Ioan Cantacuzino inventor of the notion of contact immunity

 Ioan C. Cantacuzino or Ion Cantacuzino (November 25, 1863 – January 14, 1934) was a renowned Romanian physician and bacteriologist, a professor at the Romanian School of Medicine and Pharmacy and a member of the Romanian Academy. He was the founder of the fields of microbiology and experimental medicine in Romania, and creator of the Ioan Cantacuzino Institute.

Biography

 Born in Bucharest as a member of the Cantacuzino family, he graduated from the University of Paris' Faculty of Sciences and Faculty of Medicine, and worked at several hospitals in Paris, obtaining his doctorate in 1894. Later in the same year, he began his academic career as a deputy professor at the University of Iaşi, and returned to Paris after two years to serve on the staff of the Pasteur Institute, where he worked under the direction of Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov.

 In 1901, Cantacuzino was assigned a teaching position in Bucharest, where he became a major influence on a generation of scientists. His discoveries were relevant in the treatment of cholera, epidemic typhus, tuberculosis, and scarlet fever. As a disciple of Mechnikov, he devoted part of his research to expanding on the latter's field of interest (phagocytes, the body's means of defence against pathogens, as well as the issue of immunity and invertebrates). He invented the notion of contact immunity.

 During the Second Balkan War, Cantacuzino was appointed head of the staff combatting the cholera epidemic in the ranks of the Romanian Army stationed in Dobruja; he was assigned to the same position during the Romanian campaign in World War I, in the fight against typhus. He founded and led the scientific magazines Revista Ştiinţelor Medicale and Archives roumaines de pathologie expérimentale, and regularly contributed to the literary magazine Viaţa Românească (replacing Paul Bujor on the editorial board).A collaborator of Constantin Stere, he was noted as a Poporanist disciple of Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea.

Ioan Cantacuzino

 Ioan Cantacuzino (n. 25 noiembrie 1863, Bucureşti; d. 14 ianuarie 1934, Bucureşti ) a fost un academician, medic, microbiolog, profesor universitar român, fondator al şcolii româneşti de imunologie şi patologie experimentală.

  Ioan Cantacuzino urmează atât studiile liceale (Liceul "Louis le Grand"), cât şi cele superioare (filosofie, 1882 - 1886, ştiinţe naturale, 1886 - 1891 şi medicină, 1887 - 1894) la Paris. În 1895 obţine titlul de Doctor în Medicină cu teza: "Recherches sur le mode de destruction du vibrion cholérique dans l'organisme" (în limba română, "Cercetări asupra modului de distrugere a vibrionului holeric în organism"). După terminarea studiilor, lucrează în Institutul "Pasteur" din Paris ca asistent al lui Ilija Mecinikov în domeniul mecanismelor imunitare ale organismului.

 Întors în ţară, este numit profesor de Medicină experimentală la Facultatea de Medicină din Bucureşti (1901) şi Director general al Serviciului Sanitar din România (1907). Vocaţia sa de fondator şi organizator a fost demonstrată prin înfiinţarea unor instituţii ca "Institutul de Seruri şi Vaccinuri" (1921), care astăzi îi poartă numele, a Laboratorului de "Medicină Experimentală" (1901) din cadrul Facultăţii de Medicină, precum şi a unor reviste de specialitate, "Revista Ştiinţelor Medicale" (1905), "Annales de Biologie" (1911) şi "Archives roumaines de pathologie expérimentale et de microbiologie".

 Ioan Cantacuzino a desfăşurat o bogată activitate de cercetare privind vibrionul holeric şi vaccinarea antiholerică, imunizarea activă împotriva dizenteriei şi febrei tifoide, etiologia şi patologia scarlatinei. Începînd cu anul 1896 publică lucrări despre sistemele şi funcţiile fagocitare în regnul animal şi despre rolul fenomenelor electrofiziologice în mecanismele imunitare. Pe baza cercetărilor sale privind vibrionul holeric, Cantacuzino a pus la punct o metodă de vaccinare antiholerică, numită "Metoda Cantacuzino", metodă folosită şi astăzi în ţările unde se mai semnalează cazuri de holeră. Datorită lui Ioan Cantacuzino, România a fost a doua ţară din lume, după Franţa, care a introdus în 1926 vaccinul BCG ("Bacilul Calmette-Guérin"), având germeni cu virulenţă atenuată, pentru vaccinarea profilactică a nou-născuţilor împotriva tuberculozei. Ioan Cantacuzino a fost un remarcabil organizator al campaniilor antiepidemice, calitate pe care a demonstrat-o în combaterea epidemiei de tifos exantematic şi holerei în timpul primului război mondial şi în campania antimalarică.

 Ioan Cantacuzino a fost membru titular al Academiei Române din anul 1925, membru în Comitetul de Igienă al Ligii Naţiunilor, al societăţilor de Biologie, de Patologie Exotică şi al Academiei de Ştiinţe din Paris. Numeroase universităţi i-au acordat titlul de Doctor honoris causa, Lyon (1922), Bruxelles (1924), Montpellier (1930), Atena (1932) şi Bordeaux (1934).

