Emile van Ermengem

Emile van Ermengem

Emile van Ermengem (1851 - 1922/32?) Belgian bacteriologist, who was the first to isolate Clostridium botulinum, the causative agent of botulism. van Ermengem named the bacterium, Bacillus botulinus, but the name was later changed to the present Clostridium botulinum. Emile van Ermengem was a student of Robert Koch, and later he worked at the University of Ghent, from where he was to make the discovery from a piece of ham that had caused the disease in a group of people attending a wedding party. His sons were the popular french writer Franz Hellens and the art critique Francois Maret.