Rolf M. Zinkernagel

Swiss immunologist (born 1944)

Rolf M. Zinkernagel is remembered in medicine for work that altered practice rather than merely argument.

The record lists Rolf M. Zinkernagel as Swiss immunologist (born 1944).

Rolf M. Zinkernagel was born at Riehen in 1944. His recorded nationality is Switzerland. He trained at Australian National University and University of Basel.

Antibiotics, imaging and the randomised trial defined twentieth-century medicine; evidence replaced authority as the standard.

His posts were held at University of Zurich.

The recorded fields of work are medicine.

Most medical progress is invisible: it shows up as an illness that no longer kills anyone.

Recognition followed: Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (1995), Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize (1983), Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1996) and Otto Naegeli Prize (1988).

That the work was done from Switzerland matters: hospitals, training and research funding are unevenly distributed, and they decide which questions can be asked.

Achievements

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