Anecdotes

In 1865, the increasingly outspoken Ignaz Semmelweis allegedly suffered a nervous breakdown and was committed to an asylum by his colleagues. In the asylum, he was beaten by the guards. He died 14 days later from a gangrenous wound on his right hand that may have been caused by the beating.

What the film fails to mention is that one major reason why Dr. Semmelweis' observations and methods were not believed by his colleagues was because he could not provide a theoretical explanation for them. Microbiology pioneer, Louis Pasteur's confirmation of the Germ Theory of Disease, which would provide that explanation, was still decades away during Semmelweis' lifetime.

Another legacy is the so-called Semmelweis reflex-a metaphor for a certain type of human behaviour characterized by reflex-like rejection of new knowledge because it contradicts entrenched norms, beliefs, or paradigms-obviously named after Semmelweis, whose ideas were ridiculed and rejected by his contemporaries.

While there is uncertainty regarding its origin and generally accepted use, the expression "Semmelweis Reflex" had been used by the author Robert Anton Wilson. In Wilson's book The Game of Life, Timothy Leary provided the following polemical definition of the Semmelweis reflex: "Mob behavior found among primates and larval hominids on undeveloped planets, in which a discovery of important scientific fact is punished."

This film won the Oscar® for Best Short Subject, One-Reel.

PROLOGUE: "Among a thousand hidden battlefronts soldiers of peace wage ceaseless warfare. Not to destroy life but to save it: To make this world a happier place in which to live.---Ignaz Semmelweis"