Alain de Weck was born on 26 July 1928 in Montreux (Switzerland). He pursued his medical studies in Fribourg (Switzerland), Lausanne (Switzerland), Paris (France) and Geneva (Switzerland). He completed his residency in Dermatology at the University of Geneva from 1953 to 1958 and then undertook his postdoctoral research in the Division of Dermatology at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, under Prof. Herman Eisen (1958‐1960). From 1961 to 1971, he was head of the Allergy Research Unit in the Department of Dermatology at the University of Bern (Switzerland). From 1971 to 1993, he was chairman and director of the newly founded Institute of Clinical Immunology at the University of Bern. Later on, he became Extraordinary Professor at the University of Navarra, Pamplona (Spain) and President of the Gerimmune Foundation Research Laboratory in Fribourg (Switzerland). This great Legend sadly passed away in 2013 at the age of 85.

Alain de Weck became interested in immunology at a time before this discipline was truly established and when the key focus of research interest was typically on biochemistry and proteins. His main research interest lay in the induction and elicitation of allergic reactions, especially to penicillins.1 There he discovered that bivalent or multivalent bridging of the IgE molecules on the surface of mast cells and basophils is a necessary requisite to trigger mast cell activation and inflammatory mediator release. Monovalent binding with a small molecule like penicillin failed to induce an allergic reaction, instead inducing tolerance. The principle of “hapten inhibition” was a major breakthrough in understanding allergic reactions. Upon returning from the USA, he collaborated with the chemist Prof. C. Schneider and developed skin‐test reagents for penicillin allergy by coupling the monovalent penicilloyl group to a chain of several amino acids, namely polylysine.2 This was the first routinely used successful skin test for drug allergy.

As director of the newly founded Institute for Immunology, he directed his research towards cellular immunity and was very active in the field of lymphokines (now cytokines and interleukins). Together with Johann Rudolf Frey in Basel, he advanced the understanding of allergic contact dermatitis.

Influenced by the Nobel Laureate Niels Jerne, Alain de Weck studied the role of anti‐idiotype antibodies in immune regulation and allergic reactivity. He was also interested in the development of antibodies to IgE molecules, and in his institute, he focused on the role of auto–anti‐IgE in a broad range of allergic reactions. These studies paved the way to the later appearance of monoclonal antibodies against IgE that are currently used for the treatment of severe asthma and chronic spontaneous urticaria. He subsequently developed an interest in veterinary allergy, conducting studies in allergic dogs and horses, that led to a dog allergy model to investigate the pathophysiology of allergy and allergy genetics as well as early allergy prevention by inducing oral tolerance.

Under his leadership, his small institute became a focus and sentinel site for allergy research worldwide. When he retired, the work was continued by his three disciples Werner Pichler, Clemens Dahinden and Beda Stadler. Unfortunately, today this institute no longer exists as it was.

Alain de Weck was a genius in many areas, not only in allergy and immunology. He spoke at least three languages fluently and some others well. He was a master at expressing complex issues into simple and brilliant language. He often had sharp and critical ideas with a very good sense of humour and self‐awareness. At the same time, he liked to give advice to young researchers, today one would call this mentoring. The author is proud to call Alain de Weck his mentor in allergy and immunology although he never officially worked with him. Maybe he would have, if Alain de Weck had moved to Munich when he was approached to be director of the Institute for Immunology of Ludwig‐Maximilians University in 1975.

As chairman of a WHO task force on immunological methods, he also initiated the current committee on the standardisation of allergens. He was president of the International Association of Allergology and Clinical Immunology (IAACI), now the World Allergy Organisation (WAO) from 1985 to 1988, and of the International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS) from 1983 to 1986. This joint position is unique, and in those days, allergy and immunology were probably cooperating at their best level in their history. Alain de Weck also was “spiritus motor” long‐time secretary, honorary secretary and finally president of the Collegium Internationale Allergologicum (CIA), a prestigious and selective community of 200 dedicated allergy scientists worldwide.

During many years, Alain was a member or chairman of expert advisory groups for the German government with regard to allergy research. Among many others, he received honorary membership from the German Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology (DGAI) in 1988. As one out of 20 foreign nationals at the time, he was elected to the French National Academy of Medicine. He was also the founder of the European Network of Drug Allergy “ENDA,” a major active group in the field. In 1972, he was awarded the Robert Koch Award in Germany and, in 1990, the Clemens von Pirquet Medal of the Austrian Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

Alain de Weck liked to think beyond the frontiers of immunology, allergy or natural science. His personal views can be read in his autobiography “Memories: Failures and Dreams,”3 where he not only describes the history of allergy and immunology during his lifetime but also gives illustrative examples of daily life in the thirties when tuberculosis was still a major problem before the discovery of streptomycin. He also wrote about the quarrels and little fights among national and international academic societies which are best taken with a good sense of humour.

Alain de Weck was married three times and left four children. His second wife Christine was well known in the allergy community for her invaluable assistance in organising the Collegium Internationale Allergologicum and always taking care of the scientists' partners, in those days mostly wives. Christine's death was a shock for Alain from which he only slowly recovered, probably best by editing Christine's last book.4 With his third wife Brigitte, he was happy to spend wonderful years between Switzerland and Tenerife (Spain).

People who knew Alain de Weck still have him clearly in mind with his sharp, always honest, self‐critical and generous spirit open for everything interesting in life.

