Context of Medicine in the 20th Century

• What was the current understanding of infection?

  -there was still misunderstanding of what infection in surgery

  -pasteur's germ theory identified that germs cause decay

  -lister used carbolic acid to clean wounds

  -doctors finally understood the importance of carrying out aseptic surgery by the early 1900s
• What was still an issue with aseptic surgery

  blood loss
• Who performed the first blood transfusions?

  James Blundell
• Who discovered the three main blood groups and when?

  Karl Landsteiner in 1901
• Who, when and how was it figured out to stop blood clotting?

  Richard Weil, 1915, adding sodium citrate