In the early 1840s, a Hungarian doctor named Ignaz Semmelweis made a discovery. A doctor had performed an autopsy. Then he went directly to the delivery room and delivered a baby.

Soon after the delivery, the mother died. Semmelweis determined the doctors hands were covered in a substance that caused the mother’s death and insisted doctors wash their hands often and with a cleansing agent.

He presented evidence their hands were transferring

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