Person Ehrlich; Paul (1854 - 1915); biochemist Ehrlich Paul biochemist 1854 - 1915 German Male Strehlen, Lower Silesia province of Prussia, Germany, Europe [present day Wrocław, Poland, Europe] 14 March 1854 18540314 Bad Homburg, Germany, Europe 20 August 1915 19150820

biochemist Biochemistry Physiology Haematology Immunology Chemotherapy Education: Gymnasium, Breslau; University of Breslau; University of Strassburg; University of Freiburg-im-Breisgau; University of Leipzig. Career: Appointed assistant to Professor Frerichs at the Berlin Medical Clinic (1878) where he was able to work with dyes and staining tissues with them, laying foundations for future work on haematology and staining of tissues; published his method of staining the tubercle bacillus that Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch (FRS 1897) had discovered (1882); Titular Professor (1882); qualified following his thesis Das Sauerstoffbedürfnis des Organismus (The need of the organism for oxygen) as a Privatdozent in the Faculty of Medicine in the University of Berlin (1887); Associate Professor at the University of Berlin; Senior House Physician to the Charité Hospital in Berlin; assistant to Koch at the Institute for Infectious Diseases (1890); Director of a newly established institute for the control of therapeutic sera at Steglitz, Berlin (1896); appointed Public Health Officer at Frankfurt-am-Main (1897); Director of the Royal Institute of Experimental Therapy (1899); Director of the Georg Speyerhaus (1899); devoted later years of his life to the experimental work on tumours, sarcoma, and his theory of athreptic immunity to cancer; suffered a stroke (1914); died of a second stroke whilst on holiday in Bad Homburg (1915). Memberships: Privy Medical Counsel to the Prussian Government 1897; followed by Counsel in 1907; culminating in the Real Privy Counsel with the title of Excellency in 1911. Medals/Awards: Tiedemann Prize of the Senckenberg Naturforschende Gesellschaft 1887 Prize of Honour at the XVth International Congress of Medicine at Lisbon 1906 Nobel Prize (Physiology or Medicine) 1908 Liebig Medal of the German Chemical Society 1911 Cameron Prize of the University of Edinburgh 1914 Parents: Ismar Ehrlich and Rosa Weigert. Spouse: Hedwig Pinkus (1883). Children: Stephanie and Marianne. Discovered mast cells in 1877. Discovered basophils in 1879. Found the cure for syphillis im 1909. Introduced receptor theory in collaboration with John Newport Langley (FRS 1883). Proposed Seitenkettentheorie (side chain theory) to explain the immune response in living cells. Credited with initiating chemotherapy. Coined the term magic bullet to refer to the production of substances that would seek out disease causing agents. Ehrlich's reagent is named after him. Lectures: Croonian 1900 Foreign Member 30/06/1910 56 Ralph Allen Sampson; Hector Munro Macdonald; Horace Lamb; Percy Alexander MacMahon; Aubrey Strahan; Charles James Martin; Walter Holbrook Gaskell Archibald Geikie; Alfred Bray Kempe; John Rose Bradford; William Crookes; Herbert Brereton Baker; William Henry Perkin; David Prain; Arthur Everett Shipley; Edward Bagnall Poulton Sources: Bulloch's Roll; DSB; Science History Institute Museum & Library Scientific Biohraphies, Paul Ehrlich [URL: https://www.sciencehistory.org/education/scientific-biographies/paul-ehrlich/; last accessed 10/04/2024]; The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1908, Paul Ehrich Biographical [URL: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1908/ehrlich/biographical/; last accessed: 10/04/2024] References: G V R Born, FRS, 'The wide-ranging family history of Max Born' in NR 2002 vol 56 pp 219-262 Anne Cooke, 'From Microbes to Man. Ulf Lagerkvist, Pioneers of microbiology and the Nobel Prize' in NR 2004 vol 58 pp 234-236 A F Bristow, T Barrowcliffe and D R Bangham, 'Standardization of biological medicines: the first hundred years, 1900-2000' in NR 2006 vol 60 pp 271-289 Obituaries: Proc Roy Soc Series B 1921 vol 92 pp i-vii signed by R M International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) - Ottawa 1996 ISBN 0-9696035-3-3 National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.1921.0028 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/action/doSearch?ContribAuthorRaw=Ehrlich%2C+Paul RCN R81085 14 Mar 1854 - 20 Aug 1915 The past Fellows entries are under continuous revision. If you have queries or additional information to contribute, please contact Library@royalsociety.org. Content in external sources is not controlled by the Royal Society and historical sources may include content that is now unacceptable. Reviewed on 10/04/2024 as part of the Name Authority Project update. NA7579 21/11/2001 Andyg Pmab 08/09/2025 RS_NET\VirginiaM Yes http://viaf.org/viaf/95371829 352e3dab-d7c5-4b29-8f5d-9786d218187a