Finding the likes of Benjamin Franklin and Leonardo da Vinci on a list of polymaths was no surprise. A polymath is a person who knows a lot about many different subjects and in most cases has made a lasting contribution in at least one of their fields of interest. Franklin was a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer and political philosopher, while da Vinci, besides being a painter, had interests in engineering, architecture, sculpting, anatomy, botany and astronomy.

My surprise came when I did not find the name of Charles Richet among the many polymaths listed. I would like to make a case for this French physician, who was the recipient of the 1913 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Richet wrote plays and poetry, published articles on hypnosis, anorexia nervosa, the body’s thermoregulation, psychology, pacifism and paranormal phenomena. He even built an airplane.

In 1901, Emil von Behring was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery that serum prepared from the blood of a horse infected with diphtheria bacteria could be used to treat diphtheria in humans. A decade earlier, Richet had shown that rabbits inoculated with blood from dogs that had recovered after being exposed to a specific bacterium were protected from subsequent infection by that bacterium. This was “serotherapy” that predated von Behring’s discovery.

Two terms coined by Richet — “anaphylaxis” and “ectoplasm” — could be said to define his career. Anaphylaxis, derived from the Greek for “contrary to protection,” refers to a potentially life-threatening allergic reaction characterized by a sudden drop in blood pressure and constriction of the airway first described in 1901 by Richet.

A commemorative stamp was issued by the Principality of........

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