The Origins of Hand Washing
A brief, timely and fascinating story from Radiolab
Like many producers, the Radiolab podcast is having to adapt its content creation during this time of social distancing. But Radiolab being Radiolab, the reporters are — intellectually speaking — doing the opposite of distancing themselves and instead intimately exploring Covid-19 from a variety of perspectives and lenses.
They are calling these episodes Dispatches and releasing them as a numbered series (Dispatch 1, Dispatch 2, etc). Though numbered, the episodes so far have been episodic, not serial in nature.
It began with a tweet: “EVERY DAY IS IGNAZ SEMMELWEIS DAY.”
The episode Dispatch 2 kicks off with host Jad Abumrad calling up friend of the show carlzimmer to do what we all seem to be doing right now: connecting with friends and sharing in the act of meaning making around a global event about which it’s tough to make meaning.
The only real difference is that Jad is a MacArthur Fellow (and therefore recipient of their Genius Grant) and Carl Zimmer is a New York Times columnist and author of a book about viruses, so their conversation is a lot more interesting than ours. From the official Radiolab site for this episode:
It began with a tweet: “EVERY DAY IS IGNAZ SEMMELWEIS DAY.” Carl Zimmer — tweet author, acclaimed science writer and friend of the show — tells the story of a mysterious, deadly illness that struck 19th century Vienna, and the ill-fated hero who uncovered its cure … and gave us our best weapon (so far) against the current global pandemic.
Ignaz Semmelweis was a mid-19th Century Hungarian physician and scientist. This podcast reveals how, in a time before mankind had discovered the concept of germs and bacteria, Dr Semmelweis made succeeded in figuring out the life saving importance of hand washing.
It’s a fascinating story, full of shock, sadness, gore, and triumph. Anyone interested in the narratives of how we got to now will enjoy it.
In addition to the history lesson, it also offers a powerful anecdote on the value of interpersonal communication skills and how easily the messaging can help or hinder the message. Semmelweis made what can objectively be called one of the great medical discoveries of human history and saving millions of lives is a part of his legacy. Yet for all the lives saved through cleanliness, the way he went about sharing his findings probably slowed adoption and therefore led to very preventable death on a massive scale. Human ego is a killer.
The episode clocks in at 34:15 and features a lot less sound design than typical Radiolab shows so if you won’t be cheating yourself of too much artistry by listening at a faster clip than 1.0x.
A special highlight of the episode is the “Parenting during the Pandemic” moment at 3:45, when Jad gets interrupted by a child. I won’t spoil it here but if you want something to make you smile in under 10 seconds today, this is it.
If this pod leaves you hungry for more Ignaz Semmelweis, there’s a lot of rabbit hole waiting for you, including the short film, That Mothers Might Live, winner of an Academy Award in 1939
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