Giemsa was born in
Blechhammer (now Blachownia Śląska, a district within the city of
Kędzierzyn-Koźle) to Gustav, a mining official and Franziska. He studied
pharmacy and
mineralogy at the
University of Leipzig (1892–94), and then worked between 1895 and 1898 as a
pharmacist at the
government hospital in Dar es Salaam,
German East Africa. He returned in 1898 and studied chemistry and bacteriology at the
University of Berlin and then became an assistant to
Bernhard Nocht at the
Institut für Tropenmedizin in
Hamburg, and in 1900 became head of the Department of Chemistry. In 1904 Giemsa published an essay on the staining procedure for
flagellates, blood cells, and bacteria. Giemsa improved the
Romanowsky stain (
Eosin Y and
Methylene Blue) by stabilizing this dye solution with
glycerol. This allowed for reproducible staining of cells for microscopy purposes. This method made rapid malaria screening feasible and is still used in laboratories today. In 1933 Giemsa signed the
Vow of allegiance of the Professors of the German Universities and High-Schools to Adolf Hitler and the National Socialistic State. He also joined the
NSDAP. == References ==