Ipswich High School - Tiger Yearbook (Ipswich, MA)

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' liKllElZllEl8lf!GMBlD3ll!SlQ!llEi8lBilDilV.l!il2!llLilll!Mi23l3ll!liElZl'!l5!liiillililillidliwlkdifilNlilllilkillidmlBrllkfllxllkillldlifllllll'-S2124121 I THE JEWISH CONTRIBUTION T0 SCIENCE By Cary Somers MONC the famous scientists of the world are found a multitude who, although bearing the names and na- tionalities of many nations, are members of the same foundling race. These peo- ple trace their ancestry back to the various provinces of Palestine. Although labeled a people without a country, they have become the adopted sons of many countries. Persecuted and op- pressed, the object of a severe prejudice, they have relentlessly struggled for recognition. Many of their number have risen above these handicaps to receive great honors in their respective fields. But for the cooperation of one particu- lar group of such scientists, the Allied Nations might have lost the cause for freedom which they sought so pains- takingly. The situation is most graphi- cally described as a race - a race be- tween the scientists of a power-crazed, lustful, totalitarian state and those of a brotherhood of nations who stood for peace, security, and fraternity. One of the pioneers in this race was a former Swiss patent clerk who had been startling the world with his radical theories and mathematical genius. By means of a simple alegbraic formula, the man predicted the tremendous energy unleashed by the fission of atomic par- ticlcs. This was the starter's gun in our international marathon, fired by a man we now claim as one of our own citizens. His name is a familiar one, he is called Albert Einstein. Another important figure in the race was Dr. Lise Meitner, jewish assistant to Prof. Otto Hahn, who, together with him, took up the clues to the puzzle left them by numerous physicists. Although at the time they did not know it, they succeeded in splitting the nucleus of an uranium atom. Dr. Meitner was per- secuted by Hitler and eventually forced to leave Berlin and Hee to Stockholm. Her knowledge and the results of her experiments played an integral part in blazing the trail of discovery. Unknow- ingly, she and Prof. Hahn had stumbled upon the greatest scientific discovery of the age. It was Dr. Meitner, however, who realized the import of their experi- ments and revealed to the world all she had concluded. Another obstacle in the race was surmounted. Tremendous en- ergy was liberated by this nuclear fis- sion, and scientist and layman alike realized the potentiality of such a force as a weapon of destruction. In 1942 a special laboratory, dealing with the technical problems involved in putting together the threads of the mystery into a bomb, was erected in New Mexico. The direction and organization of this laboratory was left to Dr. I. Robert Oppenheimer, an American of jewish origin. The development of the bomb itself has been largely due to his genius and the inspiration and leadership he has given to his associates. lt is signi- Hcant, also, that after perfection of the ll

