Fibiger, Johannes Andreas Grib, << FEE buh guhr, yoh HAH nihs ahn DREH ahs greeb >> (1867-1928), was a Danish bacteriologist. He won the 1926 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his work on substances that cause cancer.
While conducting research on rats, Fibiger noticed that some rats had stomach tumors. After dissecting the tumors, he discovered they contained parasites. He later produced stomach cancer in rats by feeding them cockroaches infested with nematodes (small worms). The nematodes demonstrated that stomach cancer in rats can be caused by environmental irritants. The experiments also provided a means of producing cancer experimentally.
Fibiger was born in Silkeborg, Denmark, on April 23, 1867. He studied biology at the University of Copenhagen, where he received his Ph.D. in 1895. Before his cancer research, Fibiger helped develop effective treatments against diphtheria and tuberculosis. He died on Jan. 28, 1928.
