Dr Max Theiler, first South African to receive the Nobel Prize, is born in Pretoria

Date: 30 Jan 1899
Updated: 30 Sep 2019

Dr Max Theiler, first South African to receive the Nobel Prize, is born in Pretoria

Dr Max Theiler was born on 30 January 1899 in Pretoria. He studied medicine at the University of Cape Town Medical School from 1916 to 1918. He graduated at the London School of Medicine in 1922. Theiler joined the Rockefeller Foundation in 1930. It is while there that he did extensive research on yellow fever and other viral diseases. He headed the research team that produced the vaccination for yellow fever. It was this achievement that led to him being awarded the Nobel Prize. He was the first ever South African to receive the prize. Theiler retired from the Rockefeller foundation in 1964 and joined Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, as professor of epidemiology and microbiology. Theiler died in 1972. He had married Lillian Graham and they had one daughter.

Search events by date

What happened on your birthday?

How we know this

01Nobelprize.org,Nobel Lectures in Physiology or Medicine [online],Available at www.nobelprize.org,[Accessed: 16 January 2013]
02Encyclopedia," Max Theiler",From: Encyclopedia,[online], Available at: www.encyclopedia.com [Accessed on 16 January 2013]

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2013, January 24). Dr Max Theiler, first South African to receive the Nobel Prize, is born in Pretoria. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0094689

South African History Online (2013) 'Dr Max Theiler, first South African to receive the Nobel Prize, is born in Pretoria', South African History Online, 24 January. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0094689 (Accessed: 21 September 2026).

South African History Online, Dr Max Theiler, first South African to receive the Nobel Prize, is born in Pretoria [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0094689, (accessed 21 September 2026).

"Dr Max Theiler, first South African to receive the Nobel Prize, is born in Pretoria." South African History Online, 24 Jan. 2013, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0094689. Accessed 21 Sept. 2026.

South African History Online. "Dr Max Theiler, first South African to receive the Nobel Prize, is born in Pretoria." South African History Online. January 24, 2013. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0094689.