Emmy Klieneberger-Nobel was a German

Germans

The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

 Jewish microbiologist

Microbiologist

A microbiologist is a scientist who works in the field of microbiology. Microbiologists study organisms called microbes. Microbes can take the form of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protists...

. After having been expelled from Germany by the Nazis and moving to London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, she pioneered the study of mycoplasma

Mycoplasma

Mycoplasma refers to a genus of bacteria that lack a cell wall. Without a cell wall, they are unaffected by many common antibiotics such as penicillin or other beta-lactam antibiotics that target cell wall synthesis. They can be parasitic or saprotrophic. Several species are pathogenic in humans,...

. In 1935, she discovered and cultured unusual strains of bacteria that lacked a cell wall, naming these strains "L-form bacteria

L-form bacteria

L-form bacteria, also known as L-phase bacteria, L-phase variants, and cell wall-deficient bacteria, are strains of bacteria that lack cell walls...

" after the Lister Institute where she was working at the time. She is honored by the International Organization for Mycoplasmology by an annual Emmy Klieneberger-Nobel Award to outstanding scientists working on mycoplasma.

External links

• Two early ‘general microbiologists’ Microbiology Today August 2005