Karl Landsteiner made an important discovery in 1901 when he examined blood. He mixed blood to see how that blood reacted. Landsteiner noticed that there were different reactions.
The discovery was very important and has already saved many lives. The discovery of different blood groups made blood transfusions possible. Patients are given blood from people with the same blood type. In 1930 Karl Landsteiner was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine.
The scientist was born in Vienna on June 14, 1868, the only child of the Jewish journalist Leopold Landsteiner. In 1911 he became professor of pathology at the University of Vienna. After the First World War he emigrated to the Netherlands. In his own country, the climate for Jews became increasingly hostile. From 1919 to 1922, Landsteiner worked as a pathologist at the St. Joannes de Deo Hospital in The Hague. He then left for New York where he conducted medical research on behalf of the Rockefeller Institute. Later he was naturalized as a citizen of the United States.
Karl Landsteiner died on June 26, 1943 in armor. He had a heart attack while doing research in his lab. The Nobel laureate turned 75 years old.
