Karl LandsteinerBorn 14 Jun 1868; died 26 Jun 1943 at age 75. Austrian-American physician, immunologist and pathologist who received the 1930 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the major blood groups and development of the ABO system of blood typing that much reduced risk and made blood transfusion a routine medical practice. Such blood type analysis proved useful also in genetic and legal applications. He first reported that blood had types in 1901. The basis of these types are specific proteins called antigens that are found on the surface of the red blood cells and anti-bodies found in the plasma. He also discovered the Rh factor which explained some complications of pregnancy and birth when the Rh factor of the mother and baby do not match. |
