Kapronczay Károly szerk.: Orvostörténeti Közlemények 194-195. (Budapest, 2006)

TANULMÁNYOK — ARTICLES - HÄNNINEN, O. - FARAGÓ, Mária - MONOS, Emil: Semmelweis ' Discovery and Its Finnish Follow-Up

accepted, and he died as a respected hero of medicine. In Finland, Dr. Ehrström's academic thesis on puerperal fever published before Semmelweis' studies could not open the eyes, and only Pippingsköld was able with the help of Semmelweis' discovery to get through with a thorough change in the obstetrical practices and a practical elimination of puerperal fever before the bacterial etiology of the disease was known. It is interesting to note that the world premier of Bjrörneboe's drama Semmelweis took place in the Finnish Âbo Svenska Theatre. Bjorneboe's life and protest against established believes was much like that of Semmelweis. Mr. Lars Svedberg played the role of Semmelweis. He has later become one of the most eminent Finnish contemporary actors. Semmelweis drama was the first piece he introduced as he started as a young theatre director in 1969. A cknowledgements Authors thank the National Musem of Finland for providing Pippirigsköld's photo, the and Ms. Anna Ehrström for providing for further photos. Unfortunately, the photographers of these photos are not known. We also appreciate the help provided by the Curator Hindrik Strandberg, Editor of the yearbook Hippokrates Annales Societatis Históriáé Medicináé Fennicae, Helsinki, in collecting material for this manuscript and the kind permission to use some of the material in the article Monos et al. (15). This work was supported partly by the Hungarian Széchenyi Fellowship for Professors provided to Emil Monos. Corresponding author: EMIL MONOS, Prof.MD,DSc Semmelweis University Clinical Experimental Research Institute for Physiology H-1082 Budapest. Üllői út 78/a HUNGARY E-mait: Monos@elet2.sote.hu Fax: 334-3162 REFERENCES 1. Benedek I (1980): Semmelweis. Budapest, Gondolat. 2. Björneboe J (1998): Semmelweis. Translated by Joe Martin from Norwegian to English. Los Angeles, Sun and Moon. 3. Céline L-F (1956): Mea culpa. La vie et l'oeuvre de Philippe-Ignace Semmelweis. Paris, Andre Balland. 4. Ehrström C R (1837): Anteckningar om Pueperal-febern á Accuchements-huset i Helsingfors éren 1836 och 1837 (Observations on puerperal fever in 1836 and 1837 in Helsinki Obstetric Hospital, in Swedish). Academic Dissertation, Emperor Alexander's University in Finland (1840). Helsingfors, J.C. Frenckel & Son,.