Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov, gallicised and known in Western sources as Élie Metchnikoff, was a zoologist from the Russian Empire of Moldavian noble ancestry best known for his research in immunology and thanatology. He and Paul Ehrlich were jointly awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "in recognition of their work on immunity". The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1908, announced October 29, 1908. Ilya Mechnikov and Paul Ehrlich, “in recognition of their work on immunity”. Ilya Mechnikov: born 1845, Kharkov, Russian Empire (now Kharkiv, Ukraine). Paul Ehrlich: born 1854, Strehlen, Prussia (now Strzelin, Poland). Wiki link Wiki link Data: the Nobel Foundation (CC0).