Elie Metchnikoff

Born in Russia in 1845, Elie Metchnikoff was a zoologist by training. In 1882, he observed that the moble cells found in starfish larvae moved toward and surrounded a foreign body, such as a rose thorn. Metchnikoff, with remarkable insight, reasoned that these moble cells had a defensive function and acted to protect the body against invoasion. He coined the term

phagocyte and showed that mammalian white blood cells were phagoctyic. He devoted the rest of his life to developing this theory in the face of considerable opporstion from the medical establishment. The prolonged debate concerned the significance of phagocytoisis versus destruction by antibodies. However, when Almroth Wright identified opsonins, the controversy died down. Metchnikoff shared the Noble priize for medicine with Paul Erlich in 1908 and died in 1916

Tizard Immunology 4th ed p 50