Élie Metchnikoff

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Élie Metchnikoff
Илья Мечников
Metchnikoff c. 1910–1915
Born
Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov

15 May [O.S. 3 May] 1845
Ivanovka [uk], Kharkov Governorate, Russian Empire
Died15 July 1916(1916-07-15) (aged 71)
Paris, France
Alma mater
Known for
Awards
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions

Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov (

zoologist from the Russian Empire of Moldavian[3][4][5][6][7] noble ancestry[8] best known for his pioneering research in immunology (study of immune systems) and thanatology (study of death).[9][10][11][12] He and Paul Ehrlich were jointly awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "in recognition of their work on immunity".[13]

Mechnikov was born in a region of the

Ukrainian-Jewish mother,[14] and later on continued his career in France. Given this complex heritage, five different nations and peoples lay claim to Metchnikoff.[15] Despite having a mother of Jewish origin, he was baptized Russian Orthodox, although he later became an atheist
.

Honoured as the "father of

innate immunity",[16][17] Metchnikoff was the first to discover a process of immunity called phagocytosis and the cell responsible for it, called phagocyte, specifically macrophage, in 1882. This discovery turned out to be the major defence mechanism in innate immunity,[18] as well as the foundation of the concept of cell-mediated immunity, while Ehrlich established the concept of humoral immunity to complete the principles of immune system. Their works are regarded as the foundation of the science of immunology.[19]

Metchnikoff developed one of the earliest concepts in

probiotics in medicine.[20] Mechnikov is also credited with coining the term gerontology in 1903, for the emerging study of aging and longevity.[21][22] In this regard, Ilya Mechnikov is called the "father of gerontology"[23][24]
(although, as often happens in science, the situation is ambiguous, and the same title is sometimes applied to some other people who contributed to aging research later).

Supporters of life extension celebrate 15 May as Metchnikoff Day, and used it as a memorable date for organizing activities.[25][26]

Early life, family and education

Leo Tolstoy (left) and Metchnikoff

Metchnikoff was born in the village of

Imperial Guard.[12] His mother, Emilia Lvovna (Nevakhovich), the daughter of the writer Leo Nevakhovich, largely influenced him on his education, especially in science.[27][8] The Nevakhovich family was Jewish.[12]

The family name Mechnikov is a translation from Romanian, since his father was a descendant of the Chancellor

Lev became a prominent geographer and sociologist.[28]

In 1856, Metchnikoff entered the Kharkov Lycée, where he developed his interest in biology. Convinced by his mother to study

natural sciences
, completing his four-year degree in two years.

In 1864, he traveled to Germany to study marine

Jakob Henle
.

In 1867, he returned to Russia to receive his doctorate with Alexander Kovalevsky from the University of Saint Petersburg. Together they won the Karl Ernst von Baer prize for their theses on the development of germ layers in invertebrate embryos.

Career and achievements

Metchnikoff was appointed

Comparative Anatomy.[12][27]

In 1882 he resigned from Odessa University due to political turmoils after the assassination of Alexander II. He went to Sicily to set up his private laboratory in Messina. He returned to Odessa as director of an institute set up to carry out Louis Pasteur's vaccine against rabies; due to some difficulties, he left in 1888 and went to Paris to seek Pasteur's advice. Pasteur gave him an appointment at the Pasteur Institute, where he remained for the rest of his life.[12]

Metchnikoff in his laboratory, 1913

Metchnikoff became interested in the study of

microbes, and especially the immune system. At Messina he discovered phagocytosis after experimenting on the larvae of starfish. In 1882 he first demonstrated the process when he inserted small citrus thorns into starfish larvae, then found unusual cells surrounding the thorns. He realized that in animals which have blood, the white blood cells gather at the site of inflammation, and he hypothesised that this could be the process by which bacteria were attacked and killed by the white blood cells. He discussed his hypothesis with Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Claus, Professor of Zoology at the University of Vienna, who suggested to him the term "phagocyte" for a cell which can surround and kill pathogens. He delivered his findings at Odessa University in 1883.[12]

His theory, that certain

sexually transmitted disease syphilis.[29]

In 1887, he observed that

leukocytes isolated from the blood of various animals were attracted towards certain bacteria.[30] The first studies of leukocyte killing in the presence of specific antiserum were performed by Joseph Denys and Joseph Leclef, followed by Leon Marchand and Mennes between 1895 and 1898. Almoth E. Wright was the first to quantify this phenomenon and strongly advocated its potential therapeutic importance. The so-called resolution of the humoralist and cellularist positions by showing their respective roles in the setting of enhanced killing in the presence of opsonins was popularized by Wright after 1903, although Metchnikoff acknowledged the stimulatory capacity of immunosensitized serum on phagotic function in the case of acquired immunity.[31]

