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. 2007 Nov 26;204(12):2779-84.
doi: 10.1084/jem.20072290.

Yellow fever and Max Theiler: the only Nobel Prize for a virus vaccine

Erling Norrby  1
Affiliations

Yellow fever and Max Theiler: the only Nobel Prize for a virus vaccine

Erling Norrby. J Exp Med. .

Abstract

In 1951, Max Theiler of the Rockefeller Foundation received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of an effective vaccine against yellow fever--a discovery first reported in the JEM 70 years ago. This was the first, and so far the only, Nobel Prize given for the development of a virus vaccine. Recently released Nobel archives now reveal how the advances in the yellow fever vaccine field were evaluated more than 50 years ago, and how this led to a prize for Max Theiler.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Max Theiler receives the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine from the hands of His Majesty the King Gustaf Adolf VI on December 10, 1951. Photo provided by the Karolinska Institutet.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Asibi, West African yellow fever survivor, who provided a blood sample from which the virus, used in extensive future research, was isolated. Photo from reference 2.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Albert Sabin, the father of the live polio vaccine, who gave the only comprehensive nomination of Theiler for a Nobel Prize in 1948. Photo kindly provided by Samuel Katz.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Sven Gard, professor of virology at the Karolinska Institutet between 1948 and 1972. Photo provided by the Karolinska Institutet.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Hilding Bergstrand, professor of general pathology and pathological anatomy 1924–1952, vice-chancellor (rector) of the Karolinska Institutet 1942–1952, and chairman of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine 1947–1952. Photo provided by the Karolinska Institutet.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Max Theiler. Photo provided by the Nobel Foundation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Theiler, M., and H.H. Smith. 1937. The effect of prolonged cultivation in vitro upon the pathogenicity of yellow fever virus. J. Exp. Med. 65:767–786. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bowers, J.Z., and E.E. King. 1981. The conquest of yellow fever: The Rockefeller Foundation J. Med. Soc. N. J. 78:539–541. - PubMed
    1. Strode, G.K., editor. 1951. Yellow Fever. McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York. 710 pp.
    1. Monath, T.P. 2004. Yellow fever: an update. Lancet Infect. Dis. 1:11–20. - PubMed
    1. Lefeuvre, A., P. Marianneau, and V. Deubel. 2004. Current assessment of yellow fever and yellow fever vaccine. Curr. Infect. Dis. Rep. 6:96–104. - PubMed

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Personal name as subject