1867-1928

Danish Physician, Pathologist and Bacteriologist

Johannes Andreas Grib Fibiger was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his research on the etiology of cancer and for his discovery of a parasite that he claimed was the cause of cancer, the Spiroptera carcinoma. Unfortunately, the great hope that Fibiger's research on cancer would solve the cancer puzzle proved to be unfounded.

Fibiger was born in Silkeborg, Denmark. His father, C. E. A. Fibiger, was a local medical practitioner and his mother, Elfride Muller, was a writer. His father's career stimulated Fibiger's interest in medicine, although Dr. Fibiger died when his son was very young. Fibiger became interested in bacteriology as an undergraduate at the University of Copenhagen. He was awarded his bachelor's degree in 1883 and his M.D. in 1890. After a period of working in hospitals and studying under Robert...