Editing Immune system (section)

== History of immunology ==
{{further|History of immunology}}
[[File:Paul Ehrlich 1915.jpg|thumb|right|alt= Portrait of an older, thin man with a beard wearing glasses and dressed in a suit and tie|[[Paul Ehrlich]] (1854–1915) was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1908 for his contributions to immunology.<ref name= 1908Nobel/>]]

[[Immunology]] is a science that examines the structure and function of the immune system. It originates from [[medicine]] and early studies on the causes of immunity to disease. The earliest known reference to immunity was during the [[plague of Athens]] in 430 BC. [[Thucydides]] noted that people who had recovered from a previous bout of the disease could nurse the sick without contracting the illness a second time.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Retief FP, Cilliers L | title = The epidemic of Athens, 430–426 BC | journal = South African Medical Journal = Suid-Afrikaanse Tydskrif vir Geneeskunde | volume = 88 | issue = 1 | pages = 50–53 | date = Jan 1998 | pmid = 9539938 }}</ref> In the 18th century, [[Pierre Louis Maupertuis|Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis]] experimented with scorpion venom and observed that certain dogs and mice were immune to this venom.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Ostoya P |title=Maupertuis et la biologie |journal=Revue d'histoire des sciences et de leurs applications |year=1954 |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=60–78 |doi=10.3406/rhs.1954.3379}}</ref> In the 10th century, Persian physician [[Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi|al-Razi]] (also known as Rhazes) wrote the first recorded theory of acquired immunity,<ref name="early_trends">{{cite journal | vauthors = Doherty M, Robertson MJ | title = Some early Trends in Immunology | journal = Trends in Immunology | volume = 25 | issue = 12 | pages = 623–31 | date = December 2004 | pmid =  15530829| doi = 10.1016/j.it.2004.10.008 }}</ref>{{sfn |Silverstein |1989 |p=6}} noting that a [[smallpox]] bout protected its survivors from future infections. Although he explained the immunity in terms of "excess moisture" being expelled from the blood—therefore preventing a second occurrence of the disease—this theory explained many observations about smallpox known during this time.{{sfn |Silverstein |1989 |p=7}}

These and other observations of acquired immunity were later exploited by [[Louis Pasteur]] in his development of vaccination and his proposed [[germ theory of disease]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Plotkin SA | title = Vaccines: past, present and future | journal = Nature Medicine | volume = 11 | issue = 4 Suppl | pages = S5–11 | date = Apr 2005 | pmid = 15812490 | doi = 10.1038/nm1209 | pmc = 7095920 }}</ref> Pasteur's theory was in direct opposition to contemporary theories of disease, such as the [[miasma theory of disease|miasma theory]]. It was not until [[Robert Koch]]'s 1891 [[Koch's postulates|proofs]], for which he was awarded a [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Nobel Prize]] in 1905, that microorganisms were confirmed as the cause of [[infectious disease]].<ref>[http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1905/ The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1905] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061210184150/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1905/ |date=10 December 2006 }} Nobelprize.org Retrieved on 8 January 2009.</ref> Viruses were confirmed as human pathogens in 1901, with the discovery of the [[yellow fever]] virus by [[Walter Reed]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071023070838/http://www.wramc.amedd.army.mil/welcome/history/ Major Walter Reed, Medical Corps, U.S. Army] Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Retrieved on 8 January 2007.</ref>

Immunology made a great advance towards the end of the 19th century, through rapid developments in the study of [[humoral immunity]] and [[Cell-mediated immunity|cellular immunity]].<ref name= Metch>{{cite book| vauthors = Metchnikoff E | author-link = Elie Metchnikoff | translator-last = Binnie FG | title =Immunity in Infective Diseases| publisher =Cambridge University Press| year =1905 |url=https://archive.org/details/immunityininfec01metcgoog | quote =history of humoral immunity. | format =Full Text Version: Internet Archive| lccn = 68025143}}</ref> Particularly important was the work of [[Paul Ehrlich]], who proposed the [[side-chain theory]] to explain the specificity of the [[antigen-antibody reaction]]; his contributions to the understanding of humoral immunity were recognized by the award of a joint Nobel Prize in 1908, along with the founder of cellular immunology, [[Elie Metchnikoff]].<ref name= 1908Nobel>{{cite web|url= http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1908/ |title= The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1908 |publisher= The Nobel Prize |access-date=8 January 2007}}</ref> In 1974, [[Niels Kaj Jerne]] developed the [[immune network theory]]; he shared a Nobel Prize in 1984 with [[Georges J. F. Köhler]] and [[César Milstein]] for theories related to the immune system.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1984/jerne/facts/ | title= Niels K. Jerne |access-date= 27 November 2020 |publisher= The Nobel Prize}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=He put the Id in Idiotype|journal=EMBO Reports|date=4 October 2003|vauthors= Yewdell J |volume=4|issue=10|page=931|pmc=1326409|doi=10.1038/sj.embor.embor951|type= Book review}}</ref>