Talk:Élie Metchnikoff

Untitled

• Elie Metchnikoff (1845-1916), received Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1908 (jointly with Paul Ehrlich). His most notable contribution to discoveries about the immune response was his recognition of the phenomenon called phagocytosis - cells called phagocytes destroy invading organisms such as bacteria, the first line of defence against acute infection.

Alternate Spelling

He is also known as "Elie Metchnikoff" (in Encyclopedia Britannica, and Microbe Hunters, for example) Souldn't this be noted? Kaplanoah (talk) 18:54, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

A redirect from Elie Metchnikoff has been established already. Still, anyone only knowing the name Ilya Ilyich Mechnokov may find it helpful to have a note about alternate spellings (for further external research, etc.) Here's what I mean. If someone comes to do research on Wikipedia, they will have no trouble finding this article regardless of the name they used (Ilya or Elie). However, if they only know the name Ilya, they will not come across Elie and will therefore not have the resources to do research (using Elie) outside Wikipedia. Kaplanoah (talk) 22:15, 20 November 2008 (UTC)

It's instructive to see the range of redirects this article glories in:

• I. I. Mechnikov
• Ilya Mechnikov
• Metchnikoff
• Eli Metchnikoff
• Elias Metchnikoff
• Elie Metchnikoff
• Élie Metchnikoff
• Metchnikoff, Elie
• Metchnikoff, Élie
• Ilya Metchnikoff
• Ilya Ilyich Metchnikoff
• Elie Metschnikoff
• Ilja Iljitsch Metschnikow.

Is any of them better than what we have at the moment? Hmm, let’s see.

• If he had spent his whole life in Russia, I’d go for Ilya Mechnikov.

• This is the current title minus the patronymic. There's no need for a patronymic, as English speakers rarely use them (Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky being one of the rare exceptions; we refer to his colleagues Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alexander Glazunov, Mily Balakirev, Alexander Scriabin etc without patronymics. The same should apply to Mechnikov).

• But he spent the last 28 years of his life in Paris, where he was known as Élie Metchnikoff, and that’s how his name mostly appears in the West (not always with the acute on the É, though).

• Either of these is preferable to the current title (accuracy of romanisation notwithstanding).

• I would strongly support a move to Élie Metchnikoff. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 11:33, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

No objections? Please see Requested Move below, then. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 20:53, 28 August 2010 (UTC)

I think his name better known as Ilya Mechnikov - see Nobel laureates. Google search: "Ilya Mechnikov" - about 30,500 results "Élie Mechnikov" - about 501 results. --IlyaMart (talk) 20:19, 13 December 2011 (UTC)

Commercial interest at work?

When I read the passage "Mechnikov also developed a theory that aging is caused by toxic bacteria in the gut and that lactic acid could prolong life. Based on his theory, he drank sour milk every day. He died in 1916 at 71 years of age (well above the average life expectancy of the general population at the time and a slightly more than other notable scientists of his time)", I thought 'what an odd detail to spend so many words on'. When, afterwards, the Yakult brand popped up, I understood.

The effects claimed by Yakult and other probiotics on the immune system and longevity are largely unproven, which does not keep it from being huge business, sustained by vague claims in the absence of hard scientific evidence.

The above is one. Let's face it: in the 19th century, the wealthy and educated lived longer, and it is higly unlikely that lactic acid consumption has anything to do with that. Mechnikov's natural life was probably not significantly longer than that of fellow scientists of his time, and well within statistical error margins--"probably", since to my knowledge no-one has ever bothered to draw up age statistics among notable 18th-century scientists.

I'll bet anyone ten to one that this tidbit of information, for which of course no source is quoted, was sneaked into this article by Yakult itself.

I say get rid of it, and at least remove the suggestion that his age had anything to do with his probiotics use until there is reliable scientific data to back up this claim. Wikipedia is not here to advertise Yakult.

Agree?--Roger Pilgham (talk) 12:08, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Atheism

Reading H.G. Wells's God, the Invisible King, he makes reference to Mechnikov's (Metchnikoff in Wells) views on atheism expressed in The Nature of Man, something which this article does not appear to address. As atheism appears, at least from Wells, to have been a major aspect of The Nature of Man and there is no separate article on this work the present time, I think it would be prudent to add something on the matter. Maybe somebody who is more knowledgeable on Mechnikov could make this inclusion?

Passercatulli (talk) 01:57, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Coined term gerontology

http://books.google.com/books?id=7qpHuXKsaC0C&pg=PA460&lpg=PA460&dq=Metchnikoff%2Bgerontology&source=bl&ots=FPPaWxiiA5&sig=V1mQlGIhrxtJrg8BIhzRS1rzl_0&hl=en&ei=nkP0Su_BBIXg8QbC2qjzCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CCYQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=Metchnikoff%2Bgerontology&f=false

The man who first used the term gerontology, ...Ryoung122 15:43, 6 November 2009 (UTC)

Requested move

The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: page moved per request. - GTBacchus^(talk) 15:30, 5 September 2010 (UTC)

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Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov → Élie Metchnikoff — This was the spelling he used in the West, and is how he's usually referenced. See more details at Alternate Spelling above, where this page move was first mooted. Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 20:53, 28 August 2010 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.