The Jewish 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Jews of All Time by Michael Shapiro
Authors: Michael Shapiro
Tags: Religión, History, Biography, Biographies, Religious, Jewish, Judaism, Jews, ranking, jewish 100, influential
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was well liked as an adult, known for his crotchety good spirits and liveliness, sprinkling his speech with Latin sayings to make a point, the archetype of the German professor.
His early education in German school or gymnasium was typical of the age. He enjoyed mathematics and classical training in Latin, but was burdened by rote training in German composition. Ehrlich’s intellectual curiosity was not completely triggered until his exposure at eighteen to natural sciences and chemistry.
During subsequent medical studies he became fascinated with the use of dyes in researching cells and tissues. It was during his early twenties at leading universities that Ehrlich gained the knowledge and skills required for the remarkable chemical experiments of his maturity.
After graduation in 1878, Ehrlich went to Berlin to practice medicine at a prominent hospital. His research there soon produced breakthroughs in the methods of recognizing leukemia’s and anemia. His medical training combined with a unique gift for chemistry led quickly to the discovery that chemical relationships control biological functions. This simple axiom underlies much of the unbelievably broad research Ehrlich would develop.
Some of Ehrlich’s most unusual discoveries over the next fifteen years until 1900 included the categorization of bodily organs into classes according to their reaction to oxygen, the use of dye to relieve pain and diagnose acute infections, the building up of immunity in mice and their offspring (the so-called “wet nurse” experiments) by injection of mother mice with small doses of antigens and the consequent suckling and immunizing of their babies, the investigation of poisons in bacteria, and the use of serum to counteract potent infections such as diphtheria and tetanus.
Ehrlich’s discoveries through the turn of the century would have been sufficient to mark his treasured place in medical history. However, in his final years he displayed an even greater scientific mastery. Although many of these last years were spent in fruitless cancer research, Ehrlich’s international fame was established by his prophecy of chemicals, which seek and destroy parasitic targets within bodily organisms. In 1910 he announced to the scientific world the creation of a synthetic drug called Salvarsan, a magic bullet, which rid the body of the spirochete causing syphilis.
Before Ehrlich’s discovery of Salvarsan, he had been a respected doctor, winner of the Nobel Prize for his work on immunity, and director of prestigious research institutes. The controversy over his cure for syphilis raged, however, until his death five years later during the second year of the First World War. Demand for Salvarsan could not be satisfied. Ehrlich personally checked the testing and production techniques of the new drug. His notoriety led to vicious accusations of fraud, risky experimentation, and profiteering. Although he was exonerated by the German Reichstag, these falsehoods and the onset of the war troubled him greatly, leading to illness, stroke, and death at sixty-one.
20
Rashi
(1040-1105)
As for the wise, their body alone perishes in this world.
—Rashi on Psalm 49
T he commentaries on the Babylonian Talmud and the Bible of Rabbi Shlomo Itzhaki, commonly know by the acronym Rashi, place him at the core of Jewish rabbinical thought. Very little is known about Rashi’s life. There are many fables about him, wondrous tales invented to accentuate his importance, but they are really unnecessary (except for enjoyment). Rashi is primarily remembered for his magnificent and massive writings. What we know about him is gleaned from his lively thought and clear guidance. It was Rashi whose commentaries opened the window for countless readers to the often obscure and mostly difficult words of the Talmud, written largely in ancient Aramaic. Rashi’s guide, expressed in transparent, easy-to-understand prose, made even the lowliest woodchopper in the smallest
His early education in German school or gymnasium was typical of the age. He enjoyed mathematics and classical training in Latin, but was burdened by rote training in German composition. Ehrlich’s intellectual curiosity was not completely triggered until his exposure at eighteen to natural sciences and chemistry.
During subsequent medical studies he became fascinated with the use of dyes in researching cells and tissues. It was during his early twenties at leading universities that Ehrlich gained the knowledge and skills required for the remarkable chemical experiments of his maturity.
After graduation in 1878, Ehrlich went to Berlin to practice medicine at a prominent hospital. His research there soon produced breakthroughs in the methods of recognizing leukemia’s and anemia. His medical training combined with a unique gift for chemistry led quickly to the discovery that chemical relationships control biological functions. This simple axiom underlies much of the unbelievably broad research Ehrlich would develop.
Some of Ehrlich’s most unusual discoveries over the next fifteen years until 1900 included the categorization of bodily organs into classes according to their reaction to oxygen, the use of dye to relieve pain and diagnose acute infections, the building up of immunity in mice and their offspring (the so-called “wet nurse” experiments) by injection of mother mice with small doses of antigens and the consequent suckling and immunizing of their babies, the investigation of poisons in bacteria, and the use of serum to counteract potent infections such as diphtheria and tetanus.
Ehrlich’s discoveries through the turn of the century would have been sufficient to mark his treasured place in medical history. However, in his final years he displayed an even greater scientific mastery. Although many of these last years were spent in fruitless cancer research, Ehrlich’s international fame was established by his prophecy of chemicals, which seek and destroy parasitic targets within bodily organisms. In 1910 he announced to the scientific world the creation of a synthetic drug called Salvarsan, a magic bullet, which rid the body of the spirochete causing syphilis.
Before Ehrlich’s discovery of Salvarsan, he had been a respected doctor, winner of the Nobel Prize for his work on immunity, and director of prestigious research institutes. The controversy over his cure for syphilis raged, however, until his death five years later during the second year of the First World War. Demand for Salvarsan could not be satisfied. Ehrlich personally checked the testing and production techniques of the new drug. His notoriety led to vicious accusations of fraud, risky experimentation, and profiteering. Although he was exonerated by the German Reichstag, these falsehoods and the onset of the war troubled him greatly, leading to illness, stroke, and death at sixty-one.
20
Rashi
(1040-1105)
As for the wise, their body alone perishes in this world.
—Rashi on Psalm 49
T he commentaries on the Babylonian Talmud and the Bible of Rabbi Shlomo Itzhaki, commonly know by the acronym Rashi, place him at the core of Jewish rabbinical thought. Very little is known about Rashi’s life. There are many fables about him, wondrous tales invented to accentuate his importance, but they are really unnecessary (except for enjoyment). Rashi is primarily remembered for his magnificent and massive writings. What we know about him is gleaned from his lively thought and clear guidance. It was Rashi whose commentaries opened the window for countless readers to the often obscure and mostly difficult words of the Talmud, written largely in ancient Aramaic. Rashi’s guide, expressed in transparent, easy-to-understand prose, made even the lowliest woodchopper in the smallest
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