Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov (Илья Ильич Мечников, also known as Elie Metchnikoff, May 16, 1845, near Kharkiv, Ukraine – July 16, 1916, Paris) was a Russian microbiologist best remembere for his pioneering research into the immune system. Mechnikov received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1908, for his work on phagocytosis.