Jewry's Role in
Human Health

421

LEADERSHIP IN ADVANCING THE LIFE SCIENCES

The dominating presence of men and women of Jewish origin within the
ranks of Nobel Prize Laureates has been almost legendary. Their
performance and fame, particularly in the sciences, have exceeded their
relative population numbers many times over. In but one category--
physiology or medicine--more than forty such awards have been meted out
through the years to Jewish researchers following the prize's inception in
1901. Winners typically include:

OTTO MEYERHOF, M.D.
(1884-1951) b. Hanover, Germany
His first
notable scientific achievement was in psychology
as the author of Contributions to a Psychological
Theory of Mental Diseases. Shifting focus to
physiology and physical chemistry, Meyerhof
joined the University of Kiel at which he both
taught and researched the metabolism of muscles
(1913-24). It was here that he formulated a basic
law of muscular action and a phenomenon which came to be called the
Pasteur-Meyerhof effect. His 1923 Nobel Prize was given "for discovering
the fixed relationship between the consumption of oxygen and the
metabolism of lactic acid in the muscle." While heading the department of
physiology of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Heidelberg (1929-38),
Meyerhof was driven from that post by Nazi oppression. Within two years
of escaping to Paris, France, he again fled the Germans and found a haven
in America. He became a research professor at the University of
Pennsylvania's medical school and lectured widely in the U.S. and England.

JOSEPH HERMANN MULLER, Ph.D.
(1890-1967) b. New York City The distinguished
geneticist and long-time professor in zoology at
Indiana University-Bloomington (1945-67) was
honored with a 1946 Nobel Prize for discovering
that X-rays could induce mutations or hereditary
changes. He was also among the first to profess
that evolutionary changes within populations
may in large part result from such mutations.
Muller's career also took him to research institutions in Germany, Scotland
and in Russia where the false theories of biologist T.D. Lysenko were
bringing objective Soviet genetic studies to a standstill. He led the
eventually successful fight against Lysenkoism while in Russia and after his
return to the U.S. As an activist in behalf of environmental sanity he was an
outspoken critic of radiation and industrial processes which threaten the
human gene pool and future generations. Elected in 1931 to the U.S.
National Academy of Science, Muller authored two classics in his field: The
Mechanism of the Mendelian Heredity (1915), and Genetics, Medicine and
Man (1947).

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SIR HANS ADOLF KREBS, Ph.D.
(1900-81) b. Hildesheim, Germany Yet another
refugee of the rise of Hitler, the son of a Jewish
physician left The University of Freiburg for
Cambridge University, England, in 1933--the year
after he discovered the "urea cycle" which
governs the manner in which the great majority of
mammals produce and excrete urine. By 1937 the
biochemist further discovered a process on which
nearly all metabolic reactions depend, and which provides higher organisms
with nearly two-thirds of all their food-derived energy. Knowledge about
the cycle is central in understanding molecular biology and cell metabolism.
Commonly known as the "citric acid cycle" or "Krebs cycle," the result of
his findings earned him a 1953 Nobel Prize. Krebs was knighted by the
English crown five years later, and also won the Royal Society's coveted
Copley Medal in 1961. A summation of his research appears in Energy
Transformations in Living Matter, co-authored by Krebs in 1957 and
considered an invaluable scientific work of these times.
- Saul Stadtmauer

Visit many more notable Jews at our website: www.dorledor.org

6/12
1998

14

COMMISSION FOR THE DISSEMINATION OF JEWISH HISTORY
Walter & Lea Field, Founders/Sponsors
Harold Berry & Irwin S. Field, Co-chairmen
Harriet F. Siden, Secretary

Campaign Chief
To Leave

Federation's Allied Jewish Campaign
director is heading to Boston.

for immediately. "We will re-evaluate
our needs at-the end of the 1999
Campaign," he said.
Bob Aronson, executive vice presi-
NI ichael Gilbert, the
dent of Federation, called Gilbert
Allied Jewish Campaign
"thoughtful and creative. I'm sorry he's
director for the Jewish
leaving," he said. "He doesn't just do
Federation of
what we did yesterday."
Metropolitan Detroit for the last three
Gilbert said highlights of his job in
years, is moving to a similar position
Detroit included going on the first two
in Boston in August.
Michigan Mirade Missions to Israel and
As vice president of financial
witnessing the generosity of the Detroit
resource development at Combined
Jewish community.
Jewish -
g "We have the 10th
Philanthropies, he
will develop and
or 11th largest Jewish
community in the
direct the annual
United States, but we
campaign plan in
rank fourth or fifth in
Boston. Gilbert,
donations to Jewish
40, served as assis-
causes," he said. "I
tant campaign
will miss the level of
director at the
involvement of this
United Jewish
community. They are
Appeal of the
a tremendously busy
Jewish Federation
96,000 people."
of Greater
In a separate devel-
Toronto before
opment, Jim
coming to Detroit
yw
Rosenberg, 30, direc-
in 1991 as associ-
tor of the Federation's
ate Campaign
Young Adult Division
director.
Michael Gilbert: He
The
for Boston. for the last two years,
is moving to the
Federation's cur-
Cleveland Jewish
rent associate
Federation as director of business cam-
Campaign director, Laura K Linder,
paigns at the end of July.
will serve as interim Campaign direc-
"I will oversee the business cam-
tor. She formerly served as assistant
paign, which is about one-third of
campaign director of the Memphis
their campaign," he said.
Jewish Federation and university pro-
Rosenberg began his career as
gram consultant for the United Jewish
Campaign associate of Detroit's
Appeal of Chicago.
Federation in January 1995, then
Mark Davidoff, the Federation's
moved to director of the Young Adult
chief operating officer, said the organi-
Division several years later. ❑
zation would not look for a new direc-

HARRY KI RS BAUM
Staff Writer

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