Photographer - Author: Pierre Petit.īorn in Lavaux, in the Vaud canton of Switzerland. Portrait of Alexandre Yersin (1863-1943) aged 30 in 1893. I consider medicine a calling, like priesthood." He was an idealist and said the following of medical practice: "I am very happy to treat those who come to me asking for advice, but I wouldn't like to make medicine my profession, what I mean is, I could never ask a patient to pay me for treatment. He then conducted a great many scientific experiments, in very diverse fields, until the end of his life. Once in the country, and despite competition from the Japanese team, he discovered the agent responsible, Yersinia pestis, which he described as: “small stocky spindles with rounded ends". After four years spent exploring the coast and hinterland of Annam, he was appointed by the French government to deal with the plague outbreak devastating Yunnan in China in 1894. Alexandre Yersin worked at the brand new Institut Pasteur (opened on November 14, 1888) for two years before setting off for Yunnan in China in 1890. Introduced to the Institut Pasteur by Émile Roux, he is closely linked to the latter's discoveries (particularly regarding diphtheria). Born in Switzerland, he studied medicine in Germany before emigrating to France, as Paris was then at the forefront of clinical medicine with great practitioners like Corvisart, Laennec and Trousseau. Alexandre Yersin was buried in Nha Trang (Vietnam) and next to his grave there is a small temple that is always decorated with flowers and incense – a great honor for a foreign national.Īlexandre Yersin was an eminent Pasteurian.
A brilliant scientist, he was also an explorer and pioneer in many fields.
He discovered the plague bacillus in Hong Kong. Swiss-born Alexandre Yersin joined the Institut Pasteur in 1885 aged just 22 and worked under Émile Roux.
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