History of Immunohematology and Blood Transfusion

Card with 5 strips of light to dark shades of red. Each strip has a small hole in the middle

Reverse of the blood test card giving details on directions of use

Sometimes if you don't have a proper bookmark handy, anything else will suffice!

This blood test card was found amongst the pages of one of our books. The card (c.1950) has 5 shades for comparing a small blood sample. Fortunately this card is sample free!

#bookmarks #libraries #historyofmedicine

A blocky instrument with little slits at the bottom, out of which protrudes many blades.

Scarificator, late 17th century. This instrument with spring-loaded blades delivered many cuts simultaneously. Afterwards, the doctor placed a heated cup over the site. As it cooled, blood was forced out of the wounds.

Photo: University of Melbourne.

French scientists discover new blood group The French Blood Establishment has identified an extremely rare blood group after years of research.

www.newsweek.com/french-scien...

Finding the key to safe blood transfusions - NobelPrize.orgOpen the search menuClose the search menuOpen the search menuClose the search menuSubmit a search term

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Farhud DD, Zarif Yeganeh Marjan. A brief history of human blood groups. Iranian J Pub Health 2013;42:1-6.

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

YouTube video by Wellcome Library Blood transfusion: laboratory technique (1929)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi-O...

The ‘sero-rationalization’ of the Imperial Japanese military, 1926‒1945
(abstract)
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

YouTube video by Wellcome Library Blood grouping (1955)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu8O...

Internationalist blood: Karel Holubec and the diffusion of Duran Jordà’s method of blood transfusion to Czechoslovakia, 1930s–50s

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

“War medicine” The Battle for whole blood: 1943–1945 and beyond This article aims to convey two particular statements of historical value for its readers. Firstly, it seeks to remind everyone with an interest in the history of the United States (US) Blood Program ...

“War medicine” The battle for whole blood: 1943–1945 and beyond
Emily Mayhew
Transfusion 2025 Apr 28:65(S1):S1-S3
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

Beast in the Blood: Jean Denis and the “Transfusion Affair” During the late 1660s in Paris, transfusing the blood of calves and lambs into human veins held the promise of renewed youth and vigour. Peter Sahlins explores Jean Denis’ controversial experiments dr...

publicdomainreview.org/essay/beast-...

New life in the veins From Soviet scientists to tech moguls, blood has been the subject of our wildest experiments

✨ New online:

Peter Salmon on the bizarre history of blood transfusion - with illustration by @martinrowson.bsky.social

YouTube video by OPRFHistSociety Ask the Historians- Dr. Bernard Fantus

www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9KN...

Kidd Blood Group System - PubMed The Kidd blood group system is a collection of 3 glycoprotein antigens on the surface of red blood cells (RBCs) and the vasa recta of the kidneys. These antigens are absent on other cell surfaces and ...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40198053/

‘Another of the recorded epics of the war’: Highland blood donation Today we take it for granted that giving blood is as easy as looking online and booking an appointment - and it pretty well is.

www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/news/another...

Blood Transfusion in the First World War Blood Transfusion in the First World War, essay by Steven R. Pierce, SMM(ASCP)

www.kumc.edu/school-of-me...

Blood Groups and Human Heredity, 1900-1950 This book presents a detailed analysis of the beginning and rapid establishment of blood group research in the first half of the twentieth century.

Seroanthropology was a big deal in early 20th century. Workers tried to use blood groups to classify mankind. As more was learned about genetics, it fell out of favor. But the history is still useful and interesting. A detailed account is found in this new book.
link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

A photo of a single bottle in a museum display case. The case is entangled in a web of blood red threads framing the object within. It is a glass milk bottle-style receptacle with a rubber stopper and orange rubber tubing poking through it.

The first blood collection in 1930s Britain was stored in reused milk bottles. The milk bottle design remained standard until the NHS introduced blood bags in 1975.

The bottles were nicknamed "the Janet Vaughan" after the doctor who helped set up the first national blood bank.

Alexander S. Wiener: The Man and His Work To mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Alexander Solomon Wiener, a lecture was presented before the 2007 Wiener Award winner's talk at the New …

A bio article about Alexander Wiener, who with Landsteiner, discovered the Rh blood groups. Wiener did extensive work on Rh and performed some of the earliest exchange transfusions for hemolytic disease of the newborn.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Transfusion reaction research looking into mtDNA

YouTube video by Z Blood Transfusion - Geoffrey Keynes

A 1931 film
www.youtube.com/watch?v=z06L...

YouTube video by NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital Meet Dr. Charles Drew, pioneer in blood banking

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx_Z...

Exiting Africa, humans halted for 15,000 years in Persia and evolved new blood system ***

www.haaretz.com/archaeology/...

A nice new book by Zdravko Kvržić covers transfusion history from its beginnings to modern day. Includes a section on history of transfusion in Slovenia. #book #transfusion

Karl Landsteiner – founder of the feast of blood groups – reported the first groups (A, B and O) in 1900, in a brief footnote to a paper on another topic. His more complete report appeared in 1901. He later also discovered the blood group antigens M, N, P, Hu, He and (probably) Rh(D).

Blundell first used animal blood for transfusion, but then switched to human donors, as suggested by his friend John Leacock, for practical reasons. Sheep or calves were of ideal size, but difficult to get upstairs to the patient's bedroom. They were also dirty and seldom housebroken!

James Blundell is credited with reviving the practice of blood transfusion in the 19th century. He probably performed his first human transfusion in 1818, but that and later attempts did not go well. Blundell persisted, performing his first successful transfusion in 1825.