August Paul von Wassermann (21 February 1866 – 16 March 1925) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

bacteriologist A bacteriologist is a microbiologist, or similarly trained professional, in bacteriology -- a subdivision of microbiology that studies bacteria, typically pathogenic ones. Bacteriologists are interested in studying and learning about bacteria, ...

and hygienist. Born in Bamberg, with Jewish origins, he studied at several universities throughout Germany, receiving his medical doctorate in 1888 from the

University of Strassburg The University of Strasbourg (french: Université de Strasbourg, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. The French university traces its history to the ea ...

. In 1890 he began work under

Robert Koch Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch ( , ; 11 December 1843 – 27 May 1910) was a German physician and microbiologist. As the discoverer of the specific causative agents of deadly infectious diseases including tuberculosis, cholera (though the bacteri ...

at the Institute for Infectious Diseases in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. In 1906 he became director of the division for experimental therapy and serum research at the institute, followed by a directorship of the department of experimental therapy at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft for the Advancement of Science in

Berlin-Dahlem Dahlem ( or ) is a locality of the Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough in southwestern Berlin. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a part of the former borough of Zehlendorf. It is located between the mansion settlements of Grunewald and ...

(1913).August Paul von Wassermann
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Who Named It ''Whonamedit?'' is an online English-language dictionary of medical eponyms and the people associated with their identification. Though it is a dictionary, many eponyms and persons are presented in extensive articles with comprehensive bibliograp ...

Wassermann developed a complement fixation test for the diagnosis of syphilis in 1906, just one year after the causative organism, '' Spirochaeta pallida'', had been identified by

Fritz Schaudinn Fritz Richard Schaudinn (19 September 1871 – 22 June 1906) was a German zoologist. Born in Röseningken, East Prussia, he co-discovered, with Erich Hoffmann in 1905, the causative agent of syphilis, ''Spirochaeta pallida'' (also known as ''Tr ...

and

Erich Hoffmann Erich Hoffmann (25 April 1868 – 8 May 1959) was a German dermatologist who was a native of Witzmitz, Pomerania. He studied medicine at the Berlin Military Academy, and was later a professor at the Universities of Halle and Bonn. Hoffmann ...

.Wassermann's reaction
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The so-called "

Wassermann test The Wassermann test or Wassermann reaction (WR) is an antibody test for syphilis, named after the bacteriologist August Paul von Wassermann, based on complement fixation. It was the first blood test for syphilis and the first in the nontrepone ...

" allowed for early detection of the disease (despite its

nonspecific symptom Signs and symptoms are the observed or detectable signs, and experienced symptoms of an illness, injury, or condition. A sign for example may be a higher or lower temperature than normal, raised or lowered blood pressure or an abnormality showi ...

s), and thus prevention of transmission. He attributed the development of the test to earlier findings of

Jules Bordet Jules Jean Baptiste Vincent Bordet (; 13 June 1870 – 6 April 1961) was a Belgian immunologist and microbiologist. The bacterial genus ''Bordetella'' is named after him. The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to him in 1919 for ...

and Octave Gengou (complement fixation reaction) and to a hypothesis introduced by

Paul Ehrlich Paul Ehrlich (; 14 March 1854 – 20 August 1915) was a Nobel Prize-winning German physician and scientist who worked in the fields of hematology, immunology, and antimicrobial chemotherapy. Among his foremost achievements were finding a cure ...

in his interpretation of

antibody An antibody (Ab), also known as an immunoglobulin (Ig), is a large, Y-shaped protein used by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign objects such as pathogenic bacteria and viruses. The antibody recognizes a unique molecule of the ...

formation. The Wassermann test remains a staple of syphilis detection and prevention in some areas, although it has often been replaced by more modern alternatives. With

Wilhelm Kolle Wilhelm Kolle (born 2 November 1868 in Lerbach near Osterode am Harz, died 10 May 1935) was a German bacteriologist and hygienist. He served as the second director of the Royal Institute for Experimental Therapy, succeeding its founder, the Nobel ...

, he published the six-volume ''Handbuch der Pathogenen Mikroorganismen'' (Handbook of Pathogenic Microorganisms). He was the first recipient of the

Aronson Prize The Aronson Prize (german: Aronson-Preis) is a prize awarded for achievements in microbiology and immunology. It was established by the will of the pediatrician and bacteriologist Hans Aronson and has been awarded since 1921. Aronson bequeathed ...

in 1921.

References

External links

Bibliography Of Wasserman
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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wassermann, August von 1866 births 1925 deaths People from Bamberg 19th-century German Jews 20th-century German biologists German microbiologists German venereologists Jewish microbiologists German bacteriologists Physicians of the Charité Max Planck Institute directors