEN"; this face is inset with a tableau of a doctor and student disinfecting their hands.|[[Euro gold and silver commemorative coins (Austria)#2008 coinage|2008 Austrian commemorative coin]] picturing Semmelweis ([[euro|€]]50 gold coin)]]
[[File:Musée d' histoire de la Médecine dit Musée Semmelweis à BUDAPEST.jpg|thumb|His birthplace, now [[Semmelweis Museum of Medical History]]]]

{{Main|Contemporary reaction to Ignaz Semmelweis}}
Semmelweis' advice on chlorine washings was probably more influential than he realized. Many doctors, particularly in Germany, appeared quite willing to experiment with the practical [[hand washing]] measures that he proposed—although virtually everyone rejected his basic and ground-breaking innovation: that the disease had only one cause, lack of cleanliness.{{sfn|Semmelweis|1983|p=48}} [[Gustav Adolf Michaelis]], a professor at a maternity institution in [[Kiel]], replied positively to Semmelweis' suggestions, but eventually committed suicide, feeling responsible for the death of his own cousin, whom he had examined after she gave birth.{{sfn|Semmelweis|1983|pp=176–178}}

Only belatedly did his observational evidence gain wide acceptance. More than twenty years later, [[Louis Pasteur]]'s work on the germ theory of disease offered a ''theoretical'' explanation for Semmelweis' observations. Consequently, the Semmelweis story is often used in university courses with [[epistemology]] content, e.g. [[philosophy of science]] courses—demonstrating the virtues of [[empiricism]] or [[positivism]] and providing a historical account of which types of knowledge count as scientific (and thus accepted) knowledge, and which do not. [[Carl Gustav Hempel|C. Hempel]], just to mention one, dedicated the first pages of his ''[[Philosophy of Natural Science]]'' to Semmelweis, arguing that the latter's method is typical of contemporary scientific research, in that the doctor framed a series of hypotheses, verifying them through [[fallibilism|falsifying]] experiments in accordance with Hempel's [[deductive-nomological model]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hempel | first1=Carl |title=Philosophy of Natural Science |publisher=Prentice-Hall, Inc. |location=Englewood Cliffs, NJ |year=1966 | isbn=978-0136638230}} § 2.1, § 2.2.</ref> It has been seen as an irony that Semmelweis' critics considered themselves positivists, but even positivism suffers problems in the face of theories which seem magical or superstitious, such as the idea that "corpse particles" might turn a person into a corpse, with no causal mechanism being stipulated, after a simple contact. To his contemporaries, Semmelweis seemed to be reverting to the speculative theories of earlier decades that were so repugnant to his positivist contemporaries.{{sfn|Semmelweis|1983|p=45}}

[[File:Semmelweis Ignác emlékmű, Stróbl Alajos, 1904-06.jpg|thumb|right|Statue of Semmelweis in front of Szent Rókus Hospital, Budapest, Hungary (erected in 1904, work of [[Alajos Stróbl]])]]

Because his ideas were ridiculed and rejected by his contemporaries, the trait of human behaviour characterized by an automatic rejection of new knowledge because it contradicts entrenched norms, beliefs or paradigms, has been called the [[Semmelweis reflex]].

Other legacies of Semmelweis include:
* Semmelweis is now recognized as a pioneer of [[antiseptic]] policy.
* [[Semmelweis University]], a university for medicine and health-related disciplines, located in [[Budapest, Hungary]].
* The [[Semmelweis Museum of Medical History]] is located in the house where he was born.{{sfn|Semmelweis Orvostörténeti Múzeum}}
* The Semmelweis Klinik, a hospital for women located in Vienna, Austria.
* The Semmelweis Hospital in [[Miskolc]], Hungary.
* The Semmelweis Hospital in Kiskunhalas, Hungary.{{sfn |''Kiskunhalasi Semmelweis Kórház''}}
* In 2008, an image of Semmelweis was selected as the [[obverse and reverse|obverse]] of an Austrian [[Euro gold and silver commemorative coins (Austria)#2008 coinage|commemorative coin]].{{sfn|Muenze Oesterreich AG|2017}}
* Minor planet [[4170 Semmelweis]] is named after him.
* A postage stamp was issued by Hungary on 1 July 1932 in the "Famous Hungarians" series: ''Stamp:Ignác Semmelweis (1818~1865), physician''
* A postage stamp was issued by Hungary on 5 December 1954 in the "Scientists" series.
* Inclusion as a [[Google Doodle]], beginning on 20 March 2020, to promote handwashing during the [[COVID-19 pandemic]].{{sfn |''Google'' |2020}}{{sfn |Musil |2020}}
* The Ignác Semmelweis Prize, the most prestigious Hungarian medical award.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://m.hvg.hu/tudomany/20210525_kariko_katalin_semmelweis_dij|title=Karikó Katalin megkapta a legrangosabb magyar orvosi díjat|date=25 May 2021}}</ref>
* On 13 January 2023, a [[Bust (sculpture)|bust]] of Semmelweis was unveiled at the [[Queen Mary University of London]].<ref>dteurope.com: [https://dteurope.com/news/semmelweis-statue-unveiled-at-a-medical-school-in-london/ ''Ignác Semmelweis Statue Inaugurated in London'']</ref>

