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“The Semmelweis Effect: The tendency to reject new evidence if it challenges established norms.” 

A shrewd 19th century doctor practicing in Vienna, Semmelweis’ peers relegated him to the then-obscure field of obstetrics because he was a Hungarian Jewish immigrant. Obsessed with discovering why so many women died of infections after childbirth, Semmelweis observed that death rates plunged if doctors simply washed their hands. Though dismissed as a quack, Semmelweis refused to stop lecturing about this simple secret that would eventually save millions of lives.