Ludwik Hirszfeld – Children's Advocate
A Nobel Prize nominee for whom helping was in his blood. He taught the world hygiene and reversed the course of the Rita Gorgonowa murder trial. He became the godfather of new-born children through his discovery of the causes of serological conflict.
The group of life
Hirszfeld was born in Warsaw to a Polonised Jewish family. His autobiography, written years later, begins with a recollection of his uncle Bolesław who was active in the independence movement.
His patriotic behaviour becomes evident in his Łódź high school, where he secretly studies the history of Poland and reads books that are banned by the Russian authorities. He writes poems. In dance class, he meets his future wife, Hanna Kasman.
He starts his medical education in Würzburg and completes it in Berlin with a few months’ break for the study of philosophy. In the meantime, he marries. In 1905, he nearly quits his studies upon hearing news of the outbreak of revolution in the Kingdom of Poland, which he dreams of joining. However, in his conflicted heart science wins the day and, in 1907, Hirszfeld defends his doctoral dissertation on the agglutination of blood. In choosing this, Hirszfeld ipso facto rejects a proposal to write research papers about the bacteria found on telephones or on Berlin’s public toilets.
The Cancer Research Institute in Heidelberg open the doors to his career, but not at once. At first, he observes amoebas under the microscope. He looks at this as a way of developing his character. Eventually, the Serological Department, directed by Emil von Dungern, becomes his school for life.
The scientists’ collaboration results in the clarification of the principles of the heredity of blood types. Hirszfeld plays the greater role in the research, so he is credited with authoring the paper. The Polish scientist introduces designations for the various blood types: A, B, AB and O. These designations gain acceptance worldwide as of 1928. This discovery prevents random blood transfusions and helps in the determination of paternity.
Educator at war
Toward the end of 1911, the Hirszfelds move to Zurich. Hanna finds a position as a paediatrician in a children’s clinic. Ludwik becomes an assistant in the university’s Hygiene Department. He loves working with students. He says: ‘Whoever wishes to ignite the interest of others, must first be afire himself’.
At the age of 30, Hirszfeld attains a post-doctoral degree (habilitation) for research on the links between immunity and the agglutination of blood. Before the public defence of his work, his wife threatens to divorce him if he reads his lecture from index cards. In the event, the address turns out to be superb.
After the outbreak of war, Hirszfeld trades in his secure position in Switzerland for a medic’s position at the battlefront. In Serbia, he fights an epidemic of typhoid fever and organises a bacteriological laboratory. He continues to lecture.
At the infectious diseases hospital in Thessaloniki, he discovers Salmonella paratyphi C (later to be known as Salmonella hirszfeldi) and subsequently produces a vaccine for it. He nearly loses his life upon requesting too great a dose of quinine while suffering from malaria.
Career of a diva
November 1918: Poland gains independence and needs educated people to build the new state. Hirszfeld returns to the country in 1919 and comments: ‘In the fatherland, there is a past and a future; abroad, there is only a present’. After his baptism, he marries in the Roman Catholic Church.
He directs the State Hygiene Institute, which becomes one of the most respected such institutions in Europe. He lectures at Warsaw University, where he gains yet another post-doctoral degree, this time in bacteriology. He gains respect around the world and delivers papers on the subject of hygiene at international scientific conferences. He says that he ‘hates conferences that drag on like a cortège following a funeral’.
Hirszfeld continues his research into blood types and takes part as an expert witness in the interwar period’s most notorious trial: the Gorgonowa case (in which she was accused of the murder of her lover’s daughter). Hirszfeld partially undermined the conclusions of the experts heard previously, altering the trial’s outcome and shaking up the entire country. In his memoirs, Hirszfeld would complain that he was experiencing the popularity of an operatic diva.
Hirszfeld organises blood banks. Thanks to him, Poland is the first country in Europe to regulate the legal questions surrounding blood donations.
Immortality
When World War II breaks out, Hirszfeld is fired from the Hygiene Institute due to his Jewish origins. In February 1941, he and his family are driven into the Warsaw Ghetto. Behind the walls, he sets up a medical practice and gives lectures on infectious diseases. He heals typhus patients with vaccines smuggled into the ghetto.
In July 1942, he escapes to the Aryan side. He hides in Stara Miłosna among other places. It is there that he writes his autobiography after the death of his daughter. It will be published after the war and numerous editions will appear in Polish. His Story of One Life later appears in English (2010) and in German (2018) as well.
Hirszfeld establishes medical faculties, first at the newly opened Marie Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin and later at Wrocław University. He is invited to the Rockefeller Institute, but, after a few lectures in the United States, he returns to help rebuild post-war Poland.
In 1950, Hirszfeld is nominated for the Nobel Prize for his clarification of the phenomenon of serological conflict between a mother and her foetus (he also identifies the Rh factor). The Nobel Committee decides not to award the prize to Hirszfeld, although his research saves the lives of many a new-born child.
Hirszfeld believed that the only form of immortality that is worth striving for is human kindness. He dies of a heart attack in 1954.
Translated by Yale Reisner
ludwik hirszfeld
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