Johannes Fibiger

Johannes Andreas Grib Fibiger was born on April 23, 1867, in Silkeborg. Studying under Robert Koch and Emil von Behring in Berlin, he returned to Copenhagen to head the Institute of Pathological Anatomy.

Fibiger focused on the experimental induction of cancer in laboratory animals. In 1913, he published evidence that rats fed cockroaches infested with nematode worms (Spiroptera carcinoma) developed stomach tumors, which was hailed as the first reproducible experimental generation of cancer and earned him the 1926 Nobel Prize. While later research clarified the biochemical role of vitamin A deficiency in those lesions, Fibiger's work fundamentally catalyzed modern experimental oncology.