Alexander S. Wiener

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Lore & Background

Alexander Solomon Wiener was born in Brooklyn, New York, on March 16, 1907, the son of George Wiener, an attorney who emigrated from Russia in 1903, and Mollie (Zuckerman) Wiener. He attended Brooklyn public schools, graduating from Brooklyn Boys' High School at age 15. He earned scholarships to Cornell University, where he studied mathematics and contributed problems to the American Mathematical Monthly, but majored in biology, receiving his A.B. in 1926. He then entered the Long Island College of Medicine, earning an M.D. in 1930. During medical school, he researched blood groups at the Jewish Hospital of Brooklyn, where he interned from 1930 to 1932 and maintained a lifelong affiliation, heading the Division of Genetics and Biometrics from 1933 to 1935 and the blood transfusion division until 1952. In 1935, he founded the Wiener Laboratories for clinical pathology and blood grouping. From 1938, he was a member of the Department of Forensic Medicine at New York University School of Medicine, rising to professor by 1968. He cooperated with the office of the Chief Medical Examiner of New York City from the 1930s. Wiener was a good pianist, enjoyed tennis and golf, and kept up his interest in mathematics and physics. He received an honorary membership from the Mystery Writers of America for his forensic work. He married Gertrude Rodman in 1932; they had two daughters, Jane and Barbara. Wiener died of leukemia in New York on November 6, 1976.

Reader's Guide

Wiener's significance starts with his work at age 23 with Karl Landsteiner at Brooklyn Jewish Hospital, where they discovered the M Factor was actually five distinct blood factors, pushing them toward creating a blood 'fingerprint' for legal use. In 1937, they discovered the Rh factor, named after the Rhesus monkeys used as test subjects. Initially seen as just another factor for fingerprinting, Wiener soon realized its role in transfusion reactions: the first Rh-positive transfusion to an Rh-negative person creates antibodies, making a second transfusion dangerous. By their 1940 publication, Wiener demonstrated Rh sensitization as a cause of intragroup hemolytic reactions, increasing transfusion safety. In 1946, he created the first exchange transfusion procedure to treat erythroblastosis fetalis (Rh disease), saving over 200,000 lives. His later work on Rh genetics sparked controversy with the alternative CDE-nomenclature proposed by Robert Russell Race and Ronald Fisher. Wiener theorized one Rh locus with a single gene having multiple alleles—for example, gene R1 produces agglutinogen Rh1 with factors rh', Rh(o), and hr'' (analogous to C, D, e). While he was incorrect about one gene (two connected genes exist), his principle of multiple alleles has proven true, and the d gene does not exist. He also helped draft blood test laws as part of the American Medical Association legal committee and co-authored its 1935 report, assisted in paternity cases, and pioneered forensic blood testing for police investigations.

Did You Know?

• Wiener graduated from Brooklyn Boys' High School at age 15 and contributed mathematical problems to the American Mathematical Monthly while at Cornell University.
• He received an honorary membership from the Mystery Writers of America for his contributions to forensic medicine.
• Wiener's exchange transfusion procedure, created in 1946, saved over 200,000 infants with hemolytic disease of the newborn.
• He co-authored the 1935 report of the American Medical Association legal committee that sponsored blood test laws in all states.
• Wiener was a good pianist and enjoyed tennis and golf throughout his life.