Blood Plasma
Year of Discovery: 1940
What Is It? Plasma is that portion of human blood that remains after red blood
cells have been separated out.
Who Discovered It? Charles Drew
Why Is This One of the 100 Greatest?
Whole blood can be safely stored for only a few days. That had always meant that
blood donations had to come from local sources and be given at the time of need. Blood
couldn’t travel long distances. People with unusual blood types often had to do without during surgery and suffered accordingly.
Drew discovered the process of separating blood into red blood cells and blood
plasma. This discovery greatly extended the shelf life of stored blood and has saved thousands
—and probably millions—of lives. Drew’s discovery made blood banks practicable. His
process and discovery are still used by the Red Cross today for its blood donation and storage program.
How Was It Discovered?
The idea of blood transfusions is thousands of years old and was practiced by Roman
doctors. However, there was a problem: many patients died from the transfusion. No one
could understand why this happened until Karl Landsteiner discovered the four blood types
in 1897 (A, B, O, and AB). By 1930, other researchers had further divided these groups into
eight types by identifying the RH factor for each group (e.g.: O+, O-, A+, A-, etc.).
With these discoveries, blood transfusions became virtually 100 percent safe. But now
hospitals had to store eight kinds of blood in order to have whatever supply was needed for
surgeries. However, most donated blood had to be thrown away because it spoiled before
being used. Some common blood types ran out and patients faced grave danger when they
had to undergo surgery without it. Blood storage became a critical problem for surgeries
and hospitals in general.
Charles Drew was born in mid-summer in 1904 in Washington, D.C. An all-American
football player at Amherst College, Drew chose to study medicine rather than play sports.
In 1928 Drew was accepted into medical school at McGill University in Canada (one
of the few university medical schools to accept blacks in 1928). There Drew studied under
Dr. John Beattie, a visiting professor from England. In 1930 Beattie and Drew began a
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