Born 4 Feb 1862; died 28 Aug 1942 at age 80.

German physician and #bacteriologist who discovered the #tetanus bacterium in 1884. Though he was unable to obtain it as a pure culture, it was isolated within a few years by Shibasaburo Kitsato. He discovered it lived in #soil, with which he innoculated mice. Because of its presence in earth, it is responsible for #infection from dirty #wounds, which was particularly significant in the cases of wounded soldiers during WW I. The #toxin secreted by this bacterium, #Clostridium tetani, causing fatal #musclespasms. It was later found to travel along #nerves to the spinal chord, causing increasingly severe spasms of the head and neck and jaw, from which came the common name of #lockjaw. Fortunately for the injured soldiers, every soldier  received an anti-toxin, used from 1915. #Nicolaier died, aged 80, in 1942, pending wartime internment as a Jew, likely by suicide.