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11514111 ' Elillllllfllfllllh 'A -'WEEE GFFWEUIIEE4521iZUTl5F5fl5FFI1l3iI4ElrIlElEI15ElB5Z1 4' A 'TW .44 of feeling and thought imbedded with- in the people themselves. The art of Poland is good, but limited. Our country inherited such men as Sam Yellin, the metal worker who made the gates at the chapel at Valley Forge and the National Cathedral at our capital. Max Kalish, the sculptor, and W. T. Benda, the well-known decorative painter and maker of original masks are also of Polish descent. Their archi- tecture is unique, the .Polish attics and low, sturdy structures having been pre- served by societies and museums in Poland. Sculpture dates back to the Gothic period when stately ancient castles. homes, and churches were built. Because of severe Russian censorship, however, Polish paintings and museums have been restricted. Particularly pic- turesque is a statue of Chopin in War- saw seated at the edge of a pool, his head is bent as though listening to the melody of the wind. Another admired monument. that of Woodrow Wilson, is the gift of his friend Paderewski. The Polish shine in literature. There is joseph Conrad, the orphaned youth with uncanny observations and memory, who spent most of his life travelling on lhe sea. Though' he did not learn to speak English until nineteen years of age, he became a master of English style and relived his adventures in novels for appreciative readers. Anzia Yezier- ska brings to light in America the homely tribulations of immigrants, her short stories - so natural, appealing, and very realistic M are ranked with the best of 10 the years. Quo Vadisi' of the novelist Sienkiewicz is a good example of the potentialities of the Poles. To store their possessions and to inaugurate a prece- dent, they built the first national library in Europe. Stores of hardships and ex- pcriences permit them to write from real life. Poland before the war was slowly gaining impetus. From the mere sea- coast, an ultra-modern miracle city arose. Complete with hospitals, clubs, and Y.M.C.A.,s Cdynia, this combined resort- port, has no counterpart in the world. Modern schools and health centers had been established for her children with special military training for her youth. Her museums are, or were, among the most treasured in Europe. Now, how- ever, she is forced to seek necessities rather than culture. Poland has existed at intervals since 1795. Always has she had to struggle for recognition. Even after the Hrst VVorld War the Allies didn't actually make the independent Polish state called for in Wilson's 14 Point Plan, through their own efforts they rose to a posi- tion of statehood and eminence, which give evidence of their potentialities. All Poland wants now is peace and the op- portunity to work, progress, and solve her internal problems. Given these, she will continue to contribute her bit to world culture.

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'I' bfi EF El K? El El Hi El El -4 FF lil 5145231531514 1 EEE- El FF FEE! El ffl Ki E454 iii iflliilli PICNE4 H4 HK! ill EilZtFIiPZ1PBvIl WP? ' P: bomb and the end of the War, when the world sought re-assurance against the apprehensions they held for the bomb, that another jewish-American, Bernard Baruch, was appointed to the committee to decide disposal of the dreaded wea- pon. However, it has been not only the past few years that have produced lew- ish scientists of great repute. In 1845 Elie Metchnikoff was born of jewish parents in southern Russia. Before the age of twenty he declared, I am na- turally talented - I am ambitious to be- come a distinguished investigatorf and these words were almost prophetic. True to his own work, he was talented and ambitious, but his ambition pro- gressed to impetuosity, and his talent was that of a thinker and not of an ex- perimenter. Clumsy and crude, as if his hands refused to obey his brain, Metchnikoff was forced to leave the practical work,'i as he called it to younger and better skilled assistants. Metchnikoff was always trying to get ahead of himself. He sent papers to scientific journals without sufficient proof of his statements. Oftimes he discovered his own mistakes and hastily wrote to the editors to prevent publication of his treatises. If, on the other hand, his enthusiastic theses were rejected, he be- came indignant, threatening and often attempting falthough always unsuccess- fully, to take his life. He became in- volved in scientific feuds with his su- periors and teachers. While in school he repeatedly skipped classes, not for 12 fun or pleasure, but rather to wallow through innumerable learned tomes. In spite of his contemplated suicides, his rash outbursts of arguments, his in- satiable curiosity, and his impetuousity, Metchnikoff was a great thinker. It was he who formulated the theories con- cerning the scavengers and protectors of the human body - the white blood corpnscles. It is he to whom we are indebted for great advances in the pre- vention of disease. He received many honors for his work. It was Metchnikoff who succeeded Louis Pasteur as direc- tor of the Pasteur Institute, the greatest scientific research laboratory of the time. Contemporary and co-receiver of the Nobel Prize with Metchnikoff was Paul Ehrlich, born in Silesia, Germany. He, contrary to Metchnikolf, was a gay and optimistic man: but, like Metchnikoff, 'he was ambitious and impetuous. He, too, involved himself in arguments with teachers. Educated at several German universities, Ehrlich devoted his life to medicinal chemistry. His method of testing and measuring diphtheria anti- toxin brought him early fame. His great- est invention was an arsenic compound called saliarsan which combats one of the most loathsome and terrible de- stroyers of life and health. This German- jew learned to employ the favorite poison of murders to save life In an obscure German town, about one century ago, was born a child of German-jewish parents. This child, Al-