View source for Emil von Behring

{{Short description|German physiologist (1854–1917)}}
{{redirect|Von Behring|the crater on the Moon|Von Behring (crater)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Emil von Behring
| image             = Emil von Behring sitzend.jpg
| caption           = Behring in 1913
| birth_name        = Adolf Emil Behring
| birth_date        = {{birth date|df=yes|1854|3|15}}
| birth_place       = [[Ławice|Hansdorf]], [[Kreis Rosenberg in Westpreußen]], [[Province of Prussia]], [[Kingdom of Prussia]], [[German Confederation]]<br>(now [[Poland]])
| death_date        = {{death date and age|df=yes|1917|3|31|1854|3|15}}
| death_place       = [[Marburg]], [[Hesse-Nassau]], [[Kingdom of Prussia]], [[German Empire]]
| nationality       = [[Germans|German]]
| field             = [[Physiology]], [[immunology]], [[ophthalmology]]
| work_institutions = 
| alma_mater        = 
| doctoral_advisor  = 
| doctoral_students = 
| notable_students  = [[Hans Schlossberger]]
| known_for         = Diphtheria antitoxin/serum
| prizes            = [[Cameron Prize of the University of Edinburgh|Cameron Prize for Therapeutics of the University of Edinburgh]] {{small|(1894)}} <br>[[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] (1901)
}}

'''Emil von Behring''' ({{IPA|de|ˈeːmiːl fɔn ˈbeːʁɪŋ|lang|De-Emil von Behring.ogg}}; '''Emil Adolf von Behring''': born '''Emil Adolf Behring'''; 15 March 1854 – 31 March 1917), was a German [[physiologist]] who received the 1901 [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]], the first one awarded in that field, for his discovery of a [[diphtheria]] [[antitoxin]]. He was widely known as a "saviour of children", as diphtheria used to be a major cause of child death.<ref>{{Nobelprize}} The Immune System: In Defence of our Lives, nobelprize.org</ref> His work with the disease, as well as tetanus, has come to bring him most of his fame and acknowledgment.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bynum|first=W. F.|date=2007-04-01|title=DEREK S. LINTON. Emil von Behring: Infectious Disease, Immunology, Serum Therapy. (Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, number 255.) Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society. 2005. Pp. xi, 580. $65.00|journal=The American Historical Review|language=en|volume=112|issue=2|pages=605–606|doi=10.1086/ahr.112.2.605|issn=0002-8762|doi-access=free}}</ref> He was honoured with [[Prussian nobility]] in 1901, henceforth being known by the surname "von Behring".

==Biography==
Behring was born in Hansdorf, Kreis Rosenberg, [[Province of Prussia]] (now [[Ławice]], [[Iława County]], [[Poland]]). His father was a schoolmaster; the family had 13 children.

Between 1874 and 1878, Emil von Behring studied medicine at the [[Kaiser Wilhelm Academy]] in [[Berlin]], an institution established for the training of military physicians. His enrollment there was largely due to financial necessity, as his family could not afford a civilian university education.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1901/behring-bio.html|title=Emil von Behring - Biographical|website=www.nobelprize.org|access-date=2018-07-23}}</ref> During his studies, Behring conducted early research on the antiseptic properties of [[iodoform]], reflecting the medical preoccupation of the time with preventing infection in surgical practice.

Following graduation, Behring earned his medical doctorate through work on neurotomia opticociliaris ([[optociliary neurotomy]]) which is a surgical procedure involving the optic nerve. Behring subsequently passed the state medical examination qualifying him to practice in the Marburg district.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Grzybowski|first1=Andrzej|last2=Wilhelm|first2=Helmut|date=15 February 2012|title=Little known ophthalmic interests of Emil von Behring, the first Nobel Prize Laureate in Medicine or Physiology|journal=Acta Ophthalmologica|language=en|volume=91|issue=4|pages=381–384|doi=10.1111/j.1755-3768.2011.02343.x|pmid=22336320|s2cid=22857078|doi-access=free}}</ref> In 1878, as part of his military service obligations, he was stationed in Poland, where he investigated septic diseases, an experience that deepened his understanding of infection and wound pathology. His skill and diligence attracted attention, leading to his transfer back to [[Prussia]] to work under [[Robert Koch]], whose laboratory at the [[Imperial Health Office]] was becoming a center of pioneering bacteriological research.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=2010-04-23|title=Sondermarken zur Ehrlich-Behring-Feier: Paul Ehrlich; Emil von Behring|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/nadc.19540021309|journal=Nachrichten aus Chemie und Technik|volume=2|issue=13–14|pages=136|doi=10.1002/nadc.19540021309|issn=0027-738X|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Behring’s academic and professional advancement remained closely tied to his military sponsorship. For each semester of state-funded study, he was required to complete a year of military service as a surgeon this commitment that totaled two years, during which he served (1881–1883) with the [[Second Hussar Regiment]].<ref name=":0" />

