Blood has two main components: serum and cells. In 1900 Karl Landsteiner, a physician at the University of Vienna, Austria, noted that the sera of some individuals caused the red cells of others to agglutinate. This observation led to the discovery of the ABO blood group system, for which Landsteiner received the Nobel Prize. Based on the reactions between the red blood cells and the sera, he was able to divide individuals into three groups: A, B, and O. Two years later, two of his students discovered the fourth and rarest type, namely AB.

Antigens and Antibodies

To understand blood typing, it is necessary to define antigen and antibody. An antigen is a substance, usually a protein or a glycoprotein, which, when injected into a human (or other organism) that does not have the antigen,