March 24: César Milstein

Argentine biochemist César Milstein, who shared the 1984 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, died on this date in 2002, aged 74. Milstein studied the structure of human antibodies and the mechanisms by which they diversify to confront disease, and created a technique for laboratory production of monoclonal antibodies, which greatly expanded their use in science and medicine. Milstein did not patent this technique out of devotion to the idea of science in the service of humanity. During his undergraduate years, he was heavily involved in political protests against the rule of the Peron regime, and in 1962 he resigned his academic position and left Argentina to protest the military dictatorship.

“I wasn’t a particularly brilliant student, but on the other hand I was very active in Student Union affairs and in student politics. It was in this way that I met my wife, Celia.” —César Milstein