Emil Adolf von Behring (March 15, 1854 - March 31, 1917) was born at Hansdorf , Eylau, Germany. Between 1874 and 1878, he studied medicine at the Army Medical College in Berlin. He was mainly a military doctor and then became Professor of Hygienics within the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Marburg (against the initial strenuous opposition of the faculty council), a position he would hold for the rest of his life.

Behring won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1901 for developing a serum therapy against diphtheria and tetanus. The former had been a scourge of the population, especially children, whereas the other was a leading cause of death in wars, killing the wounded. Behring died at Marburg, Germany, on March 31, 1917 however, his name lives on in Dade Behring, the world's largest company dedicated solely to clinical diagnostics.