Who Discovered the Blood Groups?

Karl Landsteiner (1868 to 1943) an Austrian bacteriologist is the discoverer of the blood group system – that is, the four blood groups A, B, 0 and AB. It was clear to him early on that blood is a “very special juice.” In fact, Landsteiner noticed that when blood was transferred from one person to another, the blood in the vessels often clumped together and decomposed. He published his fundamental findings in 1901 in the “Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift” under the title “On Agglutination Phenomena of Normal Human Blood.”

The discovery of blood groups

On December 11, 1930, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery of human blood groups. One year after his discovery of blood groups (1901), he and forensic pathologist Max Richter developed a method for determining blood groups from bloodstains.

After the end of the First World War, Karl Landsteiner moved first to Holland and later to the Rockefeller Institute (New York) because of economic hardship. There he continued to work on research into blood groups. Together with the American Alexander Solomon Wiener, he discovered the rhesus factor, a blood characteristic in the blood of rhesus monkeys. Landsteiner was still active in research until his death. He died in New York on June 26, 1943.

The blood groups…

The blood group is as old as mankind itself. It is passed on from parents to children according to Mendel’s laws. At the beginning of human history, there was only blood group 0. Today, in addition to blood group 0, there are blood groups A, B, and AB.

Red blood cells – erythrocytes – have certain protein molecules on their cell surface that mark the cells, so to speak. These molecules are called antigens and they determine the blood group of a person.

If a person with blood group A receives a blood preparation with blood group B during a transfusion, violent reactions occur, which can range from shock to death.

Today, after exact research and investigation one knows that humans with the blood group AB tolerate all other blood groups, the blood group 0 can be received by all groups. This knowledge is still important today in blood transfusion and surgery.

… And the rhesus system

In addition to the AB0 system, the Rhesus system (Rh system) is of great importance. 85% of the population have Rh positive (i.e., the Rh antigenic red cell trait is present), and 15% have Rh negative (i.e., the Rh antigen is absent).

Since the discovery of blood groups a little over a hundred years ago, medicine has advanced rapidly. But it was the discovery of blood groups that made blood transfusion possible and improved many surgical techniques. Landsteiner’s discoveries are also of elementary importance in forensic medicine, for example, in proving paternity or identifying blood stains.