An often overlooked aspect of Behring’s early career was his research in ophthalmology, conducted during his tenure at Wicherkiewicz’s hospital in Poznań. There, he authored a clinical paper on a case of ocular tumor, in which the patient ultimately succumbed to leukemia. Although the outcome was fatal, Behring’s detailed pathological observations contributed to contemporary discussions on surgical techniques and therapeutic strategies for ocular disease. His early ophthalmologic training under renowned specialists such as [[Carl Ernst Schweigger]] and [[Wilhelm Uhthoff]] fostered this interest and culminated in his doctoral dissertation on diseases of the eye, a field that would later inform his meticulous experimental approach to infectious disease and immunity.<ref name=":0"/>

In 1890 he published an article with [[Kitasato Shibasaburō]] reporting that they had developed "antitoxins" against both [[diphtheria]] and [[tetanus]]. They had injected diphtheria and tetanus toxins into [[guinea pig]]s, goats and horses; when these animals developed immunity, they derived antitoxins (now known to contain [[antibodies]]) from their [[Serum (blood)|serum]]. This process was called "serum therapy" at the time. Behring described this therapy as a way to induce permanent immunity or "to stimulate the body's internal disinfection".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Raju|first=Tonse NK|date=4 July 1998|title=The Nobel Chronicles|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(05)79565-9|journal=The Lancet|volume=352|issue=9121|pages=75|doi=10.1016/s0140-6736(05)79565-9|pmid=9800790|s2cid=54291542|issn=0140-6736|url-access=subscription}}</ref> These antitoxins could protect against and cure the diseases in non-immunized animals. In 1892 he started the first human trials of the diphtheria antitoxin, but they were unsuccessful. Successful treatment started in 1894, after the production and quantification of antitoxin had been optimized.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kaufmann|first=Stefan H. E.|date=2017-03-08|title=Remembering Emil von Behring: from Tetanus Treatment to Antibody Cooperation with Phagocytes|journal=mBio|language=en|volume=8|issue=1|pages=e00117–17|article-number=e00117-17 |pmid=28246359|pmc=5347343|doi=10.1128/mbio.00117-17}}</ref> In 1894, Behring was also awarded the [[Cameron Prize of the University of Edinburgh|Cameron Prize for Therapeutics of the University of Edinburgh]].

By 1895 Behring became Professor of [[Hygienics]] within the Faculty of Medicine at the [[University of Marburg]], a position held for the rest of his life. He and the pharmacologist [[Hans Horst Meyer]] had their laboratories in the same building, and Behring stimulated Meyer's interest in the mode of action of [[tetanus toxin]].<ref>{{cite book |first1=Wolfgang |last1=Legrum |first2=Adnan J. |last2=Al-Toma |first3=Karl J. |last3=Netter |title=125 Jahre Pharmakologisches Institut der Philipps-Universität Marburg |location=Marburg |publisher=N. G. Elwert Verlag |year=1992 |isbn=3770809858}}</ref>

Behring won the first [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] in 1901 for the development of [[Antiserum|serum therapies]] against diphtheria. His research colleague [[Kitasato Shibasaburō]] who had performed most of the meticulous work that laid the foundation for serum therapy in 1890, while nominated as well, was not awarded the Nobel Prize as it was only given to a single awardee at the time.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nomination Archive - Nomination for Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show.php?id=12388 |access-date=2024-09-29 |website=The Nobel Prize | date=21 May 2024 }}</ref>

Emil von Behring was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1902.<ref name="AAAS">{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter B|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterB.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=30 May 2011}}</ref>

In 1904 he founded the [[Behringwerke]] in Marburg, a company to produce antitoxins and vaccines.

At the International Tuberculosis Congress in 1905 he announced that he had discovered "a substance proceeding from the virus of tuberculosis". This substance, which he designated "T C", plays the important part in the immunizing action of his "bovivaccine", which prevents [[Bovinae|bovine]] [[tuberculosis]]. He tried unsuccessfully to obtain a protective and therapeutic agents for humans.<ref>Emil von Behring [https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1901/behring-lecture.html Serum Therapy in Therapeutics and Medical Science]. Nobel Lecture, December 12, 1901. nobelprize.org</ref>

[[File:Behring-Route (Marburg) - Wannkopfstraße (1).jpg|thumb|Laboratory of 1913 in the Wannkopfstraße in Marburg]]

Behring died at [[Marburg]], [[Hessen-Nassau]], on 31 March 1917. His name survived in the [[Dade Behring]] organisation (now part of the [[Siemens Healthineers]]), in [[CSL Behring]], a manufacturer of plasma-derived biotherapies, in [[Novartis]] Behring and in the Emil von Behring Prize of the [[University of Marburg]], the highest endowed medicine award in Germany.