===Films===
* ''[[That Mothers Might Live]]'' (1938), US, [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM]], director: [[Fred Zinnemann]]. Played by [[Shepperd Strudwick]]. Oscar for the [[Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film|best short film]]
* ''[[Semmelweis (1940 film)|Semmelweis]]'' (1940), Hungary, [[Mester Film]], director: [[André de Toth]]. Played by [[Tivadar Uray]]
* ''[[Semmelweis&nbsp;– Retter der Mütter]]'' (1950), East Germany, [[DEFA]], director: [[Georg C. Klaren]]. Played by [[Karl Paryla]]
* ''Ignaz Semmelweis: Gynecologist'' (1989), West Germany/Austria/Hungary, [[ZDF]]/[[ORF (broadcaster)|ORF]], director: [[Michael Verhoeven]]. Played by [[Heiner Lauterbach]]
* ''Semmelweis'' (1994), the Netherlands, [[Humanistische Omroep Stichting]], director: [[Floor Maas]]. Played by [[Stefan de Walle]]
* ''Docteur Semmelweis'' (1995), France/Poland, director: [[Roger Andrieux]]. Played by [[Philippe Volter]]
* ''Semmelweis'' (2001 short film), US/Austria, [[Elfi von Dassanowsky|Belvedere Film]], director: [[Jim Berry (filmmaker)|Jim Berry]], producers: [[Robert von Dassanowsky|Robert Dassanowsky]] and [[Elfi von Dassanowsky]]. Played by Fritz Michel
* ''{{ill|Semmelweis (2023 film)|hu|Semmelweis (film, 2023)|lt=Semmelweis}}'' (2023) Film Positive Productions (Budapest, Hungary), director: [[Lajos Koltai]]

===Literature===
* {{citation
|last1=Semmelweis |first1=Ignác|last2=von Györy|first2=Tiberius |title=Semmelweis's Gesammelte Werke Herausgegeben und zum Theil aus dem Ungarischen Übersetzt|trans-title=The complete published works of Semmelweis, in part published from Hungarian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oVDSUzGAU1cC|year=1905|publisher=Jena Verlag von Gustav Fischer|language=de|page=604 |ref=none}} is the classic reference, in Latin print, not the original Gothic print.
* [[Louis-Ferdinand Céline]] completed his M.D. thesis on Semmelweis in 1924. It was published as a fictionalized biography under the title ''La Vie et l'œuvre de Philippe Ignace Semmelweis'' in 1936 (English versions: ''The Life and Work of Semmelweis'', tr. by Robert Allerton Parker, Boston : Little, Brown and Company, 1937; ''Semmelweis'', tr. by John Harman, Atlas Press, 2008).
* In William Forstchen's ''[[The Lost Regiment]]'' series of novels, one of the main characters is a doctor named Emil Weiss, the regiment's surgeon.  On multiple occasions, it is mentioned that he had studied under Semmelweis and as such had developed effective sanitation techniques to avoid infection when treating injuries.
* [[Morton Thompson]]'s 1949 novel ''[[The Cry and the Covenant]]'' is a fictionalized account based on the life of Semmelweis.
* ''Motherkillers'', a novel by John Piper, based on the Semmelweis story.{{sfn|Piper|2007}}
* [[Kurt Vonnegut]] praises Semmelweis at length in his 2005 memoir, ''[[A Man Without a Country]]'', portraying his story as a tragic tale of a powerful force for good being ignored, mocked and derided in his own time. Vonnegut called him "my hero" and held his story up as a beneficial example for all mankind.
* ''Genius Belabored: Childbed Fever and the Tragic Life of Ignaz Semmelweis'', by Theodore G. Obenchain.{{sfn|Obenchain|2016}}
* {{citation|title=Semmelweis Ignác rövid boldogsága|trans-title=The Brief Happiness of Ignaz Semmelweis}}, a 2022 novel by {{ill|Péter Gárdos|hu|Gárdos Péter (filmrendező)}}, a fictionalized account of the life of Semmelweis.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Jankovics |first1=Márton |title=Az is bolond, aki zsenivé lesz Magyarországon – ilyen lenne Thuróczy Szabolcs az el nem készült Semmelweis-filmben |url=https://24.hu/kultura/2022/09/26/semmelweis-ignac-rovid-boldogsaga-regeny-film-elozetes-gardos-peter-thuroczy-szabolcs-jordan-tamas/ |access-date=13 August 2024 |work=[[24.hu]] |date=26 September 2022 |language=Hungarian}}</ref>

