The technique that made producing the rabies vaccine possible was developed by Émile Roux: culturing the rabies virus in the spinal cord of an infected rabbit and attenuating it by desiccation. Roux documented the method in his 1883 doctoral thesis and described it as the basis of his work with Pasteur. In 1885, when it was first applied to the boy Joseph Meister, Roux deliberately stayed away, considering the animal evidence insufficient — a more scientifically rigorous position than Pasteur's. Dr. Grancher administered the treatment. Historical recognition concentrated on Pasteur, who provided the general scientific direction but not the specific attenuation technique. Roux never received the Nobel Prize; he was nominated in 1888.