Paul Ehrlich

Ehrlich, Paul (1854–1915), German bacteriologist and immunologist, founder of chemotherapy and an early pioneer of hematology. His discoveries include a method of staining and hence identifying the tuberculosis bacillus (1882); the reasons for immunity in terms of the chemistry of antibodies and antigens, for which he shared the 1908 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine with Élie Metchnikoff; and the use of the drug salvarsan to cure syphilis, the first drug to be used in treating the root cause of a disease (1911).

See also: Bacteriology.