Emil Adolf von Behring (1854–1917) was a German medical scientist who developed antitoxins against diphtheria and tetanus. For his work on the diphtheria antitoxin, he was elevated to the Prussian nobility (and thereafter known as von Behring) and also awarded the first Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology in 1901. In 1895, he assumed the chair of hygiene at the University of Marburg, where he remained until his death, working on tuberculosis and developing an active preventive vaccine against diphtheria.

Key Concepts:

• Diphtheria and tetanus bacilli produce toxins which cause the symptoms of these diseases.
  
• Using guinea-pigs and then sheep, Behring worked to develop serum antitoxin into a useful therapeutic agent for the treatment of diphtheria.
  
• The major success of Behring's later years was the development in 1913 of an active preventive vaccine against diphtheria, based on a toxin–antitoxin mixture rendered stable by formaldehyde.