1845-1916

Russian Biologist, Bacteriologist and Pathologist

Noble laureate Elie Metchnikoff made significant contributions to biology and medicine. He won the Nobel Prize in medicine (with Paul Ehrlich) in 1908 for his theory of immunity. Metchnikoff was the first to discover that immunity stems from the action of white corpuscles in the blood that devour foreign bodies such as bacteria, and that inflammation in infected parts of the body is the tissue's defensive reaction to irritation and germs. Metchnikoff also demonstrated key similarities in the embryonic development of invertebrate and vertebrate animals and is considered one of the founders of comparative pathology and evolutionary embryology.

Metchnikoff was born on May 15, 1845, in the western area of the Russian Empire known as Ukraine. The son of a noble landowner, he demonstrated from an early age a passionate interest in science. He used his first microscope at age fifteen, and thereby...