Peter Brian Medawar made major contributions to the study of immunology and was awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1960. Working extensively with skin grafts, he and his collaborators proved that the immune system learns to distinguish between "self" and "non-self." During his career, Medawar also became a prolific author, penning books such as The Uniqueness of the Individual and Advice to a Young Scientist.

Medawar was born on February 28, 1915, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Nicholas Medawar and the former Edith Muriel Dowling. When he was a young boy, his family moved to England, which he thereafter called home. Medawar attended secondary school at Marlborough College, where he first became interested in biology. The biology master encouraged Medawar to pursue the science under the tutelage of one of his former students, John Young, at Magdalen College. Medawar followed this advice and enrolled at Magdalen in...