Title:

Letter from Oswald T. Avery to Michael Heidelberger

Creator:

Avery, Oswald Theodore, 1877-1955

Recipient:

Heidelberger, Michael

Date:

29 August 1935

Description:

In this letter Heidelberger's former mentor and collaborator Oswald Avery, affectionately called "Fess" by his colleagues, congratulated him on the development of his quantitative theory of the precipitin reaction. A break-through in immunology, the theory established the multivalence of antigens and antibodies, or the ability of each to form chemical bonds with two or (in the case of most antigens) more molecules of the other. "I rejoice to see the mysteries of immunological phenomena yielding beautifully to the laws of classical chemistry," Avery wrote.

Location:

Box: 1. Folder: 17

Rights:

Courtesy of the Tennessee State Library and Archives. and http://www.tennessee.gov/tsla/

Disclaimer:

The National Library of Medicine's Profiles in Science program has made every effort to secure proper permissions for posting items on the web site. In this instance, however, it has either not been possible to identify or contact the current copyright owner. If you have information regarding the copyright owner, please contact https://support.nlm.nih.gov.

Genre:

Letters (correspondence)

Subject:

Precipitin Tests

Format:

Text

Extent:

2 pages

Relation:

Fess Took Me for a Polysaccha-ride, 1935

Language:

English

Legacy ID:

DHBBFB

NLM ID:

101584940X63

Profiles Collection:

The Michael Heidelberger Papers

Shareable Link:

https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/101584940X63

Story Section:

Antigens and Antibodies: Heidelberger and The Rise of Quantitative Immunochemistry, 1928-1954