Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (Budapest 1818 – Vienna 1865) medical surgeon and obstetrician in the Austrian Empire. Popularly known as the mother’s savior, because he discovered that the incidence of puerperal sepsis could be drastically decreased by using hand disinfection in obstetric clinics. He is considered the originator of antiseptic procedures. His recommendations were accepted after his death, when Louis Pasteur confirmed the theory of germs as the cause of infections and Joseph Lister, following Pasteur’s research, implemented the use of aseptic and antiseptic methods in surgery.