Benedek Varga studied history, archivist studies and philosophy at the ELTE University, Budapest. He was an honorary visiting fellow at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London, in 1991-92; and a visiting researcher at King’s College Cambridge in 1994 (2 months) as well as at the Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel, in 2000.
Varga has worked as an archivist, curator, and deputy director general of Semmelweis Museum, Library and Archives of the History of Medicine since 1989, becoming the Director general in 2008. He was a part-time lecturer in early modern history at the Budapest University of Economics in 1992-93, and a part time reader in early modern history at Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church from 1997 to 2009.
Research interests: Early modern political thought and its interrelations with science theory, and medical history collections.
The Myth and Cult of Ignaz Semmelweis: Constructing History of Science during the 20th Century
Benedek Varga
20 Oct 2009, Oxford Brookes University, History of Medicine Seminar Series
Ignaz Semmelweis (1818 – 1865) was a Hungarian physician who, in 1847, discovered that the incidence of puerperal fever could be drastically cut by improving on hand washing standards. As head of Vienna General Hospital's First Obstetrical Clinic, he reduced puerperal fever’s mortality rate to 1-3%. Although his achievements were welcomed by some, he also encountered serious criticism. Dismissed from his post in 1850, Semmelweis returned to Budapest where he worked as a university professor in obstetrics. But by the time of his death aged 47 in 1865, Semmelweis’ mental balance had collapsed, he had been deserted by his family and friends, and was soon forgotten.
- “Political humanism and the corporate theory of state: Nation, patria and virtue in Hungarian political thought of the sixteenth century.” B. Trencsényi and M. Zászkaliczky (eds.). Whose Love of Which Country? Composite States and Patriotic Discourses in Early-Modern Central Europe. Brill, (forthcoming).
- “Harmonia corporis” [The theory of state in 16th century policial and medical literature]. Helikon, Budapest, 2009: pp.246-78.
- Pictures of the Past of the Healing Arts: A Guide to the Exhibitions and Collections of the Semmelweis Museum of the History of Medicine. Budapest, 1993, 2000, and 2006.
- “The European context of the Bocskai rebellion in 16th century Hungary.” Papers on the 500 years anniversary of the Bocskai uprising: Studia Carolensia (2005) vols. 3-4, pp. 146-75.
- The Art of Healing in Africa: Between Tradition and Modernity: A guide and textbook on the Bruxelles-Lisbon-Budapest exhibition. (edited and contributed to) Budapest, 2005.
- “Egy mítosz születése: A Semmelweis doktrína és a Budapesti Királyi Orvosegyesület” [The Birth of a Myth. The Semmelweis doctrine and the Royal Association of Budapest Physicians]. Forrai Judit and Vizy E. Szilveszter (eds.). Ditor ut ditem: Tanulmányok Schultheisz Emil 80 születésnapjára. [Papers for the 80th birthday of Emil Schultheisz]. Budapest, 2002: pp.381-93.
