Jules Bordet was a pioneer in the field of immunology. It was his research that made clear the exact manner by which serums and antiserums act to destroy bacteria and foreign blood cells in the body, thus explaining how human and animal bodies defend themselves against the invasion of foreign elements. Bordet was also responsible for developing complement fixation tests, which made possible the early detection of many disease-causing bacteria in human and animal blood. For his various discoveries in the field of immunology, Bordet was awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine or physiology in 1919.

Jules Jean Baptiste Vincent Bordet was born in Soignies, Belgium, a small town situated twenty-three miles southwest of Brussels. He was the second son of Charles Bordet, a schoolteacher, and Célestine Vandenabeele Bordet. The family moved to Brussels in 1874, when his father received an appointment to the École Moyenne, a...