Johannes Andreas Grib Fibiger ( April 23 , 1867 - January 30 , 1928 ) was a Danish doctor . He won the 1926 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine , for his discovery that an infection could lead to cancer . Johannes Andreas Grib Fibiger ( April 23 , 1867 Silkeborg -- January 30 , 1928 Copenhagen ) was a Danish scientist , physician , and professor of pathological anatomy who won the 1926 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine .