Rudolf Weigl’s work has been awarded not one but two Nobel Prize nominations. (screengrab: google)
Rudolf Weigl developed the first effective vaccine against pandemic typhus – one of humanity’s oldest and most infectious diseases
- News18.com
- Last Update:September 02, 2021, 09:14 IST
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Google celebrated the 138th birth anniversary of Polish inventor, doctor and immunologist Rudolf Weigl with a doodle on Thursday. Weagle developed the first effective vaccine against pandemic typhus – one of humanity’s oldest and most infectious diseases.
In Thursday’s doodle, Weagle is seen holding a test tube in his gloved hands. On the wall on the right are lice and on the left are pictures of a human body and a few more lice. Illustrator is spelled google with all that is used in the lab for testing purpose.
According to the Weagle Bio on the Google page, he was born on this day in 1883 in the Austro-Hungarian city of Preज़ेero (modern Czech Republic). Weigl studied biological sciences at the University of Lwów in Poland and was commissioned as a parasitologist in the Polish army in 1914. Millions of people in Eastern Europe were stricken with typhus, so Weigl became determined to stop its spread.
Body lice were known to carry the typhus-infecting bacteria Rickettsia prowazekii, so Weagle adapted the tiny insect to a laboratory sample. His innovative research revealed how to use lice to spread the deadly bacteria, which he had studied for decades with the hope of developing a vaccine. In 1936, Weagle’s vaccine successfully vaccinated its first beneficiary. When Germany occupied Poland during the outbreak of World War II, Weigl was forced to open a vaccine production plant. He used the facility to hire friends and coworkers at risk of harassment under the new regime.
Weigel’s work during this period saved an estimated 5,000 lives—both because of his direct efforts to protect his neighbors and the thousands of vaccine doses distributed across the country. Today, Weagle is widely praised as a remarkable scientist and hero. His work has been awarded not one but two Nobel Prize nominations.
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