Gheorghe Marinescu

Gheorghe Marinescu (February 28, 1863, Bucharest – May 15, 1938, Bucharest) was a Romanian neurologist, founder of the Romanian School of Neurology.

After the attendance of Medicine at the Bucharest University, Marinescu received most of his medical education as preparator at the laboratory of histology at the Brâncoveanu Hospital and as assistant at the Bacteriological Institute under Victor Babeş, and with Babes already early published several works on myelitis transversa, hysterical muteness, dilatation of the pupil in pneumonia etc.

After qualification, on the recommendation of Babes the government sent him with a grant to Paris to undertake postgraduate training in neurology under Jean-Martin Charcot at the Salpêtrière Hospital, where he met Pierre Marie, Joseph Babinski and Fulgence Raymond. He later worked with Carl Weigert in Frankfurt a.M. and then with Emil du Bois-Reymond in Berlin. On the assignment of Pierre Marie he lectured on the pathological anatomy of acromegaly at the Berlin International Congress in 1890.

After nine years abroad Marinescu returned in 1897 to Bucharest where he received his doctorate. At Bucharest a new professorial department had been created for him at the Pantelimon Hospital. Shortly thereafter, in 1897, a chair of Clinical Neurology was created in the University of Bucharest, at the Colentina Hospital. He remained in this post for the next 41 years and is regarded as the founder of the Romanian School of Neurology.

Between July 1898 and 1901 the Marinescu made the first science films in the world, in his clinic in Bucharest:[1] The walking troubles of organic hemiplegy (1898), The walking troubles of organic paraplegies (1899), A case of hysteric hemiplegy healed through hypnosis (1899), The walking troubles of progressive locomotion ataxy (1900) and Illnesses of the muscles (1901). All these short subjects have been preserved. The professor called his works "studies with the help of the cinematograph", and published the results, along with several consecutive frames, in issues of "La Semaine Médicale" magazine from Paris, between 1899 and 1902.[2] In 1924, Auguste Lumiere recognized the priority of professor Marinescu concerning the first science films: "I've seen your scientific reports about the usage of cinematograph in studies of nervous illnesses, when I was still receiving "La Semaine Médicale", but back then I had other concerns, which left me no spare time to begin biological studies. I must say I forgot those works and I am thankful to you that you reminded them to me. Unfortunately, not many scientists have followed your way."[3]

Marinescu maintained close academic links with his Parisian colleagues and many of his articles, which exceeded 250 in number, were published in the French language. He had a wide range of research interests, including pathological anatomy and experimental neuropathology. Daily contact with scores of the infirm and his astuteness made him put use every one of the latest methods as they became available: the roentgen ray, with which he investigated bone changes in acromegaly, the film camera, for the study of body movements in health and disease. The results of these studies appeared in the monography Le Tonus des Muscles striés (1937) with Nicolae Ionescu-Siseşti, Oskar Sager and Arthur Kreindler, with a preface by Sir Charles Sherrington.

Early in his career he published with the bacteriologist Victor Babeş and the French pathologist Paul Oscar Blocq a much needed atlas on the pathological histology of the nervous system. His description with Blocq of a case of parkinsonian tremor due to tumour in the substantia nigra, in 1893, was the basis for Édouard Brissaud's theory that parkinsonism occurs as a consequence of damage to the substantia nigra. With Paul Blocq he was the first to describe senile plaques and with Romanian neurologist Ion Minea confirmed in 1913 Hideyo Noguchi's discovery of Treponema pallidum in the brain in patients with general paresis. His monumental work La Cellule Nerveuse, with a preface by Santiago Ramon y Cajal, appeared in 1909.

Gheorghe Marinescu was an eminent teacher. In his lectures he emphasised ideas and gave perspective for further investigations. Recognition in the form of honours came to him from many countries. It was he above all others who was chosen to represent the students of Charcot when the centenary of the great master was celebrated in 1925.

Gheorghe Marinescu

Gheorghe Marinescu (n. 28 februarie 1863, Bucureşti - d. 15 mai 1938, Bucureşti) a fost un medic neurolog român, profesor la Facultatea de Medicină din Bucureşti, membru al Academiei Române, fondatorul Şcolii Româneşti de Neurologie.

În 1882 - după absolvirea Seminarului Central - se înscrie la Facultatea de Medicină din Bucureşti. Cu sprijinul lui Victor Babeş, în al cărui laborator de Anatomie Patologică şi Bacteriologie începuse să lucreze ca preparator, îşi continuă studiile începând din 1889 la Paris în clinica de maladii ale sistemului nervos din spitalul Salpetrière condusă de Jean-Martin Charcot. Aici cunoaşte pe Pierre Marie, cu care va întreţine strânse legături în viitor, pe Joseph Babinski şi Fulgence Raymond. Mai târziu va lucra cu Carl Weigert în Frankfurt a.M. şi cu Emil du Bois-Raymond în Berlin. Încurajat de Pierre Marie prezintă în 1890 în Berlin la un congres international rezultatul cercetărilor asupra substratului morfopatologic în acromegalie.

Între 1890 şi 1896 întreprinde călătorii de studii în Germania, Anglia, Belgia şi Italia.

