Emil von Behring, German physiologist, was a pioneer in the field of immunology. In 1889, while working at the Institute of Hygiene in Berlin, Behring discovered that it was possible to neutralize bacterial toxins using antitoxins.
Behring was born on 15th March 1854, in West Prussia. He was the first recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in the year 1901. He received the prestigious prize for his discovery of a diphtheria antitoxin. He was widely known as a ‘saviour of children’, as diphtheria used to be a major cause of child death.
He was mainly a military doctor. His ground-breaking work resulted in the development of blood serums for vaccinations against diphtheria and tetanus, and in modern methods of immunization that have largely eradicated diphtheria world-wide. He, along with Shibasaburo Kitasato, developed the effective therapeutic serum against diphtheria and tetanus. The first successful therapeutic serum treatment of a child suffering from diphtheria occurred in 1891. Behring died on 31st March, 1917.
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