Karl Landsteiner, who has been called the father of immunology, was the only child of Leopold Landsteiner, a prominent Austrian journalist and editor, and Fanny Hess Landsteiner. Landsteiner was educated at the University of Vienna, where he received his medical degree in 1891. While in medical school, Landsteiner began experimental work in chemistry, as he was greatly inspired by Ernst Ludwig, one of his professors. After receiving his medical degree, Landsteiner spent the next five years doing advanced research in organic chemistry for Emil Fischer, although medicine remained his chief interest. During 1886-1897, he combined these interests at the Institute of Hygiene at the University of Vienna where he researched immunology and serology. These fields were developing rapidly in the late 1800s as scientists explored numerous physiological changes associated with bacterial infection. Immunology and serology then became Landsteiner's lifelong focus. Landsteiner was primarily interested in the lack of safety...