author
Emil von Behring
1854–1917
A pioneer of modern immunology, this German physician changed medicine with serum therapy for diphtheria and became the first winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. His work helped turn a once-feared childhood disease into one that doctors could fight.
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About the author
Born on March 15, 1854, in Hansdorf, Prussia, Emil von Behring studied medicine through the Army Medical College in Berlin after his family could not afford a university education. He later worked with leading researchers including Robert Koch, and his experiments on immunity led him toward the field that would become immunology.
Behring is best known for developing serum therapy against diphtheria, a breakthrough that saved many lives at a time when the disease was especially deadly for children. In 1901, he received the first Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for this work, and he was later ennobled, becoming "von" Behring.
He spent much of his later career in Marburg, where he founded Behringwerke to produce antitoxins and vaccines on a larger scale. He died there on March 31, 1917, leaving behind a legacy that shaped both laboratory medicine and public health.