Alain de Weck于1928年7月26日出生于瑞士蒙特勒。他在弗里堡（瑞士），洛桑（瑞士），巴黎（法国）和日内瓦（瑞士）从事医学研究。1953年至1958年，他在日内瓦大学完成了皮肤病学的居留权，然后在赫尔曼·艾森教授（1958-1960）的带领下在美国密苏里州圣路易斯华盛顿大学的皮肤科进行了博士后研究。1961年至1971年，他担任伯尔尼大学（瑞士）皮肤病学系过敏研究室主任。1971年至1993年，他担任伯尔尼大学新成立的临床免疫学研究所所长兼所长。后来，他成为纳瓦拉大学的非凡教授，潘普洛纳（西班牙）和弗里堡（瑞士）的Gerimmune基金会研究实验室总裁。这个伟大的传奇不幸于2013年去世，享年85岁。

Alain de Weck在此学科真正建立之前的某个时候就对免疫学产生了兴趣，当时研究兴趣的重点通常放在生物化学和蛋白质上。他的主要研究兴趣在于诱发和诱发过敏反应，尤其是对青霉素的过敏反应。1个在那里，他发现肥大细胞和嗜碱性粒细胞表面IgE分子的二价或多价桥接是触发肥大细胞激活和炎症介质释放的必要条件。与小分子（如青霉素）的单价结合未能诱导过敏反应，反而引起了耐受性。“半抗原抑制”原理是理解变态反应的重大突破。从美国回国后，他与化学家C. Schneider教授合作，通过将单价青霉素基团与几个氨基酸的链（即聚赖氨酸）偶联，开发了用于青霉素过敏的皮肤测试试剂。2这是首次对药物过敏成功进行常规皮肤测试。

作为新成立的免疫学研究所所长，他将研究方向转向细胞免疫，并且在淋巴因子（现为细胞因子和白介素）领域非常活跃。他与巴塞尔的Johann Rudolf Frey一起，加深了对过敏性接触性皮炎的理解。

受诺贝尔奖获得者尼尔斯·耶恩（Niels Jerne）的影响，阿兰·德·威克（Alain de Weck）研究了抗独特型抗体在免疫调节和过敏反应中的作用。他还对抗IgE分子的抗体的开发很感兴趣，在他的研究所，他专注于自身抗IgE在广泛的过敏反应中的作用。这些研究为后来出现的针对IgE的单克隆抗体铺平了道路，该抗体目前用于治疗重度哮喘和慢性自发性荨麻疹。随后，他对兽医过敏产生了兴趣，对过敏性狗和马进行了研究，从而形成了犬过敏模型，以通过诱导口服耐受性研究过敏的病理生理学和过敏遗传学以及早期过敏预防。

在他的领导下，他的小型研究所成为全球过敏研究的焦点和定点站点。当他退休时，他的三个门徒Werner Pichler，Clemens Dahinden和Beda Stadler继续进行工作。不幸的是，今天这个研究所不再存在。

阿兰·德·威克（Alain de Weck）在许多领域都是天才，不仅在过敏和免疫学领域。他至少会说三种语言，另外一些则讲得很好。他是将复杂问题表达为简单明了的语言的大师。他经常具有敏锐而批判的想法，并具有很好的幽默感和自我意识。同时，他喜欢向年轻的研究人员提供建议，今天有人称其为指导。作者为能将Alain de Weck称为过敏和免疫学的导师而感到自豪，尽管他从未正式与他合作。如果阿兰·德·韦克（Alain de Weck）于1975年被任命为路德维希·马克西米利安斯大学免疫学研究所所长时搬到慕尼黑，也许他会这么做。

作为世卫组织免疫学方法特别工作组的主席，他还成立了当前的过敏原标准化委员会。他于1985年至1988年担任国际变态反应与临床免疫学协会（IAACI），现为世界过敏组织（WAO）的主席，并于1983年至1986年担任国际免疫学会联合会（IUIS）的主席。 ，在那时，变态反应和免疫学可能已经达到了历史上最好的水平。阿兰·德·威克（Alain de Weck）还是“精神运动”的长期秘书，名誉秘书，最后还是国际变态反应学会（CIA）的主席，该学会是一个由全球200名敬业的过敏科学家组成的有选择性的社区。

多年来，Alain曾担任德国政府过敏研究专家咨询小组的成员或主席。其中许多人一样，他当时在1988年收到了来自德国社会为过敏和临床免疫（DGAI）荣誉会员作为一个在20名外国人，他当选为医学法国国家科学院。他还是欧洲药物过敏网络“ ENDA”的创始人，该网络是该领域的主要活跃组织。1972年，他获得了德国罗伯特·科赫奖，并于1990年获得了奥地利过敏和临床免疫学会的Clemens von Pirquet勋章。

阿兰·德·韦克（Alain de Weck）喜欢思考超越免疫学，过敏或自然科学的前沿领域。他的个人见解可以在他的自传《回忆：失败与梦想》中读到，3他不仅描述了他一生中的过敏和免疫学史，而且还举例说明了三十年代结核病仍然是主要问题的日常生活。在发现链霉素之前。他还写了关于国家和国际学术团体之间的争吵和小打架的故事，这些故事最好带有幽默感。

阿兰·德·韦克（Alain de Weck）结婚了3次，留下了四个孩子。他的第二任妻子克里斯汀（Christine）在组织过敏国际学院方面一直提供宝贵的帮助，并在所有的妻子时期都一直照顾着科学家的伴侣，因此在过敏症社区中广为人知。克里斯汀的死令阿兰感到震惊，他从此才慢慢康复，也许最好是编辑克里斯汀的最新著作。4与他的第三任妻子布里吉特（Brigitte）一起，他很高兴在瑞士和特内里费（西班牙）之间度过美好的时光。

认识Alain de Weck的人仍然以清晰，敏锐，始终诚实，自我批评和慷慨的精神为生活中所有有趣的事物牢牢记住他。