北里柴三郎
The first evidence of presence of a neutralizing substance in the blood that could counter infections came when Emil von Behring along with Kitasato Shibasaburō in 1890 developed effective serum against diphtheria. This they did by transferring serum produced from animals immunized against diphtheria to animals suffering from it. Transferring the serum thus could cure the infected animals. Behring was awarded the Nobel Prize for this work in 1901.