Max Theiler (30 January 1899 – 11 August 1972) was a South African-American virologist and physician. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1951 for developing a vaccine against yellow fever in 1937, becoming the first African-born Nobel laureate.

Born in Pretoria, Theiler was educated in South Africa through completion of his degree in medical school. He went to London for postgraduate work at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School and at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, earning a 1922 diploma in tropical medicine and hygiene. That year, he moved to the United States to do research at the Harvard University School of Tropical Medicine. He lived and worked in that nation the rest of his life. In 1930, he moved to the Rockefeller Foundation in New York, becoming director of the Virus Laboratory.

Early life and education

Theiler was born in Pretoria, the capital of the South African Republic (now South Africa); his father Arnold Theiler was a veterinary bacteriologist. He attended Pretoria Boys High School, Rhodes University College, and University of Cape Town Medical School, graduating in 1918. He left South Africa for London to study at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School, King's College London, and at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. In 1922, he was awarded a diploma in tropical medicine and hygiene; he became a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians of London and a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Work on yellow fever

After passing the yellow fever virus through laboratory mice, Theiler found that the weakened virus conferred immunity on rhesus macaques. The stage was set for Theiler to develop a vaccine against the disease. Theiler first devised a test for the efficacy of experimental vaccines. In his test, sera from vaccinated human subjects were injected into mice to see if they protected the mice against yellow fever virus. This "mouse protection test" was used with variations as a measure of immunity until after World War II. The virus is now referred to as Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus. The virus has been well characterized, and now serves as a standard model for studying multiple sclerosis.

Private life

He married Lillian Graham (1895–1977) in 1928, and they had one daughter.

Publications

Max Theiler contributed to three books:

  • Viral and Rickettsial Infections of Man (1948)
  • Yellow Fever (1951)
  • The Arthropod-Borne Viruses of Vertebrates: An Account of The Rockefeller Foundation Virus Program, 1951–1970, Max Theiler and W. G. Downs. (1973) Yale University Press. New Haven and London. .

Theiler wrote numerous papers, published in The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology.

<!-- already mentioned ==Legacy and honors==

  • 1939, the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene's Chalmers Medal
  • 1945, Harvard University's Flattery Medal
  • 1949, the American Public Health Association's Lasker Award
  • 1951, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

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References

Further reading

  • Charles, C.W., Jr. "Theiler, Max". American National Biography Online, February 2000.
  • "Theiler, Max". A Dictionary of Scientists. Oxford University Press, 1999.
  • including the Nobel Lecture, 11 December 1951 The Development of Vaccines against Yellow Fever