# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/max-theiler
# Generated: 2026-08-31T17:33:23.641Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/max-theiler"
name: "Max Theiler"
slug: "max-theiler"
description: "He turned yellow fever from a death sentence into a preventable disease. The vaccine Theiler developed in 1937 made him the first African-born Nobel laureate — and erased one of the tropics' oldest terrors."
tagline: "South African-American virologist and doctor (1899-1972)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Max_Theiler_nobel.jpg?width=1200"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "United States"
  isoCode: "US"
category:
  name: "Doctors"
  slug: "doctors"
profileType:
  name: "Doctor"
  slug: "doctor"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q39631"
birthDate: "1899-01-30"
deathDate: "1972-08-11"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           55.25
  momentum:             1.623931623931624
  historical:           22.057096
  currentAttention:     5.7997557997558
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: 200
tags:
  - name: "Scientists"
    slug: "scientists"
  - name: "Doctor"
    slug: "doctor"
  - name: "Medicine"
    slug: "medicine"
  - name: "Chemistry"
    slug: "chemistry"
  - name: "Biology"
    slug: "biology"
  - name: "United States"
    slug: "united-states"
  - name: "Americas"
    slug: "americas"
  - name: "20th Century"
    slug: "20th-century"
sources:
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    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q46928"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Max%20Theiler"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%83%D8%B3_%D8%AA%D9%8A%D9%84%D8%B1"
    title: "ماكس تيلر"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://azb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%85%DA%A9%D8%B3_%D8%AB%D8%A7%DB%8C%D9%84%D8%B1"
    title: "مکس ثایلر"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maks_Teyler"
    title: "Maks Teyler"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%B0%D0%BA%D1%81_%D0%A2%D1%8D%D0%B9%D0%BB%D0%B5%D1%80"
    title: "Макс Тэйлер"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%B0%D0%BA%D1%81_%D0%A2%D0%B5%D0%B9%D0%BB%D1%8A%D1%80"
    title: "Макс Тейлър"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "ম্যাক্স থেইলার"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Theiler"
    title: "Max Theiler"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Theiler"
    title: "Max Theiler"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ckb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%85%D8%A7%DA%A9%D8%B3_%D8%AA%DB%8C%D9%84%DB%95%D8%B1"
    title: "ماکس تیلەر"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Theiler"
    title: "Max Theiler"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cy.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Theiler"
    title: "Max Theiler"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Theiler"
    title: "Max Theiler"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Theiler"
    title: "Max Theiler"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%9C%CE%B1%CE%BE_%CE%A4%CE%AC%CE%B9%CE%BB%CE%B5%CF%81"
    title: "Μαξ Τάιλερ"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Theiler"
    title: "Max Theiler"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Theiler"
    title: "Max Theiler"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Theiler"
    title: "Max Theiler"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%85%DA%A9%D8%B3_%D8%AB%D8%A7%DB%8C%D9%84%D8%B1"
    title: "مکس ثایلر"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Theiler"
    title: "Max Theiler"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Theiler"
    title: "Max Theiler"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%9E%D7%A7%D7%A1_%D7%AA%D7%99%D7%99%D7%9C%D7%A8"
    title: "מקס תיילר"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Theiler"
    title: "Max Theiler"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Theiler"
    title: "Max Theiler"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%83%D8%B3_%D8%AA%D9%8A%D9%84%D8%B1"
    title: "ماكس تيلر"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Born in Pretoria in 1899, Theiler studied medicine in South Africa before moving to London for postgraduate work, earning a diploma in tropical medicine and hygiene in 1922. That same year he crossed to the United States to join the Harvard School of Tropical Medicine, never to return home. In 1930 he shifted to the Rockefeller Foundation in New York, eventually becoming director of the Virus Laboratory. There, in 1937, he cracked yellow fever — a vaccine that worked, that lasted, that could be mass-produced. The Nobel followed in 1951. He spent the rest of his life in the country that had given him a lab and a problem worth solving, dying in 1972.