Editing Paul Ehrlich (section)

==Life and career==
Ehrlich was born 14 March 1854 in [[Strzelin|Strehlen]] in the [[Prussia|Prussian]] province of [[Lower Silesia Province (Prussia)|Lower Silesia]] (south-west [[Poland]]). He was the second child of Rosa (Weigert) and Ismar Ehrlich, the leader of the local [[Ashkenazi Jews|Jewish]] community.<ref name=nobel /> His father was an innkeeper and distiller of liqueurs and the royal lottery collector in Strehlen, a town of some 5,000 inhabitants. His grandfather, Heymann Ehrlich, had been a fairly successful distiller and tavern manager. Ehrlich was the uncle of [[Fritz Weigert]] and cousin of [[Karl Weigert]].

After elementary school, Paul attended the time-honoured secondary school Maria-Magdalenen-Gymnasium in [[Wrocław|Breslau]], where he met [[Albert Neisser]], who later became a colleague. As a schoolboy (inspired by his cousin Karl Weigert who owned one of the first [[microtome]]s), he became fascinated by the process of staining microscopic tissue substances. He retained that interest during his subsequent medical studies at the universities of Breslau, [[Strasbourg]], [[Freiburg im Breisgau]] and [[Leipzig]]. After obtaining his doctorate in 1882, he worked at the [[Charité]] in Berlin as an assistant medical director under Theodor Frerichs, the founder of experimental clinical medicine, focusing on [[histology]], hematology and colour chemistry (dyes).

[[File:1A Tadeusza Kościuszki Street in Prudnik, 2018.07.28 (01).jpg|thumb|Villa of the Fränkel family in Prudnik]]

He married Hedwig Pinkus (1864–1948) in 1883 in the synagogue in [[Prudnik|Neustadt]] (Prudnik, Poland). The couple had two daughters, Stephanie and Marianne. Hedwig was a sister of [[Max Pinkus]], who was an owner of the textile factory in Neustadt (later known as [[Zakłady Przemysłu Bawełnianego "Frotex"|ZPB "Frotex"]]). He settled in the villa of the Fränkel family on Wiesenerstrasse in Neustadt.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Hoppe|first=Jessika|title=Śląscy nobliści|url=http://www.zskorczak-prudnik.pl/news_246.html|access-date=2021-01-25|website=zskorczak-prudnik.pl}}</ref>

[[File:Gedenktafel Bergstr 96 (Stegl) Paul Ehrlich.JPG|thumb|left|Commemorative plaque at Bergstraße 96 in Berlin-Steglitz, where Ehrlich lived and worked from 1890 to 1899]]

After completing his clinical education and [[habilitation]] at the prominent [[Charité]] medical school and teaching hospital in Berlin in 1886, Ehrlich travelled to [[Egypt]] and other countries in 1888 and 1889, in part to cure a case of [[tuberculosis]] which he had contracted in the laboratory. Upon his return he established a private medical practice and small laboratory in Berlin-Steglitz. In 1891, [[Robert Koch]] invited Ehrlich to join the staff at his Berlin Institute of Infectious Diseases, where in 1896 a new branch, the Institute for Serum Research and Testing (''Institut für Serumforschung und Serumprüfung''), was established for Ehrlich's specialisation. Ehrlich was named its founding director.

[[File:Jf-rat-beil-paul-ehrlich-ffm-118.jpg|thumb|Ehrlich's grave in the Jewish cemetery on Rat-Beil-Straße in Frankfurt am Main]]

In 1899 his institute moved to Frankfurt am Main and was renamed the Institute of Experimental Therapy (''Institut für experimentelle Therapie''). One of his important collaborators there was Max Neisser. In 1904, Ehrlich received a full position of honorary professor from the [[University of Göttingen]]. In 1906 Ehrlich became the director of the Georg Speyer House in Frankfurt, a private research foundation affiliated with his institute. Here he discovered in 1909 the first drug to be targeted against a specific pathogen: [[Arsphenamine|Salvarsan]], a treatment for syphilis, which was at that time one of the most lethal and infectious diseases in Europe. In 1914, Ehrlich was awarded the Cameron Prize of the University of Edinburgh. Among the foreign guest scientists working with Ehrlich at his institute were two Nobel Prize winners, [[Henry Hallett Dale]] and [[Paul Karrer]]. The institute was renamed [[Paul-Ehrlich-Institut (Germany)|Paul Ehrlich Institute]] in Ehrlich's honour in 1947.

In 1914, Ehrlich signed the [[Manifesto of the Ninety-Three]] which was a defence of Germany's World War I politics and militarism. On 17 August 1915 Ehrlich suffered a heart attack and died on 20 August in [[Bad Homburg vor der Höhe]]. [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Wilhelm II]] the German emperor, wrote in a telegram of condolence, "I, along with the entire civilized world, mourn the death of this meritorious researcher for his great service to medical science and suffering humanity; his life’s work ensures undying fame and the gratitude of both his contemporaries and posterity".<ref>''„Ich beklage mit der gesamten gebildeten Welt den Tod dieses um die medizinische Wissenschaft und die leidende Menschheit so hochverdienten Forschers, dessen Lebenswerk ihm bei der Mit- und Nachwelt unvergänglichen Ruhm und Dank sichert.“''</ref>

Ehrlich was buried at the [[Old Jewish Cemetery, Frankfurt]] (Block 114 N).<ref>According to {{cite book |title=Wegweiser zu den Grabstätten bekannter Persönlichkeiten auf Frankfurter Friedhöfen |location=Frankfurt am Main |year=1985 |page=49 }}</ref>