125 years of the discovery of blood groups (1900)
Karl Landsteiner became famous for developing the modern blood group system by identifying the presence of agglutinins in the blood. He did this by examining how blood reacted when mixed. Sometimes clumping of red blood cells occurred, while in other combinations this did not happen. Based on this, he was able to distinguish three blood groups: A, B, and C. Later, C was renamed 0 (zero), and a fourth blood group was discovered by an assistant: AB. What is your blood group?
Karl Landsteiner
Karl Landsteiner (1868 – 1943) was a Jewish-Austrian, later American, physician and pathologist. In 1900, he established that blood could be classified into blood groups. The distinction between the four blood groups A, B, AB, and O was a groundbreaking breakthrough that saved countless lives.
In 1911, he became Professor of Pathology at the University of Vienna. After the First World War, due to the increasingly deteriorating living conditions in Vienna, he left for the Netherlands, where he worked as a pathologist at the St. Joannes de Deo Hospital in The Hague from 1919 to 1922. In 1922, he joined the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in New York, where he remained until the end of his life (even after his retirement in 1939). He was naturalized as a citizen of the United States.
Karl Landsteiner died of a heart attack while working in the lab. In 1946, three years after his death, Landsteiner was posthumously awarded the Lasker Award. The Dutch Red Cross honored him with the Karl Landsteiner Blood Donor Medal.
This medal was the first Dutch award for blood donations. The Karl Landsteiner Medal was instituted by the Executive Board of the Netherlands Red Cross in a decision dated May 29, 1931, and awarded until 1971. There were three grades and two versions of the medals. On March 2, 1971, the bronze medal for blood donors was replaced by the Karl Landsteiner plaques, which existed until 1995. The silver and gilded bronze medals were made slightly smaller in 1959.
Blood groups
Karl Landsteiner (1868-1943) was an Austrian physician and immunologist who discovered in 1900 that different blood groups existed: A, B, and C, which he named the blood group now known as O. Shortly thereafter, blood group AB was also discovered. In other blood groups, antibodies are formed against the eponymous antigens in the blood groups, resulting in incompatibility. Blood group 0 (zero) contains no antigens, so people with this blood group are considered universal donors.
A blood group is a classification of blood determined by the presence or absence of certain molecules ('antigens') on the outside of the cell membrane of red blood cells. These antigens are macromolecules, that is, compounds with a large molecular mass. Blood group antigens can be proteins, carbohydrates, glycoproteins, or glycolipids. Some of these antigens are encoded by a single allele (or closely linked genes). Together, these are called a blood group system. Blood groups are hereditary and are passed down from both parents. There are more than forty human blood group systems recognized by the International Society of Blood Transfusion.
Landsteiner received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1930. He also contributed to research into polio, syphilis, and typhoid, and described the importance of the Rh factor in blood transfusions. To this day, blood donations are indispensable because there is no substitute for blood. The stamp shows the recipients in the top row and the donors on the left.
World Blood Donor Day
Karl Landsteiner birthday, June 14, is now World Blood Donor Day. Blood donations are crucial, because blood cannot be replaced by anything else. World Blood Donor Day is an annual international day to thank the life-saving blood donations of voluntary, unpaid donors and to emphasize the importance of safe blood and blood products. The day is an initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO) and also serves to raise awareness of the necessity of blood donations and to recognize the role of donors in healthcare.
Goal of the day
- Thanking voluntary, unpaid blood and plasma donors for their donations.
- Raising awareness about the need for a safe blood supply.
- Promoting blood donation as an act of solidarity and altruism.
- Call upon governments and health authorities to make adequate resources available for blood collection.
What happens on this day? During World Blood Donor Day, organizations such as Sanquin and hospitals put blood and plasma donors in the spotlight. This can be done through special campaigns, gifts, or events to thank the donors for their life-saving donations.
The time at which your response becomes visible may vary by language and take up to 24 hours.