Table 1 Nineteenth century investigators' contributions to malaria research and commemorations by national postal services

Pierre Pelletier

(1788–1842) &

Joseph Caventou

(1795–1877)

1820

–

Isolated quinine from bark of Peruvian trees of genus Cinchona; clinically tested the product and set up manufacturing facilities

Yes^a

France

1970

[27]

François Maillot

(1804–1894)

1836

–

Brain at autopsy coloured grey with many tiny dark areas. Successful use of quinine sulphate for febrile Algerian army staff (1834)

Yes^a

Algeria

1954

[28]

Heinrich Meckel von Hemsback

(1790–1829)

1847

–

Recognized pigmented bodies among red cells and in the organs in a patient who died of malaria

No

–

[29]

Rudolf Karl Virchow

(1821–1902)

1848

No

With Friedrich Frerichs (1919 –1885) associated the black pigment specifically with malaria

Yes

Germany

1948

[30]

Louis Achille Kelsch

(1841–1911)

1875

–

Concluded malaria diagnosed by presence of melanin, which was found in blood cells, liver, spleen, and marrow

No

–

[31]

Charles Alphonse Laveran

(1845–1922)

1880

Yes

(1907)

Announced to the French Academy of Medicine the discovery of the living malaria parasite

Yes^a

Algeria

1954

[32]

Ettore Marchiafava (1847–1935)

1885

No

With Angelo Celli (1857–1914) showed parasites inoculated from man to man and that pigmented granules were external to leukocytes

No

–

[33]

Camillo Golgi

(1843–1926)

1885

Yes

(1906)

Described development of segmenting forms in blood of quartan parasites; identified association with cyclical fevers and difference between quartan and tertian fevers

Yes

Sweden

1966

[34]

William Councilman

(1854–1933)

1885

No

Identified with George Sternberg (1838–1915) red cell hyaline-like bodies similar to Laveran’s and causal of malarial fever

No

–

[35]

William Osler

(1849–1919)

1886

No

Confirmed presence of parasites patients in USA; showed diagnostic value of malaria blood slide in all fevers

Yes

Canada

1969

[36]

William Welch

(1850–1934)

1886

No

Marchiafava and Celli name the parasite plasmodium and Welch P.falciparum as recognized species formed crescents

No

–

[37]

Élie Metchnikoff

(1845–1916)

1886

Yes

(1908)

Showed the relation of the parasite to the sporozoa. Developed eosin and methylene blue slide preparations

Yes

France

1966

[38]

Vasili Danilewsky

(1852–1939)

1886

No

Recognized similarity of avian haemosporidia and human parasites; described exflagellation of avian gametocytes (1889)

No

–

[39]

Paul Erhlich

(1854–1915)

1891

Yes

(1908)

First to successfully treat malaria using methylene blue

Yes

Germany

1954

[40]

Patrick Manson

(1844–1922)

1894

No

Proposed flagellating bodies in mosquito stomach developed in water when mosquito dies; stated flagellation was extracorporeal phase and proposed transmission by a ‘suctorial insect’; in 1900 showed subjects in London were infected by mosquitoes sent from Italy

No

–

[41]

William MacCallum

(1874–1944)

1897

No

Observed fertilization of crescent and flagellate forms in avian malaria identifying its sexual reproduction

No

–

[42]

Ronald Ross

(1857–1932)

1898

Yes

(1902)

Showed that Proteosoma, a malaria parasite of birds, was conveyed by mosquitoes

Yes

Sweden

1962

[43]

Giovanni Grassi

(1854–1925)

1898

No

With Amico Bignami (1862–1929) and Giuseppe Bastianelli (1862–1959) succeeded in infecting man by mosquitos from malarial regions; suggested preliminary tissue phase existed; showed malarial parasites carried by female Anopheles

Yes^a

Italy

1955

[44]

Robert Koch

(1843–1910)

1899

Yes

(1905)

Initially disbelieved Laveran’s findings. With Kossel identified parasites in lower monkeys (named P. Kochi by Laveran). First to develop ‘carrier’ hypothesis in asymptomatic individuals, and eradication strategy with quinine prophylaxis and surveillance

Yes

Germany

1944

[45]