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Rudolf Weigl: Google Doodle Celebrates 138th Birth Anniversary of the Polish Inventor
Rudolf Weigl: Google Doodle Celebrates 138th Birth Anniversary of the Polish Inventor
Rudolf Weigl produced the first effective vaccine against epidemic typhus—one of the oldest and most infectious diseases.
Today Google celebrated the 138th birth anniversary of Polish inventor, doctor, and immunologist Rudolf Weigl with a doodle. Weigl produced the first effective vaccine against epidemic typhus—one of the oldest and most infectious diseases.
Today's doodle shows Weigl holding a test tube with his gloved hands. There are drawings of lice on the wall on the right side and a human body and some more lice on the left. The illustrator has spelt out Google with all that is used in a lab for testing purposes.
As per the Weigl bio found on Google, he was born on 2nd September in 1883 in the Austro-Hungarian town of Przerów (modern-day Czech Republic). Weigl studied biological sciences at Poland's Lwów University and in 1914 he was appointed as a parasitologist in the Polish Army. As millions across Eastern Europe were plagued by typhus, Weigl became determined to stop its spread.
Body lice used to carry the typhus-infecting bacteria Rickettsia prowazekii, so Weigl adapted the tiny insect into a laboratory specimen. His innovative research disclosed how to use lice to propagate the deadly bacteria which he studied for decades with the hope of developing a vaccine. Weigl's vaccine successfully inoculated its first beneficiary in the year 1936. During the outbreak of the Second World War, when Germany occupied Poland, Weigl was forced to start a vaccine production plant. He hired friends and colleagues at risk of persecution under the new regime, making use of the facility.
Around 5,000 people were saved due to Weigl's work during this period-both due to his direct efforts to protect his neighbours and thousands of vaccine doses distributed across the nation. Today, Weigl is widely praised as a remarkable scientist and hero. His work has been honoured by two Nobel Prize nominations.
