Background and Key Developments of Blood Group Research

The study of blood and inheritance began in the first decade of the twentieth century when Karl Landsteiner discovered the ABO blood groups, and they were soon shown to follow Mendel’s rules of inheritance. Blood groups became one of the most studied features of human heredity until they were superseded by genome studies after the middle half of the twentieth century. The record of the pioneering work of the many researchers shows the role both of individual genius as well as the advantages of the worldwide network of publication which made new information available to other researchers far more rapidly than ever before. The conditions shaping the spread of the discoveries, as well as the nature of that research and its applications, varied considerably from country to country. Most of the methodology as well as the infrastructure established before 1941 provided the basis for the expanded research after the Second World War.