Arthur M. Silverstein is an American immunologist and science historian who has written extensively on the history of immunology. He is

Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

of Ophthalmic Immunology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where he spent 25 years on the faculty in the Department of

Ophthalmology Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a medic ...

and was also affiliated with its Institute of the History of Medicine. Silverstein took a break during his Ph.D. studies at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

and worked as a technician in the laboratory of

David Pressman David Pressman (born 1977) is an American lawyer who has served as the United States ambassador to Hungary since 2022. He previously worked in the Obama administration and served as the United States ambassador to the United Nations for Special Po ...

, where he first became interested in the subject of immunology. He returned to his studies and received a Ph.D. in

physical chemistry Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical mecha ...

from

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...

in 1954. After finishing, Silverstein entered military service and was assigned to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, where he found a mentor in then-Scientific Director Ernest Goodpasture and studied the development of the immune system. Silverstein ultimately spent around 10 years at the institute before joining the faculty at Johns Hopkins. Silverstein served as the president of the

Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (abbreviated ARVO) is an American learned society dedicated to ophthalmology and other vision-related topics. As of 2019, it has almost 12,000 members from 75 different countries. It was est ...

in 1987-88 and received the organization's Special Recognition Award in 2000 for his administration of the organization's Fight for Sight grants program. Silverstein has authored several books and articles on the history of science, including ''A History of Immunology'' and ''Paul Ehrlich's Receptor Immunology''.

References

American immunologists American historians of science Johns Hopkins University faculty Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{scientist-stub