Definition of Paul Ehrlich
1. Noun. German bacteriologist who found a 'magic bullet' to cure syphilis and was a pioneer in the study of immunology (1854-1915).
Medical Definition of Paul Ehrlich
1.
A brilliant scientist and student, born in Silesia, Germany, who at the age of 23 published his first scientific paper which was on the discovery of the mast cells - a name coined by him (1887). While a resident in medicine at Charite Hospital in Berlin he utilised the newly discovered aniline dyes to develop some of the basic methods of histology.
Among his contributions are: The preparation and staining of blood smears, he demonstrated granules in leukocytes, described the neutrophil, basophil, eosinophil, myelocyte, and mononuclear cells (white blood cells), he demonstrated normoblasts, megaloblasts and microblasts of the erythrocytic (red blood cell) series.
In 1887, he differentiated lymphocytic leukaemia from "bone marrow leukaemia" (myeloid) on blood smear, in 1888, he described aplastic anaemia, in 1882 the diazo reaction of typhoid urines, in 1882, less than six weeks after Koch described the Tuberculus bacillus, Ehrlich had described its acid-fastness and devised the fuchsin stain to demonstrate the pink rod on a blue background.
Ehrlich fell ill with tuberculosis and went to Egypt for 3 years for rest and cure. Following his return, he entered the field of immunology. at Von Behring's request, he developed means of standardising antitoxin dosage (immunization units).
at the age of 42, he became director of the "Royal Institute for Standardisation and Investigation of Antitoxic Sera." Here he devised his famous "side-chain" theory of immunisation. It has since been replaced.
Paul Ehrlich reinvestigated Bordet's alexin and heat-stable substance and named them "complement" and "immune body". Ehrlich coined the terms and created a new science of chemotherapy.
In 1910 he discovered Salvarsan or 606, a therapeutic antiluetic. For his silver bullet (Salvarsan) in 1908, he received the Nobel Prize. This scientist was greatly concerned over the problem of drug fastness which still remains a problem. He died August 20, 1915.
Lived: 1854-1915.
This entry appears with permission from the Dictionary of Cell and Molecular Biology
(11 Mar 2008)
Lexicographical Neighbors of Paul Ehrlich
Literary usage of Paul Ehrlich
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Emil Von Behring: Infectious Disease, Immunology, Serum Therapy by Derek S. Linton (2005)
"The best scientific biography remains Ernst Bäumler, Paul Ehrlich: Scientist for
Life (New York: ... Über Abrin," in Collected Papers of Paul Ehrlich, Vol. ..."
2. Men Around the Kaiser: The Makers of Modern Germany by Frederic William Wile (1914)
"... XXIX Paul Ehrlich GERMANY believes in honouring her great sons while they are
still alive. That is one of the reasons why one has to drive through "Paul ..."
3. Text-book of Physiological Chemistry in Thirty Lectures by Emil Abderhalden (1908)
"We have in mind the theory to which Paul Ehrlich refers all the ... Paul Ehrlich
has not only succeeded in correlating by means of his ingenious theory many ..."
4. An Introduction to the History of Medicine: With Medical Chronology by Fielding H. Garrison (1913)
"Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915), of Strehlen, Silesia, was a clinical assistant of ...
it to combine chemically with food substances and Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915). ..."
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