Jump to content

Emil von Behring

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Von Behring" redirects here. For the crater on the Moon, see Von Behring (crater).
Emil von Behring
Behring in 1913
Born
Adolf Emil Behring

(1854-03-15)15 March 1854
Hansdorf, Kreis Rosenberg in Westpreußen, Province of Prussia, Kingdom of Prussia, German Confederation
(now Poland)
Died31 March 1917(1917-03-31) (aged 63)
Marburg, Hesse-Nassau, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Known forDiphtheria antitoxin/serum
AwardsCameron Prize for Therapeutics of the University of Edinburgh (1894)
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1901)
Scientific career
FieldsPhysiology, immunology, ophthalmology
Notable studentsHans Schlossberger

Emil von Behring (German: [ˈeːmiːl fɔn ˈbeːʁɪŋ] ⓘ; Emil Adolf von Behring: born Emil Adolf Behring; 15 March 1854 – 31 March 1917), was a German physiologist who received the 1901 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, the first one awarded in that field, 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.[1] His work with the disease, as well as tetanus, has come to bring him most of his fame and acknowledgment.[2] He was honoured with Prussian nobility in 1901, henceforth being known by the surname "von Behring".

Biography

[edit]

Behring was born in Hansdorf, Kreis Rosenberg, Province of Prussia (now Ławice, Iława County, Poland). His father was a schoolmaster; the family had 13 children.

Between 1874 and 1878, Emil von Behring studied medicine at the Kaiser Wilhelm Academy in Berlin, an institution established for the training of military physicians. His enrollment there was largely due to financial necessity, as his family could not afford a civilian university education.[3] During his studies, Behring conducted early research on the antiseptic properties of iodoform, reflecting the medical preoccupation of the time with preventing infection in surgical practice.

Following graduation, Behring earned his medical doctorate through work on neurotomia opticociliaris (optociliary neurotomy) which is a surgical procedure involving the optic nerve. Behring subsequently passed the state medical examination qualifying him to practice in the Marburg district.[4] In 1878, as part of his military service obligations, he was stationed in Poland, where he investigated septic diseases, an experience that deepened his understanding of infection and wound pathology. His skill and diligence attracted attention, leading to his transfer back to Prussia to work under Robert Koch, whose laboratory at the Imperial Health Office was becoming a center of pioneering bacteriological research.[5]

Behring’s academic and professional advancement remained closely tied to his military sponsorship. For each semester of state-funded study, he was required to complete a year of military service as a surgeon this commitment that totaled two years, during which he served (1881–1883) with the Second Hussar Regiment.[4]

An often overlooked aspect of Behring’s early career was his research in ophthalmology, conducted during his tenure at Wicherkiewicz’s hospital in Poznań. There, he authored a clinical paper on a case of ocular tumor, in which the patient ultimately succumbed to leukemia. Although the outcome was fatal, Behring’s detailed pathological observations contributed to contemporary discussions on surgical techniques and therapeutic strategies for ocular disease. His early ophthalmologic training under renowned specialists such as Carl Ernst Schweigger and Wilhelm Uhthoff fostered this interest and culminated in his doctoral dissertation on diseases of the eye, a field that would later inform his meticulous experimental approach to infectious disease and immunity.[4]

In 1890 he published an article with Kitasato Shibasaburō reporting that they had developed "antitoxins" against both diphtheria and tetanus. They had injected diphtheria and tetanus toxins into guinea pigs, goats and horses; when these animals developed immunity, they derived antitoxins (now known to contain antibodies) from their serum. This process was called "serum therapy" at the time. Behring described this therapy as a way to induce permanent immunity or "to stimulate the body's internal disinfection".[6] These antitoxins could protect against and cure the diseases in non-immunized animals. In 1892 he started the first human trials of the diphtheria antitoxin, but they were unsuccessful. Successful treatment started in 1894, after the production and quantification of antitoxin had been optimized.[7] In 1894, Behring was also awarded the Cameron Prize for Therapeutics of the University of Edinburgh.

By 1895 Behring became Professor of Hygienics within the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Marburg, a position held for the rest of his life. He and the pharmacologist Hans Horst Meyer had their laboratories in the same building, and Behring stimulated Meyer's interest in the mode of action of tetanus toxin.[8]

Behring won the first Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1901 for the development of serum therapies against diphtheria. His research colleague Kitasato Shibasaburō who had performed most of the meticulous work that laid the foundation for serum therapy in 1890, while nominated as well, was not awarded the Nobel Prize as it was only given to a single awardee at the time.[9]

Emil von Behring was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1902.[10]

In 1904 he founded the Behringwerke in Marburg, a company to produce antitoxins and vaccines.

At the International Tuberculosis Congress in 1905 he announced that he had discovered "a substance proceeding from the virus of tuberculosis". This substance, which he designated "T C", plays the important part in the immunizing action of his "bovivaccine", which prevents bovine tuberculosis. He tried unsuccessfully to obtain a protective and therapeutic agents for humans.[11]

Laboratory of 1913 in the Wannkopfstraße in Marburg

Behring died at Marburg, Hessen-Nassau, on 31 March 1917. His name survived in the Dade Behring organisation (now part of the Siemens Healthineers), in CSL Behring, a manufacturer of plasma-derived biotherapies, in Novartis Behring and in the Emil von Behring Prize of the University of Marburg, the highest endowed medicine award in Germany.

