Discovery of Blood Types Goes

Discovery of blood types goes to the credit of Nobel Laureate Karl Landsteiner who in 1901 found that all human blood couldn't be dumped into a single category. This led to the discovery of blood groups a, B, AB, O depending on the presence of certain antibodies and antigens. The discovery was in itself revolutionary and worth every bit the Nobel Prize that it was awarded much later in 1930.

The time that it took people to recognize the significance of his study was due to the poor understanding of blood types at the time of publication of Lansteiner's research. when Landsteiner discovered the different blood types, it was not exactly know how his research would be significant because during 17th and 18th centuries, blood transfusions were found to be an exercise in futility since most resulted in serious complications.

The doctors prior to the discovery had no idea while blood transfusions were in most cases unsuccessful and a complete failure. It was only later that they realized that no any blood could be given to a patient and that it was important to first determine his blood type.

Since then changes in the society have been numerous and the discovery was truly revolutionary for the ways in which it contributed to the medical and legal field. Medically, transfusions have now become a routine procedure and millions of lives are saved by the discovery. Many people lose blood during accidents, child delivery and other kind of surgeries. Timely availability of the matching type of blood can save a life. Similarly this discovery has also given hope to millions of patients of some blood-related diseases such as Thalassemia where regular blood transfusion is important. Many children at the time of birth may require blood change because of internal complications. Savings of lives of thousands of patients has become possible now because of blood types discovery.