===Drama/plays===
* ''[[An Enemy of the People]]'', drama by [[Henrik Ibsen]]. The protagonist, a doctor battling both microbes and societal rejection, is at least loosely modeled on Semmelweis. (See [[Thomas Szasz]], ''Liberation by Oppression: A Comparative Study of Slavery and Psychiatry'', Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick & London, p.&nbsp;176.)
* ''Semmelweis'', opera-theater work by Raymond J. Lustig (music) and Matthew Doherty (libretto).  Premiere production June 2018 in Miskolc, Hungary, directed by Martin Boross, featuring Szilveszter Szabó, Veronika Nádasi, and the Bela Bartok Chamber Choir of Szolnok, co-produced by Budapest Operetta Theater and Bartok Plusz Opera Festival.  Nine additional Hungarian-language performances in Budapest, and a five-city tour throughout Hungary, 2018–19.
* ''Semmelweis'' by [[Jens Bjørneboe]]. Performed in 1977 at the [[Shea's 710 Theatre|Studio Arena Theater]] in Buffalo, New York with Lewis J. Stadlen, Kathy Bates, and [[Kim Hunter]]. Performed in 1978 at the [[John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts|Kennedy Center]] in Washington, D.C., with Colin Blakeley. Performed in 1981 at the Hartman Theater in Stamford, Connecticut.
* ''What are you fighting for, Dr Semmelweis'' by Titus Alexander, 1968. Performed July 1969 at the [[Church Hill Theatre]], Edinburgh, Scotland, by pupils of the Edinburgh Rudolf Steiner School Dramatic Society, with Simon Scott as Semmelweis with music composed by Mark Edwards. Translated into German as ''Um was kämpfen Sie, Dr. Semmelweis?'' by Concilia Viegener and performed by a Steiner school in Brazil.
* ''Semmelweis'' by Peter Russell. A 90-minute play broadcast 9 August 1971 on [[BBC Radio 4]] featuring [[Sandor Eles]] in the title role.
* ''Dr Semmelweis'' a new play by [[Stephen Brown (playwright)|Stephen Brown]] with [[Mark Rylance]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Full cast announced for Mark Rylance's Dr Semmelweis at Bristol Old Vic {{!}} WhatsOnStage|url=https://www.whatsonstage.com/bristol-theatre/news/full-cast-mark-rylance-dr-semmelweis_55438.html|access-date=2022-01-09|website=www.whatsonstage.com|date=29 November 2021 |language=en-GB}}</ref> Delayed by the [[COVID-19 pandemic|COVID-19 Pandemic]] and opening at the [[Bristol Old Vic]] in January 2022.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Ltd|first=Supercool|date=2022-01-07|title=Dr Semmelweis|url=https://bristololdvic.org.uk/whats-on/dr-semmelweis|access-date=2022-01-09|website=Bristol Old Vic}}</ref> A West End run of Dr Semmelweis opened at the [[Harold Pinter Theatre]] in June 2023, again to critical acclaim with Mark Rylance in the title role.