Behring, << BAY rihng, >> Emil von (1854-1917), a German bacteriologist, won the 1901 Nobel Prize in medicine for his discovery in 1890 of diphtheria antitoxin. He obtained the serum from animals previously injected with small amounts of diphtheria toxin. The injected animal produced antibodies capable of neutralizing diphtheria toxin. This discovery led to new treatments for many childhood diseases. He also discovered tetanus antitoxin and bovovaccine, used to protect cattle against tuberculosis.
He was born on March 15, 1854, in Hansdorf, Germany (now in Poland, near Ilawa). He did his research in the Berlin laboratory of German bacteriologist Robert Koch. Behring died on March 31, 1917.
