| Date | 1882 |
| Author | Metchnikoff |
| Contribution | Reported the phenomenon of phagocytosis. |
| Reference | Silverstein |
| Notes | Having planted a rose thorn in a jellyfish larva, he saw ameboid cells gathering around it. This was the beginning of studies on cellular immunity as distinct from humoral immunity. (See 1874, 1890.) Foster says early 1883. Silverstien gives year as 1884 for "phagocytic theory of immunity" -- presumably because of his publication in that year of the role of phagocytes in anthrax. Brock credits Koch's 1890 paper on tuberculin as the first on cellular immunity, because the tuberculin reaction exemplified what came to be called delayed type hypersensitivity. |
| Category | Immunology |
| Pathogen Class | General |
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