Theobald Smith

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Theobald Smith

Theobald Smith (born July 31, 1859 in Albany , New York , † December 10, 1934 in New York City , New York) was an American pathologist .

Smith graduated from Cornell University and later worked in the United States Department of Agriculture. He then taught at Columbian University, Washington, DC (now George Washington University ). From 1896 to 1915 he was Professor of Comparative Pathology at Harvard University . He was then from 1915 to 1929 director of the Department of Animal Pathology at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research (now Rockefeller University ).

Smith discovered the transmission routes of bovine parasitic diseases . This made it possible to fight malaria, yellow fever and other diseases that are transmitted by insects. In 1889 he found out that Texas fever , a bovine disease, is caused by the parasite Babesia bigemina . He later discovered that this protozoon was transmitted by ticks . He was also able to show that tuberculosis in humans and livestock is caused by various bacteria, and that animals can be given immunity by injecting them with an extract from disease-causing organisms.

In 1909 he undertook experiments which showed that the administration of high doses of diphtheria toxin antibodies suppressed the formation of the body's own antibodies. In the 1960s, the method stimulated the development of vaccination for rhesus incompatibility ( William Pollack , Ronald Finn , John C. Gorman , Vincent J. Freda , Cyril A. Clarke ).

In 1896 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , in 1908 to the National Academy of Sciences , and in 1932 he became a member of the Leopoldina and a corresponding member of the Académie des Sciences . In 1933 he was awarded the Copley Medal . In the year of his death in 1934 he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh .

literature

  • J. Howard Brown: Theobald Smith 1859-1934 . J Bacteriol. 1935 July; 30 (1): 1-3.
  • Paul de Kruif : Theobald Smith. Ticks and Texas fever. In: Paul de Kruif: Microbe hunters. (Original edition: Microbe Hunters. Harcourt, Brace & Co., New York 1926) Orell Füssli Verlag, Zurich / Leipzig 1927; 8th edition ibid 1940, pp. 224–241.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ T. Smith, Active immunity produced by so called balanced or neutral mixtures of diphtheria toxin and antitoxin, J. Exp. Med., Volume 11, 1909, p. 241
  2. ↑ Member entry of Theobald Smith at the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina , accessed on October 23, 2015.
  3. ^ List of members since 1666: Letter S. Académie des sciences, accessed on March 3, 2020 (French).
  4. ^ Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. (PDF file) Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed April 8, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Smith, Theobald
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American pathologist
DATE OF BIRTH July 31, 1859
PLACE OF BIRTH Albany , New York
DATE OF DEATH December 10, 1934
Place of death New York City