Paul Ehrlich

I. A World To Change

Everyone on this earth has to be grateful to Paul Ehrlich because he made so many advances in medical research. Our life expectancy rate would still be around forty years if Ehrlich hadn’t been interested in chemistry and biology as a young boy. If Ehrlich hadn’t combined so many different chemicals, he would have never combined the chemical known as number 606.

Ehrlich helped Emil von Behring find an antitoxin for diphtheria. Diphtheria is a disease that particularly affects children and sometimes leads to death. In 1894, mothers no longer had to worry about their child dying of diphtheria because of Ehrlich’s help in the discovery of the antitoxin for the deadly disease.

Another discovery Ehrlich made was of a dye called trypan red. Trypan red helped destroy cells that caused sleeping sickness. His research of antibodies and understanding how the antibodies attack harmful substances that enter the body has made him the "founder" of modern chemotherapy.

Ehrlich is best known for his work on curing syphilis. Syphilis is an infectious disease transmitted by sexual contact or kissing. Ehrlich named the compound that cured syphilis "salvarsan". This was a very effective way to cure syphilis.

II. Background

A. Family

Paul Ehrlich was born on March 14, 1854 in Strehlen, Silesia. Ehrlich was born in to a middle-class, Jewish family. He was the only son and fourth child of Ismar and Rosa Ehrlich. His father owned a small distillery. Ehrlich had an Orthodox Jewish upbringing in a time when being a Jew was controversial.

B. Childhood

When Ehrlich was six years old he started his schooling at the local primary school. At age ten, he boarded with a professor’s family in Breslau and went to St. Maria Magdalena Humanistic Gymnasium. Ehrlich was often at the top of his class and his best subjects were math and Latin.

C. Advanced Education and Training

Ehrlich took an introductory course in natural sciences at Breslau University in 1872. He then went to Strasbourg for three semesters. In 1874, Ehrlich returned to Breslau where he completed his medical degree studies. In 1877, he passed the state medical examination. In 1878 he received his medical degree.

III. Research and Development

A. Discussion of the Area of Biology

Most of Ehrlich’s discoveries had something to do with the immune system. The immune system is a body system that is responsible for destroying disease-causing cells. When Ehrlich was still in school, he was staining white blood cells to see their different characteristics with his work on antibodies, he is knows as the "founder" of modern chemotherapy.