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Allergist / Immunologist
Diagnoses and treats allergies, asthma, and immune system disorders.
Did you know?
Allergies are basically your immune system overreacting to harmless things — it's like a fire alarm going off for toast
How subjects help
- Biology: Understand how the immune system mistakes harmless things like pollen for a threat.
- Chemistry: Run skin prick and blood tests to find exactly which substance triggers an allergy.
A famous name
Clemens von Pirquet: Paediatrician who coined the word "allergy" in 1906.
Try it yourself: Chase the germs away with soap
- Fill a shallow bowl with water and sprinkle pepper all over the top. The water is your hand and the pepper is dirt and germs.
- Dip a dry finger into the middle, then a finger wet with plain water. Watch what the pepper does and write it down.
- Now put a little soap on your fingertip and touch the middle of the water again. Watch the pepper shoot to the edges.
- Write one sentence on why washing with water alone is not enough, then wash your hands properly with soap.
Public health teams design handwashing campaigns and track how well they cut the spread of infections in schools, hospitals and whole towns.
Adapted from e-Bug (UK Health Security Agency): Soap, Water and Pepper experiment.
Also try: Stain and scrub an egg like a tooth.
Known for it in
USA, Germany, Australia, UK, Sweden