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Karl Landsteiner discovered human blood groups in 1901, explaining why some early blood transfusions ended in deadly reactions. Mixing serum and red cells from himself and his colleagues, he saw that some combinations made the cells clump. He sorted blood into groups A, B and O; others described AB soon after, and safe transfusion became possible.

Karl Landsteiner, 1901 (Nobel Prize 1930)

HealthScienceHistory

The story behind the card

Before 1901, doctors did not know that blood comes in types that can clash, so transfusions between people succeeded or failed almost by chance. Landsteiner, an Austrian doctor working in Vienna, noticed that serum from one person could make another person's red cells clump; he named the groups A, B and C, the last later renamed O. Matching donor and patient, together with new ways to store blood, made transfusion far more common by the First World War. Landsteiner received the Nobel Prize in 1930, and in 1937, with Alexander Wiener, he identified the Rhesus (Rh) factor, which matters for transfusion and pregnancy.

Türkçe oku
Karl Landsteiner 1901'de insan kan gruplarını keşfetti ve eski kan nakillerinin neden kimi zaman ölümcül tepkilere yol açtığını açıkladı. Kendisinden ve meslektaşlarından aldığı serumla alyuvarları karıştırdığında, bazı karışımlarda hücrelerin kümelendiğini gördü. Kanı A, B ve O gruplarına ayırdı; AB grubunu kısa süre sonra başkaları tanımladı ve güvenli kan nakli mümkün hâle geldi.

1901'den önce hekimler kanın birbiriyle çatışabilen türleri olduğunu bilmiyordu; bu yüzden insandan insana kan nakli neredeyse şansa bağlı olarak ya tutuyor ya tutmuyordu. Viyana'da çalışan Avusturyalı hekim Landsteiner, bir kişinin serumunun başka birinin alyuvarlarını kümelendirebildiğini fark etti; grupları A, B ve C diye adlandırdı, C sonradan O oldu. Bağışçıyla hastanın kan grubunun eşleştirilmesi ve kanı saklamanın yeni yolları sayesinde kan nakli Birinci Dünya Savaşı sırasında çok daha yaygınlaştı. Landsteiner 1930'da Nobel Ödülü'nü aldı; 1937'de de Alexander Wiener'le birlikte, hem kan nakli hem gebelik için önemli olan Rh (Rhesus) faktörünü belirledi.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Karl Landsteiner
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