Wacław Szybalski: Lwów, Gdańsk, Madison — Life of scientist and philanthropist
2013; Elsevier BV; Volume: 525; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1016/j.gene.2013.01.067
ISSN1879-0038
AutoresEwa Łojkowska, Stanisław Kosiedowski,
Tópico(s)Agriculture, Plant Science, Crop Management
ResumoWaclaw Szybalski was born in 1921 in Lwow, Poland (now LvivUkraine; also known as Lemberg, Leopol, Lvov, Leopolis). He graduat-ed from Gimnazjum No 8 in Lwow in 1939 and was accepted at theSchool of Chemistry of Technical University of Lwow (PolitechnikaLwowska). In the same year the World War II began. His youth coin-cided with the horrors of Nazi occupation of Lwow.During the warhestudied at the Technical University of Lwow and in the same timeworked at Prof. Rudolf Stefan Weigl's Institute at the University ofJan Kazimierz in Lwow. Rudolf Weigl (1883–1957) developed in1933 the first effective vaccine against typhus. In years 1941–1944Waclaw Szybalski worked at Weigl's Institute as head of the Labora-tory for lice breeding. Prof. Rudolf Weigl helped to protect many ofthe university professors and their associates by employing them aslice feeders.In 1944 Waclaw Szybalski passed all courses for a Chemical En-gineering degree at the Technical University of Lwow and obtaineda semiformal diploma. After Lwow became a Ukrainian city,Waclaw Szybalski moved to Gliwice in Poland and in 1945 earneda Master of Chemical Engineering degree at the Technical Universi-ty of Gliwice, Poland with Diploma No. 12. Later on he moved toNorthern Poland and established himself in Tricity, close to Polishcost, only two weeks after Germans withdrew from this region.Shortly he acquired four positions: at the Gdansk Institute of Tech-nology (later on Technical University of Gdansk), in the regionaladministration of food industry, in the Bureau of Standards, andin the local Chamber of Commerce. According to his words, allthese positions were in the field now recognized as biotechnology.In 1945–1946 Waclaw Szybalski took part in the establishment of anew Department of Industrial Fermentation and Biotechnology atthe Technical University of Gdansk. In the same time he was work-ing under the scientific supervision of Prof. Ernest Sym on his
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