This attraction was soon proposed to be due to soluble elements released by the bacteria

pathogens.[16][17]

Metchnikoff discovered fungal infections causing insect death in 1879 and became involved in the biological control of insect pests through his student Isaak Krasilschik. They were able to make use of green muscardine for control of insects in agricultural fields.[38][39]

Metchnikoff also self-experimented with cholera that initially supported the probiotic notion. During the 1892 cholera epidemic in France, he was surprised by the fact that the disease affected only some people but not others when they were equally exposed to the infection. To understand the differences in susceptibility to the disease, he drank a sample of cholera but never got sick. He tested on two volunteers of which one was not affected while the other almost died. He hypothesised that the difference in cholera infection was due to differences in intestinal microbes, speculating that those who have plenty of beneficial ones would be healthier.[40]

The issues of aging occupied a significant place in Metchnikoff's works.[41] Metchnikoff developed a theory that aging is caused by toxic bacteria in the gut and that lactic acid could prolong life. He attributed the longevity of Bulgarian peasants to their yogurt consumption[42] that contained what was called the Bulgarian bacteria (now called Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus).[20] To validate his theory, he drank sour milk every day throughout his life. His scientific reasonings on the subject were written in his books The Nature of Man: Studies in Optimistic Philosophy (1903) and more expressively in The Prolongation of Life: Optimistic Studies (1907).[43] He also espoused the potential life-lengthening properties of lactic acid bacteria such as Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus.[44] This concept of probiotics, which he termed "orthobiosis,"[43] was influential in his lifetime, but became ignored until the mid-1990s when experimental evidence emerged.[20][45]

Awards and recognitions

Metchnikoff won the Karl Ernst von Baer prize in 1867 with Alexander Kovalevsky based on their doctoral research. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1908 with Paul Ehrlich . He was awarded honorary degree from the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, UK, and the Copley Medal of the Royal Society in 1906. He was given honorary memberships in the Academy of Medicine in Paris and the Academy of Sciences and Medicine in Saint Petersburg.[46] The Leningrad Medical Institute of Hygiene and Sanitation, founded in 1911 was merged with Saint Petersburg State Medical Academy of Postgraduate Studies in 2011 to become the North-Western State Medical University, named after Metchnikoff.[47][48] The Odesa I. I. Mechnikov National University is in Odesa, Ukraine.[49]

Personal life and views

Portrait of Metchnikoff

Metchnikoff married his first wife, Ludmila Feodorovitch, in 1869. She died from

typhoid.)[27]

Despite being baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church, Metchnikoff was an atheist.[51]

He was greatly influenced by Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. He first read Fritz Müller's Für Darwin (For Darwin) in Giessen. From this he became a supporter of natural selection and Ernst Haeckel's biogenetic law.[46] His scientific works and theories were inspired by Darwinism.[52]

Metchnikoff died in 1916 in Paris from heart failure.

cremated in Père Lachaise Cemetery crematorium. His cinerary urn has been placed in the Pasteur Institute library.[54]

Publications

Metchnikoff wrote notable books and papers, including:[18][50]

  • Leçons sur la pathologie comparée de l’inflammation (1892; Lectures on the Comparative Pathology of Inflammation)
  • L’Immunité dans les maladies infectieuses (1901; Immunity in Infectious Diseases)
  • Études sur la nature humaine (1903; The Nature of Man)
  • Immunity in Infective Diseases (1905)
  • The New Hygiene: Three Lectures on the Prevention of Infectious Diseases (1906)
  • The Prolongation of Life: Optimistic Studies (1907)
  • "Этюды оптимизма" [Etudes of Optimism]. Научного слова [Scientific Word] (2nd ed.). Moscow. 1909.
  • "Этюды о природе человека" [Etudes About Human Nature]. Научного слова [Scientific Word] (4th ed.). Moscow. 1913 – via psychlib.ru.
  • "Основатели современной медицины. Пастер — Листер — Кох" [The Founders of Modern Medicine: Pasteur - Lister - Koch]. Научного слова. Moscow. 1915 – via dlib.rsl.ru.

