The Wright Stuff
Almroth Wright, M.D., a pathologist from Yorkshire, England, discovered an anti-typhoid vaccine in 1896 and headed the Institute of Pathology and Research at St. Mary’s Hospital, London.
In 1902 Wright started a research department at St Mary's Hospital Medical School in London. He developed a system of anti-typhoid fever inoculation and a method of measuring protective substances (opsonin) in human blood. Citing the example of the Second Boer War, during which many soldiers died from easily preventable diseases, Wright convinced the armed forces that 10 million vaccines for the troops in northern France should be produced during World War I. Among the many bacteriologists who followed in Wright's footsteps at St Mary's was Sir Alexander Fleming, who in turn later discovered lysozyme and penicillin. Wright was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in May 1906.[6] Wright warned early on that antibiotics would create resistant bacteria, something that has proven an increasing danger. He made his thoughts on preventive medicine influential, stressing preventive measures. Wright's ideas have been re-asserted recently—50 years after his death—by modern researchers in articles in such periodicals as Scientific American.
Wright was born on this date in 1861. He died in 1947
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