That Mothers Might Live

That Mothers Might Live is a 1938 American short drama film directed by Fred Zinnemann. In 1939, at the 11th Academy Awards, it won an Oscar for Best Short Subject (One-Reel).^[1][2]

The short is a brief account of Hungarian physician Ignaz Semmelweis and his discovery of the need for cleanliness in 19th-century maternity wards, thereby significantly decreasing maternal mortality, and of his struggle to gain acceptance of his idea.^[3] Although Semmelweis ultimately failed in his lifetime, later scientific luminaries advanced his work in spirit like microbiologist Louis Pasteur, who provided a scientific theoretical explanation of Semmelweis' observations by helping develop the germ theory of disease, and Dr. Joseph Lister, who revolutionized medicine by putting Pasteur's research to practical use.