Maurice Hilleman

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Lore & Background

Hilleman was born on a farm near the high plains town of Miles City, Montana. His parents were Anna (Uelsmann) and Gustav Hillemann, and he was their eighth child. His twin sister died on the day the twins were born, and his mother died two days later. He was raised in the nearby household of his uncle, Bob Hilleman, and worked in his youth on the family farm. He credited much of his success to his work with chickens as a boy. His family belonged to the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod. When he was in the eighth grade, he discovered Charles Darwin, and was caught reading On the Origin of Species in church. Later in life, he rejected religion. Due to lack of funds, he almost failed to attend college. His eldest brother interceded, and Hilleman graduated first in his class in 1941 from Montana State University with family help and scholarships. He won a fellowship to the University of Chicago and received his doctoral degree in microbiology in 1944. His doctoral thesis was on chlamydia infections, which were then thought to be caused by a virus. Hilleman showed that these infections were actually caused by a species of bacterium, Chlamydia trachomatis, that grows only inside of cells.

Reader's Guide

Hilleman's significance lies in his unmatched productivity in vaccine development, which has had a profound global impact on public health. His vaccines, including those for measles, mumps, hepatitis B, and several bacterial diseases, are estimated to save nearly eight million lives each year. He was among the first to recognize that a 1957 outbreak of influenza in Hong Kong could become a huge pandemic. Working on a hunch, after nine 14-hour days he and a colleague determined that it was a new strain of flu that could kill millions. Forty million doses of vaccines were prepared and distributed. Although 69,000 Americans died, the pandemic could have resulted in many more deaths in the United States. His vaccine is believed to have saved hundreds of thousands of lives. In 1963, his daughter Jeryl Lynn came down with the mumps. He cultivated material from her, and used it as the basis of a mumps vaccine. The Jeryl Lynn strain of the mumps vaccine is still used. He and his group invented a vaccine for hepatitis B by treating blood serum with pepsin, urea and formaldehyde. This was licensed in 1981, but withdrawn in 1986 in the United States and replaced by a vaccine that was produced in yeast. By 2003, 150 countries were using it and the incidence of the disease in the United States in young people had decreased by 95%. Hilleman considered his work on this vaccine to be his single greatest achievement. Despite his forceful personality and modest claims—none of his vaccines or discoveries are named after him—his contributions have been widely honored, including the National Medal of Science presented by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 and a special lifetime achievement award from the World Health Organization.

Did You Know?

• Hilleman's twin sister died on the day they were born, and his mother died two days later.
• He was caught reading Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species in church when he was in the eighth grade.
• His mumps vaccine was developed from material taken from his daughter Jeryl Lynn in 1963, and the Jeryl Lynn strain is still used today.
• He kept a row of fake 'shrunken heads' in his office as trophies representing each of his fired employees.
• Robert Gallo called Hilleman 'the most successful vaccinologist in history.'