John Forssman

John Forssman (1868-1947)

Magnus John Karl August Forssman (22 November 1868 12 March 1947) was a Swedish pathologist and bacteriologist born in Kalmar.[1]

He received his education at the University of Lund, where he later served as a professor of general pathology, bacteriology and public health science. From 1927 to 1930 he was director of the university hospital.[2]

He is known for discovery of the "Forssman antigen",[1] defined as a glycolipid heterophile antigen found on tissue cells of many animal species. It was first described for ovine red cells. It is not present in human, rat, rabbit, porcine or bovine cells. His name is also associated with the following two terms: "Forssman antibody" (heterophile antibody) and "Forssman reaction", also referred to as a "Forssman antigen-antibody reaction".[3]

Grave of Forssman at Norra kyrkogården in Lund.

Writings

References

  1. 1 2 A History of Immunology by Arthur M. Silverstein
  2. Öppet bildarkiv, Sydsvenska Medicinhistoriska Sällskapet (SMHS)
  3. Mondofacto Dictionary (definition of eponyms)
  4. Publications copied from an equivalent article at the Swedish Wikipedia.
  5. WorldCat Search (publications)


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/11/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.