Although, during the 2015 UNESCO Memorial Year, countless commemorations, thoughts, analyses, books and papers were published about Ignác Semmelweis, if anyone thinks that everything has already been
said about the most well-known and most respected Hungarian doctor then he or she will be absolutely wrong. The number of works of art, scientific analyses and publications in memory of Semmelweis’s work, life and death is incredibly high. Nevertheless, in the year 2018, which the Hungarian Government declared to be a memorial year and when Semmelweis University, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the representatives of all Hungarian health care institutions will be celebrating together, we will participating in numerous programmes. In the course of these various programmes, the highly controversial image of Semmelweis, which was formulated by his admirers and followers during the past one and a half–two centuries, will be further enriched. The author of this preface believes that the conferences and symposia of great historical significance will be topped off by this memorial volume published by Semmelweis Kiadó.
Going through the table of contents, a lot of things strike us. One of them is that not only Hungarian doctors, scientists and natural historians but also
foreign colleagues contributed to the completeness of this treasury. It is already well known today that Semmelweis’s doctrine animated not only the Hungarian medical public opinion, but also caused a large number of people throughout the world to be for or against the saviour of mothers. However, this process did not stop after the recognition of Semmelweis’s discovery, but is still going on, even more vigorously nowadays, when the uncontested truth is common knowledge. Certainly, the focus of interest is still the personal life of the genius and his dramatic fate, but people today are also keen to know why scientific public opinion did not accept the obvious facts earlier and, moreover, what information or lack of information
blinded the opponents of Semmelweis’s thoughts. It has become an exciting issue for the history of science to know who celebrated or appreciated
Semmelweis’ discovery, when and how. Altogether – however surprising it may sound – there are still phenomena in the health care system of Hungary and around the world that testify that, although Semmelweis’s doctrine is acknowledged in words or textbooks, it is still not always followed and practiced everywhere.
The Semmelweis Commemorative Committee, led by Professor László Rosivall, compiled a publication that looks for the answers to all these questions and often gives the answer to them. This work is not a reprint or revised edition of the highly successful book of 2015 but a continuation of it. This completely new selection, made from original studies by the best professionals, can be introduced in the preface only with the following words: “although we are striving for completeness, the Semmelweis image is still not final.”
I am sure that, in the future, after the 2018 memorial year, we will continue to talk and write about the actions of the greatest Hungarian doctor.
Ágoston Szél, Rector of Semmelweis University (2018)