1854-1915

German Bacteriologist

Paul Ehrlich is recognized as the founder of hematology (the study of the blood) and chemotherapy (the treatment of disease with chemicals.) His many accomplishments include the development of the side-chain theory of immunity, the use of dyes to treat tropical diseases, and the discovery of a treatment for the dreaded disease syphilis. Ehrlich was awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize in medicine for advancing the field of immunology and contributing to the production of a serum for diphtheria.

Paul Ehrlich. (The Library of Congress. Reproduced by permission.)

Ehrlich was born on March 14, 1854, into a respected middle-class Jewish family in Strehlen, Silesia, Germany (now part of Poland.) Although he was an excellent pupil, Ehrlich found school a dutiful bore until his cousin, a bacteriologist, introduced him to dyes and the world of the microscope. He developed such an all-consuming interest in staining that fellow students...