Élie Metchnikoff (15 May 1845 – 15 July 1916) Russian scientist won the 1908 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine with Paul Ehrlich for their work on immunology.
Metchnikoff was born on May 16, 1845 in the Land of Panaskova, the steppe of Little Russia.
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Metchnikoff completed the four-year course of study at the University of Kharkov in two years graduating in 1864. In 1867 Metchnikoff received his doctorate from the University of St. Petersburg for his thesis on the embryonic development of fish and crustaceans. In 1884, Metchnikoff announced a novel theory of the protective role of inflammation.
In 1888 Louis Pasteur offered him a post at the Pasteur Institute and he succeeded Pasteur as director in 1895.
Working with starfish, he discovered amoeba-like cells in their systems that engulf foreign bodies such as bacteria.
He established that phagocytes are the first line of defense against acute infection in most animals.
Élie Metchnikoff
