Emil Adolf Behring

1. Emil Adolf Behring The Story of a Hero

2. The Beginnings • Emil Adolf Behring was born on March 15, 1854 at Hansdorf, Deutsch-Eylau. His father was a school master and he was the oldest of thirteen other children.

3. Being Poor • Because Emil’s family was poor they could not afford to keep him at a University so they sent him to the Army Medical College at Berlin. • This made his studies affordable and just the same as if he were still at the University.

4. The Military • After he got his medical degree in 1878 and his State Examination in 1880 he decided to stay in the military. • He then was sent to Posen in Poland to study at the Chemical Department of the Experimental Station where he studied problems connected with septic disease.

5. His Studies • From 1881-1883 he carried out important investigations on iodoform which is a yellowish, crystalline, water-insoluble solid that is used as an antiseptic. • Stating that, “It does not kill microbes but may neutralize the poisons given off by them, thus being an antitoxic.” His first publications on these questions were in 1882. • The governing body concerned with military health being aware of Behring, sent him to the pharmacologist C. Binz at Bonn for further training in experimental methods.

6. More Studies • In 1888, they ordered him back to Berlin, where he worked as an assistant at the Institute of Hygiene under Robert Koch. He remained there for several years after 1889, and followed Koch when the latter moved to the Institute for Infectious Diseases. • This appointment not only brought him close with Koch, but also with P. Ehrlich. In 1894 Behring then became a Professor of Hygiene at Halle and the following year moved up to a corresponding chair at Marburg.

7. His Other Works • Behring’s most important were on diphtheria and tuberculosis. During the years of 1888 and 1890 Roux and Yersin, two other of Behring’s colleagues, had shown that filtrates of diphtheria cultures which contained no bacilli, but contained a substances they called a toxin when injected into animals contained all the symptoms of diphtheria. • Then in 1890 Fraenkel and Brieger a toxic substance which they called “toxicbumin” when injected in suitable doses into guinea pigs, immunized these animals from diphtheria.

8. A Cure for Mankind • Earlier in 1898, Behring and Wernicke had found that immunity to diphtheria could be produced by the injection into animals of diphtheria toxin neutralized by the diphtheria anti toxin that they had been working on. I • n 1907 Theobald Smith suggested that toxin and anti toxin mixtures might be used to immunize humans against the disease. • In 1913, Behring’s production of this mixture actually in fact did banish large amounts diphtheria from mankind.

9. Behring’s Health • From 1901 onwards Behring’s health made it almost impossible for him to give regular lectures and he devoted himself to the studies of tuberculosis. • To facilitate his work a commercial firm built for him a well-equipped laboratories at Marburg in 1914 he himself founded, also in Marburg.

10. All of Behring’s Honors • Behring had numerous honors we may have already brought up in the power point. His first was his professor title in 1893 and two years later he became a officer of the French Legion of Honor. • Later on he had many membership societies held in Turkey, Italy and France. • In 1901 he won his Nobel prize for his research on diphtheria and tuberculosis and in 1903 was elected to Privy Council with the title of Excellency. • He also became a Honorary freeman of Marburg.

11. Behring’s Death  • On March 31, 1917 Behring died at Marburg, and it does not say how he died.

12. Sources • www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1901/behring-bio.html • www.cslbehring.com/about/emil-von-behring.html • www.dictionary.com • www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/58779/Emil-Von-Behring