In Metchnikoff's Footsteps
My search for Metchnikoff's purported grandson, Jacques Saada, turned into a detective investigation that lasted five years. Ultimately, in November 2012, it led me to this branch of the Credit Lyonnais bank in Paris, on the Champs-Elysees. Four safety deposit boxes in its vault held a long-hidden secret archive: Metchnikoff's letters, documents and personal belongings preserved by Saada's mother, Lily Remy, thought to have been his out-of-wedlock daughter.
On a trip to Ukraine, I traveled for several hours on a vintage bus to reach Panassovka, renamed Mechnikovo, east of Kharkov, where Metchnikoff spent his childhood. Getting off at the last stop, I found a quaint, semi-deserted village. It had a single landline phone, in the home of a World War II veteran, and no running water. The surroundings hadn't changed much since Metchnikoff's explored them as a boy more than 150 years ago, including the picturesque pond by which he collected samples for his herbarium.
In Kharkov, I found a red-granite statue of Metchnikoff in front of the Metchnikoff Institute of Microbiology and Immunology. Even though it was created relatively recently, in 2005, marking the 160th anniversary of Metchnikoff's birth, its hero-worship style is reminiscent of the Soviet era.
In Odessa, the university in which Metchnikoff worked for more than a decade today bears his name. The plaque, in Ukrainian, states that "leading scientist and Nobel laureate Ilya Metchnikoff worked in this building from 1870 to 1882."
A building on a quiet street just off Odessa's historic center, not far from the university, carries a plaque that states, in Russian and Ukrainian, that Metchnikoff lived and worked in this building.
The first Pasteur Institute building. In the photo is the northern wing, housing Louis Pasteur's former apartment, today the Pasteur Museum.
The Elie Metchnikoff Building at the Pasteur Institute. According to the sign outside, it is "home to a large part of immunology research on campus." Myself and Pasteur Institute archivist Daniel Demellier are standing at the building's entrance, in front of Metchnikoff's bust by Ukrainian sculptor Valentine Znoba.
Metchnikoff's former villa on 28 rue du Guet
in Sevres
View from a window of Metchnikoff's former villa
in Sevres
Rue Metchnikoff in Sevres
The once-royal park of Saint-Cloud, adjacent to Metchnikoff's former villa in Sevres
