Alexandre Yersin is remembered in medicine for work that altered practice rather than merely argument.
The record lists Alexandre Yersin as Swiss-French physician and bacteriologist.
Alexandre Yersin was born at Aubonne in 1863. His recorded nationality is France. He trained at University of Lausanne.
Anaesthesia, antisepsis and germ theory arrived within fifty years and made modern surgery possible for the first time.
His posts were held at Pasteur Institute, Messageries Maritimes and Hanoi Medical University.
The recorded fields of work are bacteriology, typhus and typhus vaccine.
Most medical progress is invisible: it shows up as an illness that no longer kills anyone.
Recognition followed: Leconte Prize (1927), Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour (1939), Grand officer of the Order of the Dragon of Annam (1935) and French Order of Academic Palms (1890).
That the work was done from France matters: hospitals, training and research funding are unevenly distributed, and they decide which questions can be asked.
Alexandre Yersin died in 1943, aged 80. What survives is the change in practice, which is how a medical life is actually measured.
Achievements
- Leconte Prize — 1927
- Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour — 1939
- Grand officer of the Order of the Dragon of Annam — 1935
- French Order of Academic Palms — 1890
- Knight of the Legion of Honour — 1894
- Held posts at Pasteur Institute, Messageries Maritimes and Hanoi Medical University
- Fields: bacteriology, typhus and typhus vaccine