Explanatory notes

  1. ^ Some sources give Metchnikoff's new-style birth date as 16 May, but this is believed by the Nobel Prize Committee to be an error stated by Metchnikoff himself in converting a nineteenth century date from old-style to new-style.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ Racine, Valerie, "Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov (Élie Metchnikoff) (1845-1916)". Embryo Project Encyclopedia (2014-07-05). ISSN: 1940-5030 http://embryo.asu.edu/handle/10776/8018.
  2. ^ a b "Ilya Mechnikov: Biographical". Nobel Prizes. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  3. PMID 14321564
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  4. ^
    S2CID 35017226
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  5. JSTOR 43426778
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  6. PMC 7034616
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  7. PMID 29236381
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  8. ^ a b Metchnikoff, Olga (1921). Life of Elie Metchnikoff, 1845-1916. Houghton Mifflin Company – via gutenberg.org. and also here at archive.org
  9. ^ Metchnikoff, Elie (Encyclopedia. Oxford University Press)
  10. ^ Belkin, R.I. (1964). "Commentary," in I.I. Mechnikov, Academic Collection of Works, vol. 16. Moscow: Meditsina. p. 434. Belkin, a Russian science historian, explains why Metchnikoff himself, in his Nobel autobiography – and subsequently, many other sources – mistakenly cited his date of birth as 16 May instead of 15 May. Metchnikoff made the mistake of adding 13 days to 3 May, his Old Style birthday, as was the convention in the 20th century. But since he had been born in the 19th century, only 12 days should have been added.
  11. ISBN 978-1613731109
    . The author cites Metchnikoff's death certificate, according to which he died on July 15, 1916 (the original is in the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Metchnikoff Fund, 584-2-208). Olga Metchnikoff did not provide a precise date for her husband's death in her book, and many sources erroneously cite it as July 16.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g "Ilya Mechnikov – Biographical". nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  13. ^ a b "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1908". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  14. ISBN 978-1526614353
    . Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  15. doi:10.15407/internalmed2020.02b.029
    .
  16. ^
    PMID 19039772
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  17. ^
    PMID 26836137
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  18. ^ a b "Élie Metchnikoff". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  19. S2CID 205359637
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  20. ^
    PMID 24350221
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  21. PMID 3895124
    .
  22. PMID 23893558
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  23. doi:10.1093/geront/gnw162.708
    .
  24. ISBN 978-1500818579
    .
  25. S2CID 239107136
    , retrieved 13 May 2021
  26. ^ "Metchnikoff Day, an Opportunity to Promote the Study of Aging and Longevity". Fight Aging!. 15 April 2015.
  27. ^ a b c d "Metchnikoff, Elie". Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  28. JSTOR 4207300
    .
  29. PMID 21773301
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  30. ^ Metchnikoff E (1887). "Sur la lutte des cellules de l'organisme contre l'invasion des microbes". Annales de l'Institut Pasteur. 1: 321.
  31. ISBN 0-19-506447-X
    .
  32. ^ Grawitz P (1887). "unknown title". Virchows Adz. IIO. I.
  33. PMID 13185754
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  34. PMID 4384494
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  35. ^ J Exp Med. 1976 May 1;143(5):1154–69.
  36. ^ J Immunol. 1974 Jun;112(6):2055–62.
  37. S2CID 22663271
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  38. ISSN 0958-3157
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  39. ^ Timuș, Asea (2015). "Secvenţe din istoria cercetării filoxerei viţei-de-vie în Basarabia" (PDF). Enciclopedica. Revistă de istorie a știinţei și studii enciclopedice (2 (9)): 8–18.
  40. ^ Lewis, Danny (7 May 2015). "Probiotics Exist Thanks to a Man Who Drank Cholera". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  41. Lifespan.io. Archived from the original
    on 12 May 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  42. PMID 15481739
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  43. ^
    S2CID 13290396
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  44. PMID 24350221
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  45. PMID 27741152
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  46. ^ a b "Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov (Elie Metchnikoff) (1845–1916)". The Embryo Project Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  47. ^ "North-Western State Medical University I.I. Mechnikov". FAIMER. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  48. ^ "North-Western State Medical University named after I.I. Mechnikov". North-Western State Medical University named after I.I. Mechnikov. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  49. ^ "Odessa I.I. Mechnikov national university". Odessa I.I. Mechnikov national university. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  50. ^
    S2CID 658489
    .
  51. ISBN 978-0-1953451-00
    . There is no clear record that he was professionally restricted in Russia because of his lineage, but he sympathized with the problem his Jewish colleagues suffered owing to Russian anti-Semitism; his personal religious commitment was to atheism, although he received strict Christian religious training at home. Metchnikoff's atheism smacked of religious fervor in the embrace of rationalism and science. We may fairly argue that Metchnikoff's religion was based on the belief that rational scientific discourse was the solution for human suffering.
  52. ISBN 978-0-226-29977-8
    .
  53. Canadian Jewish Chronicle
    . Retrieved 17 November 2012.
  54. ^ "Мечников Илья Ильич (1845-1916)" [Mechnikov Ilya Ilyich (1845-1916)]. m-necropol.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 26 May 2021.

Further reading

External links

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