A bronze portrait statue of late French bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin was unveiled here on Wednesday, as a tribute to his role in detecting the bacteria behind "The Black Death" which claimed thousands of lives in Hong Kong in the 1890s.

The statue, sitting on an grayish pedestal and surrounded by green leaves in the garden of the Hong Kong Museum of Medical Science, is the first statue of any French scientists ever to " reside" in a Hong Kong museum, said Jean-Pierre Thebault, consul general of France in Hong Kong and Macao.

Speaking at the unveiling ceremony, he said the monument celebrates not only a great scientist but the effective start of along scientific cooperation between France and Hong Kong, referring to the fact that Yersin was sent to Hong Kong by the French government to investigate the cause of the 1894 plague outbreak.

York Chow, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Secretary for Food and Health, lauded Yersin as a pioneer whose discovery has become a milestone for both the Hong Kong history and the history of medical science.

He said despite very primitive research conditions, Yersin discovered bacillus and found the link between the transmission of the disease and rats.

Commenting on an ongoing exhibition in the museum recounting the 1894 bubonic plague in Hong Kong, Chow said it will help the public have a better understanding of infectious diseases and know what dedicated men can achieve for the community.

Born in 1863 in Switzerland, Yersin studied medicine first in Lausanne and then in Marburg, Germany. He joined the famous Louis Pasteur's laboratory in 1886. Though mostly known as the discoverer of the bacillus, he was also remembered by many for introducing various plants and agricultural techniques into Vietnam.

Source: Xinhua