Famous 19th Century Medical Scientists

Karl Landsteiner was a physician, biologist, and immunologist. He is credited with distinguishing the main blood groups as well as identifying the Rhesus factor. He is also credited with discovering the polio virus along with Erwin Popper and Constantin Levaditi. He won the Aronson Prize in 1926. In 1930, Landsteiner was honored with the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

British surgeon Joseph Lister was a pioneer of antiseptic medicine usage and made a huge contribution to the development of preventive medicine for bacterial infection. His achievements have been honored by many, such as the makers of Listerine antiseptic and mouthwash, who named their product after him.

German scientist Paul Ehrlich is remembered for his contribution to immunology, which also won him a Nobel Prize. Known as the pioneer of chemotherapy, he also discovered the first-known treatment of syphilis. Born into a business family, he was introduced to the method of studying cells by his pathologist uncle.

August Krogh was a Danish professor who taught at the University of Copenhagen between 1916 and 1945. He is best remembered for receiving the prestigious Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1920. Apart from his contributions to medicine, August Krogh is also remembered for co-founding the popular multinational pharmaceutical company, Novo Nordisk. 

Florence R. Sabin was an American medical scientist best remembered as a pioneer for women in science. Sabin was the first woman to hold a membership at the National Academy of Sciences and a full professorship at the prestigious Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Florence R. Sabin was made an inductee of the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1973.

Nobel Prize-winning Belgian immunologist and microbiologist Jules Bordet is remembered for his discovery of blood serum components that are capable of destroying bacteria. He later established the Pasteur Institute of Brussels and taught at the Free University of Brussels. He also discovered the Bordetella pertussis bacteria that causes whooping cough.

The son of an East Indian Railways physician, leading Indian scientist and doctor Upendranath Brahmachari was the first to use Urea-Stibamine as a treatment for Kala-azar. Apart from winning honors such as the knighthood and the title of Rai Bahadur, he was also nominated for the Nobel Prize twice.

Ludvig Puusepp was an Estonian researcher and surgeon. He was the first professor of neurosurgery in the world. Consequently, Puusepp traveled all over the world as he was often invited as a visiting professor from universities worldwide. Ludvig Puusepp also contributed as an author, publishing books on the surgery of the nervous system and brain tumors.