Max Theiler Max Theiler Max Theiler (30 January 1899 – 11 August 1972) was a South African-American virologist and physician. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1951 for developing a vaccine against yellow fever in 1937, becoming the first African-born Nobel laureate. Born in Pretoria, Theiler was educated in South Africa through completion of his degree in medical school. He went to London for postgraduate work at St Thomas's Hospital Medical School, King's College London, and at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, earning a 1922 diploma in tropical medicine and hygiene. That year, he
Nobel Prize controversies community". Criticism for this award was due to the fact that the Soviet President destabilised the Eastern bloc and caused the economic collapse and fall of the Soviet Union. The 1989 prize went to the 14th Dalai Lama. The committee's selection was opposed by the Chinese government, which opposes the Dalai Lama's activities regarding Tibet. Additionally, the Nobel Prize Committee cited their intention to put pressure on China, due to the Tiananmen Square Massacre which happened in June 1989. The 1978 prize went to Anwar Sadat, the President of Egypt during the 1973 Yom Kippur War against Israel, and Menachem