Emil von Behring won the 1901 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for developing a serum therapy against diphtheria.
Behring showed that blood serum from immunized animals could protect against diphtheria toxin. His work helped establish antitoxins as practical treatments for infectious disease.
The award was the first Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Behring’s treatment used antibodies produced after exposure to weakened toxin, although the word antibody was not yet fully established in modern immunology.
A common mix-up is confusing Behring’s diphtheria work with Paul Ehrlich’s later Nobel-recognized contributions to immunity. Behring shared no Nobel Prize for this achievement; he was the sole 1901 medicine laureate.