Science Is A Powerful Tool

Élie Metchnikoff or Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov – Russian biologist, embryologist, pathologist, bacteriologist, immunologist, and physiologist. In 1908 Mechnikov together with Paul Ehrlich was jointly awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "in recognition of their work on immunity".

The range of scientific fields he was interested in was vast. His works were enough to write about a dozen brilliant research papers.

Ever since being a university student Mechnikov dreamt about discovering whether there is a mechanism of embryo development common for different animals at different stages of evolution, as well as whether there are traits common only for one particular species. Even after becoming a Docent at the University, he spent all his time at marine biological stations attempting to understand how one cell can develop into a coral or a cuttlefish, a sponge, or a ray. His joint studies of individual development of worms, insects, jellyfish, starfish, and mollusks together with Russian embryologist, Alexander Kovalevsky laid the foundation for a new science – comparative embryology.

Ilya Mechnikov was also interested in how in the process of evolution the Multicellular organisms appeared. He also made attempts to find cures from such infectious diseases as Cholera, Anthrax, Typhus, and Plague, testing experimental drugs on himself. He not only tried to create vaccines but also studied how the immune system functions. Mechnikov discovered that Phagocytes played different roles for the bodies of different species of animals – for some species they could be responsible for digestion, for others, they reacted to a foreign body protecting the organism of the host from bacteria, fungus, and viruses.

Furthermore, his studies set the ground for Gerontology as a science. Believing that people could live 100-120 years and that aging was just a disease that could be fought, he created some recipes on how to live a longer and healthier life.

The last 28 years of his life he spent in Paris working in the Pasteur Institute. Yet, when asked by the Nobel committee, he thought of himself as a Russian specialist.