His [[Nobel Prize|Nobel Prize medal]] is now kept on display at the [[International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement|International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum]] in [[Geneva]].

===Controversy===
von Behring is believed to have cheated [[Paul Ehrlich]] out of recognition and financial reward in relation to collaborative research in diphtheria. The two men developed a diphtheria serum by repeatedly injecting the deadly toxin into a horse. The serum was used effectively during an epidemic in Germany. A chemical company preparing to undertake commercial production and marketing of the diphtheria serum offered a contract to both men, but von Behring manoeuvered to claim all the considerable financial rewards for himself. To add insult to injury, only Behring received the first Nobel Prize in Medicine, in 1901, for his contributions.<ref>{{cite book |author=Morton A. Meyers, M.D. |title=Happy Accidents: Serendipity in Modern Medical Breakthroughs |publisher=Arcade Publishing |url=https://archive.org/details/happyaccidentsse00meye |url-access=registration |quote=happy accidents. |year=2007 |author-link= Morton A. Meyers, M.D.|isbn=9781559708197 }}</ref> However, Ehrlich went on to win the 1908 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his contribution to immunology.<ref>{{Nobelprize|302|name=Paul Ehrlich}}</ref>

[[File:Villa Behring on Capri.jpg|thumb|Villa Behring (burgundy) on Capri]]
[[File:Behring-Mausoleum (05).jpg|thumb|Behring mausoleum in Marburg]]

==Personal life==
On 29 December 1896 Behring married the then twenty-year-old Else Spinola (1876–1936), who was a daughter of {{ill|Bernhard Spinola|de}}, the director of the [[Charité]] hospital in Berlin, and a [[Jewish]]-born mother – Elise Spinola, born Bendix – who had converted to Christianity upon her marriage.<ref>Derek S. Linton, ''Emil von Behring: Infectious Disease, Immunology, Serum Therapy'', American Philosophical Society, 2005, p. 198</ref> The couple had six sons: Fritz (1898–1966), Bernhard (1900–1918, killed in action on 20 July 1918 in Cuchéry/Marne), Hans (1903–1982), Kurt (1905–1935), Emil (1906–1970), and Otto (1913–2002), two of whom, Hans and Otto von Behring, also studied medicine.

The couple held their honeymoon at villa "Behring" on [[Capri]] 1897, where Behring owned a vacation home. In 1909–1911, the Russian writer [[Maxim Gorky]] lived at this villa.

==Publications==
* ''Die Blutserumtherapie'' (1892)
* ''Die Geschichte der Diphtherie'' (1893)
* ''Bekämpfung der Infektionskrankheiten'' (1894)
* ''Beiträge zur experimentellen Therapie'' (1906)
* ''E. v. Behring's Gesammelte Abhandlungen'' (1915) [http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:061:2-20063 Digital edition] by the [[University and State Library Düsseldorf]]

==See also==
* [[German inventors and discoverers]]

==References==
* {{cite web|author=Kornelia Grundmann|title=Emil von Behring: The founder of serum therapy|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1901/behring-article.html|publisher=The Nobel Foundation|date=3 December 2001|access-date=2008-07-21}}
*{{cite book|last=de Kruif|first=Paul|author-link=Paul de Kruif|date=1926|pages=184–206|title=Microbe Hunters|chapter=VI Roux and Behring: Massacre the Guinea Pigs|series=Blue Ribbon Books|publisher=Harcourt Brace & Company Inc.|location=New York|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.221187/page/n3/mode/2up|access-date=October 14, 2020}}
* {{NIE}}
* Ulrike Enke: Salvatore dell'Infanzia [http://www.uni-marburg.de/fb20/evbb/behring-digital/leben-werk/capri.pdf Behring and Capri]
* Christoph Hans Gerhard : Trias deutschen Forschergeistes Emil von Behring Pflaum-Verlag / Munich Naturheilpraxis 71.Jahrgang January, 2018

=== Notes ===
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Nobelprize}} including the Nobel Lecture on December 12, 1901 ''Serum Therapy in Therapeutics and Medical Science''
* [https://archive.today/20130212083035/http://www.uni-marburg.de/behring-digital www.uni-marburg.de/behring-digital]
* {{PM20}}

{{Commons}}

{{Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Laureates 1901-1925}}
{{1901 Nobel Prize winners}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Behring, Emil Adolf von}}
[[Category:1854 births]]
[[Category:1917 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Iława County]]
[[Category:German immunologists]]
[[Category:German physiologists]]
[[Category:Humboldt University of Berlin alumni]]
[[Category:German military doctors]]
[[Category:German Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine]]
[[Category:People from the Province of Prussia]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Marburg]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Physicians of the Charité]]
[[Category:Tetanus]]
[[Category:Diphtheria]]