1854-1917

Prussian Surgeon and Bacteriologist

Trained as a military surgeon, Emil von Behring later became interested in microbiology and received a position in the Berlin laboratory of Robert Koch (1843-1910). His work with Shibasaburo Kitasato (1852-1931) on diphtheria showed the efficacy of blood serum as a treatment. He is perhaps best known for his dramatic Christmas night rescue of a child dying of diphtheria by giving him serum antitoxin, thus proving its clinical value.

Behring was born in Hansdorf, Deutsch-Eylau, Prussia (today part of Poland) in 1854, one of thirteen children. Financially unable to attend the university there, Behring enrolled instead in the Army Medical College in Berlin, where he received his degree in 1878. He was then obliged to serve in the military and was sent to Poland to work. While there, he became interested in septic diseases. He began several years of...