science · 15 July 1916 · 108 years ago
death
Died 15 Jul 1916 at age 71 (born 16 May 1845).
Russian-French bacteriologist and zoologist who shared, the 1908 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Paul Ehrlich “in recognition of their work on immunity.” Metchnikoff's research was on phagocytosis, a fundamental process in immunology whereby macrophages and other specialized cells engulf and digest bacteria and other foreign particles. In 1882, leaving his university teaching career, he set up a private laboratory at Messina to better pursue his interest in microbes and the immune system. He discovered phagocytosis by experiments on the larvae of starfish. His theory that certain white blood cells could engulf and destroy harmful bacteria was at first disbelieved, then slowly accepted by other scientists. (Name also spelled Elie Metchnikoff.)
OnThisDay.net