Alexandre Yersin, Physician and Scientist, Explorer, Veterinarian and Agronomist

Summary. — The second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century were characterizedby a scientific boom in microbiology, immunology and vaccinology. Alexandre Yersin (1863-1943) grew up during that period, became a physician and in 1886 the right hand of Émile Roux, theleading figure of Pasteur’s research. Together with Roux he identified in 1889 the toxin responsible fordiphtheria. But the horizon was too narrow in Paris and Yersin decided to move to South-East Asia in1890. During that time Yersin had the opportunity to discover the mainland between the coast of Annamand Laos. In 1894 Yersin was commissioned by the Institut Pasteur and the French Government to goto Hong Kong to unravel the mystery of the bubonic plague epidemic. Yersin succeeded in identifyingthe pathogen responsible for the plague which was named after him Yersinia pestis. In 1895 Yersin settledin Nha Trang where he set up a lab and a farm in search for solutions to medical and more specificallyveterinary diseases. Yersin became not only a “veterinarian” but also a “bioengineer” as heestablished an agricultural farm with plantations for rubber and quinine producing trees to help financehis research on veterinary diseases. After a life of dedication to science and commitment for the diseasedand mostly poor people of Vietnam as well as their livestock, Yersin passed away in 1943 and was buriedon his farm in Suoi Dau.