His Nobel Prize medal is now kept on display at the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum in Geneva.

Controversy

[edit]

von Behring is believed to have cheated Paul Ehrlich out of recognition and financial reward in relation to collaborative research in diphtheria. The two men developed a diphtheria serum by repeatedly injecting the deadly toxin into a horse. The serum was used effectively during an epidemic in Germany. A chemical company preparing to undertake commercial production and marketing of the diphtheria serum offered a contract to both men, but von Behring manoeuvered to claim all the considerable financial rewards for himself. To add insult to injury, only Behring received the first Nobel Prize in Medicine, in 1901, for his contributions.[12] However, Ehrlich went on to win the 1908 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his contribution to immunology.[13]

Villa Behring (burgundy) on Capri
Behring mausoleum in Marburg

Personal life

[edit]

On 29 December 1896 Behring married the then twenty-year-old Else Spinola (1876–1936), who was a daughter of Bernhard Spinola [de], the director of the Charité hospital in Berlin, and a Jewish-born mother – Elise Spinola, born Bendix – who had converted to Christianity upon her marriage.[14] The couple had six sons: Fritz (1898–1966), Bernhard (1900–1918, killed in action on 20 July 1918 in Cuchéry/Marne), Hans (1903–1982), Kurt (1905–1935), Emil (1906–1970), and Otto (1913–2002), two of whom, Hans and Otto von Behring, also studied medicine.

The couple held their honeymoon at villa "Behring" on Capri 1897, where Behring owned a vacation home. In 1909–1911, the Russian writer Maxim Gorky lived at this villa.

Publications

[edit]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  • Kornelia Grundmann (3 December 2001). "Emil von Behring: The founder of serum therapy". The Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
  • de Kruif, Paul (1926). "VI Roux and Behring: Massacre the Guinea Pigs". Microbe Hunters. Blue Ribbon Books. New York: Harcourt Brace & Company Inc. pp. 184–206. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
  • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  • Ulrike Enke: Salvatore dell'Infanzia Behring and Capri
  • Christoph Hans Gerhard : Trias deutschen Forschergeistes Emil von Behring Pflaum-Verlag / Munich Naturheilpraxis 71.Jahrgang January, 2018

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Emil von Behring on Nobelprize.org Edit this at Wikidata The Immune System: In Defence of our Lives, nobelprize.org
  2. ^ Bynum, W. F. (2007-04-01). "DEREK S. LINTON. Emil von Behring: Infectious Disease, Immunology, Serum Therapy. (Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, number 255.) Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society. 2005. Pp. xi, 580. $65.00". The American Historical Review. 112 (2): 605–606. doi:10.1086/ahr.112.2.605. ISSN 0002-8762.
  3. ^ "Emil von Behring - Biographical". www.nobelprize.org. Retrieved 2018-07-23.
  4. ^ a b c Grzybowski, Andrzej; Wilhelm, Helmut (15 February 2012). "Little known ophthalmic interests of Emil von Behring, the first Nobel Prize Laureate in Medicine or Physiology". Acta Ophthalmologica. 91 (4): 381–384. doi:10.1111/j.1755-3768.2011.02343.x. PMID 22336320. S2CID 22857078.
  5. ^ "Sondermarken zur Ehrlich-Behring-Feier: Paul Ehrlich; Emil von Behring". Nachrichten aus Chemie und Technik. 2 (13–14): 136. 2010-04-23. doi:10.1002/nadc.19540021309. ISSN 0027-738X.
  6. ^ Raju, Tonse NK (4 July 1998). "The Nobel Chronicles". The Lancet. 352 (9121): 75. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(05)79565-9. ISSN 0140-6736. PMID 9800790. S2CID 54291542.
  7. ^ Kaufmann, Stefan H. E. (2017-03-08). "Remembering Emil von Behring: from Tetanus Treatment to Antibody Cooperation with Phagocytes". mBio. 8 (1) e00117-17: e00117–17. doi:10.1128/mbio.00117-17. PMC 5347343. PMID 28246359.
  8. ^ Legrum, Wolfgang; Al-Toma, Adnan J.; Netter, Karl J. (1992). 125 Jahre Pharmakologisches Institut der Philipps-Universität Marburg. Marburg: N. G. Elwert Verlag. ISBN 3770809858.
  9. ^ "Nomination Archive - Nomination for Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine". The Nobel Prize. 21 May 2024. Retrieved 2024-09-29.
  10. ^ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter B" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
  11. ^ Emil von Behring Serum Therapy in Therapeutics and Medical Science. Nobel Lecture, December 12, 1901. nobelprize.org
  12. ^ Morton A. Meyers, M.D. (2007). Happy Accidents: Serendipity in Modern Medical Breakthroughs. Arcade Publishing. ISBN 9781559708197. happy accidents.
  13. ^ Paul Ehrlich on NobelPrize.org
  14. ^ Derek S. Linton, Emil von Behring: Infectious Disease, Immunology, Serum Therapy, American Philosophical Society, 2005, p. 198
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Emil von Behring.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Emil_von_Behring&oldid=1322444529"