Michiaki Takahashi

Life
1928–2013 (85 years old)

Country
Japan

Year of great discovery/work
1965-1972

After watching his 3-year-old son suffer with a severe case of chickenpox, Takahashi devoted himself to developing a chickenpox vaccine. Several years later, using fluid from a child infected with chickenpox, he successfully cultured a strain of the virus that was ultimately used to create the vaccine.

Did you know?
Before developing the chickenpox vaccine, Takahashi studied the measles and polio viruses.