Niels Kaj Jerne
1911 – 1994 · aged 83
Danish immunologist
- Born
- 23 Dec 1911 · London
- Died
- 7 Oct 1994 · Castillon-du-Gard
Life timeline
Their life from birth to death. On the timeline, world events of the time are shown faintly.
- 23 Dec 1911BornBorn in London
- 1970AwardCanada Gairdner International Award
- 1978AwardHonorary doctorate from Columbia University
- 1978AwardMarcel Benoist Prize
- 1979AwardHonorary doctorate of the University of Copenhagen
- 1981AwardHonorary doctorate of the University of Basel
- 1982AwardPaul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize
- 1984AwardNobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 7 Oct 1994DiedDied in Castillon-du-Gard
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Meanwhile in the world
Major world events during their lifetime (1911 – 1994).
- 1914 – 1918World War I
- 1915 – 1923Armenian genocide
- 1917Balfour Declaration
- 1917February Revolution
- 1917October Revolution
- 1917 – 1922Russian Civil War
- 1919 – 1920Paris Peace Conference
- 1920Treaty of Versailles
- 1933 – 1945The Holocaust
- 19341934 FIFA World Cup
- 19361936 Summer Olympics
- 1937 – 1945Second Sino-Japanese War
- 19381938 FIFA World Cup
- 1938Munich Agreement
- 1939 – 1940Winter War
- 1939 – 1945World War II
- 1940 – 1945Auschwitz concentration camp
- 1941Attack on Pearl Harbor
- 1941 – 1945Eastern Front
- 1941Operation Barbarossa
- 1942 – 1943Battle of Stalingrad
- 1945Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
- 1945 – 1946Nuremberg trials
- 19501950 FIFA World Cup
- 1950 – 1953Korean War
- 1953 – 1959Cuban Revolution
- 19541954 FIFA World Cup
- 1955 – 1975Vietnam War
- 1956Hungarian Revolution of 1956
- 1956Suez Crisis
- 19581958 FIFA World Cup
- 1959Antarctic Treaty System
- 19621962 FIFA World Cup
- 1962Cuban Missile Crisis
- 19661966 FIFA World Cup
- 1966 – 1976Cultural Revolution
- 1968Prague Spring
- 1969Apollo 11 Moon landing
- 19721972 Summer Olympics
- 19741974 FIFA World Cup
Biography
Niels Kaj Jerne, FRS (23 December 1911 – 7 October 1994) was a Danish immunologist. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1984 with Georges J. F. Köhler and César Milstein "for theories concerning the specificity in development and control of the immune system and the discovery of the principle for production of monoclonal antibodies".
Jerne is known for three significant ideas. Firstly, instead of the body producing antibodies in response to an antigen, Jerne postulated that the immune system already has the specific antibodies it needs to fight antigens. Secondly, it was known that the immune system learns to be tolerant to the individual's own self. Jerne postulated that this learning takes place in the thymus. Thirdly, it was known that T cells and B cells communicate with each other.
Jerne's network theory proposed that the active sites of antibodies are attracted to both specific antigens (idiotypes) and to other antibodies that bind to the same site. The antibodies are in balance, until an antigen disturbs the balance, stimulating an immune reaction.
Text from the Wikipedia article Niels Kaj Jerne, CC BY-SA 4.0
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