În 1897 susţine la Facultatea de Medicină din Paris teza de doctorat cu titlul Mâna suculentă în siringomielie. În acelaşi an - întors în ţară - primeşte funcţia de şef al serviciului de boli nervoase la spitalul Pantelimon; un an mai târziu este numit profesor la clinica bolilor nervoase a Facultăţii de Medicină din Bucureşti.

Tot atunci, în 1898, cu ajutorul operatorului Constantin M. Popescu, realizează primul film ştiinţific din lume: „Tulburările mersului în hemiplegia organică”. Însuşi Auguste Lumière recunoştea, într-o scrisoare din 29 iulie 1924: „Comunicările dumneavoastră asupra utilizării cinematografiei în studiul bolilor nervoase mi-au trecut, într-adevăr, prin mână, într-o vreme când primeam «La Semaine médicale», dar atunci aveam alte preocupări de ordin industrial, care nu-mi permiteau să mă consacru cercetărilor biologice. Mărturisesc că uitasem aceste lucrări şi vă sunt recunoscător de a mi le fi amintit. Din păcate, puţini savanţi au urmat calea deschisă de dumneavoastră”. La 25 octombrie 1899, medicul Alexandru Bolintineanu a susţinut la Paris o teză de doctorat despre coxotuberculoză care se baza pe studiul mersului bolnavilor din filmele realizate la Spitalul Pantelimon. Considerate pierdute multă vreme, o bună parte din acestea au fost descoperite în 1975, de către reporterul TV Cornel Rusu, într-un fişet de-al profesorului.



Marinescu a menţinut un contact strâns cu foştii lui colegi din Paris, cele mai multe din numeroasele sale publicaţii au apărut în limba franceză. Împreună cu patologul francez Paul Oscar Blocq a publicat un atlas cu aspectele anatomopatologice ale maladiilor sistemului nervos central. Descrierea sa împreună cu Blocq a unui caz de tremurătură parkinsoniană la un pacient cu leziuni ale substantiei nigra a constituit baza de lucru a lui Edouard Brissaud în demonstrarea rolului acestei formaţii în patogenesa parkinsonismului.

În 1906 este ales membru al Academiei Române, unde rosteşte discursul de recepţie Progresele şi tendinţele medicinii moderne.

În anul 1909 apare la Paris monografia La Cellule Nerveuse, cu o prefaţă elogioasă a renumitului histolog spaniol Santiago Ramón y Cajal.

Devine din ce în ce mai cunoscut şi apreciat în cercurile ştiinţifice de specialitate internaţionale; în 1912 este ales membru corespondent al Academiei de Medicină din Paris.

În 1919 clinica de boli nervoase se mută la Spitalul Colentina, unde va rămâne timp de 41 de ani. Aici se înconjoară cu o echipă de colaboratori valoroşi, care vor constitui nucleul Şcolii Româneşti de Neurologie.

Întreprinde cercetări pe teme foarte variate, ale căror rezultate apar în numeroase lucrări ca Cercetări histo-chimice asupra fermenţilor oxidanţi în fenomenele vieţii (1924), Bătrâneţe şi reîntinerire (1929), Reflexele condiţionate (1935, împreună cu Arthur Kreindler), Tonusul muşchilor striaţi (1937, împreună cu Nicolae Ionescu-Siseşti, Oskar Sager şi Arthur Kreindler, prefaţată de celebrul neurofiziolog Sir Charles Sherrington), Determinism şi cauzalitate în domeniul biologiei (1938). În afara monografiilor a publicat peste 1000 de articole în reviste de specialitate. La această activitate se adaugă participarea la numeroase congrese şi reuniuni ştiinţifice, la care de multe ori a fost raportor principal.

La 15 mai 1938 Gheorghe Marinescu încetează din viaţă în Bucureşti.







Gheorghe Marinescu a fost printre primii medici din lume care a aplicat în domeniul neurologiei metode histochimice şi electrofiziologice în cercetarea ştiinţifică. Reţin atenţia contribuţiile sale originale asupra unor fenomene ca troficitatea reflexă, cromatoliza, neuronofagia, degenerescenţa retrogradă ca urmare a secţiunii axonilor. Prin cercetări la ultramicroscop a aplicat datele teoriei coloizilor la structura neuronului.

Gheorghe Marinescu a fost şi un foarte preţuit profesor. În prelegerile sale aducea totdeauna idei noi şi dezvolta ipoteze de perspectivă.

În 1925 la aniversarea a 100 de ani de la naşterea lui Charcot, dintre toţi discipolii a fost ales Gheorghe Marinescu să evoce personalitatea marelui maestru.

Dintre studiile sale de neurologie clinică sunt de menţionat descrierea Reflexului palmo-mentonier în afecţiunile sistemului piramidal (împreună cu Anghel Radovici) şi izolarea unei boli eredodegenerative a sistemului nervos cunoscută în literatură sub numele de Sindrom Marinescu-Sjoegren.

Din testamentul lui Gheorghe Marinescu: ... Plecând în lumea din care nimeni nu s-a întors vreodată, n-aşi voi să supăr pe nimeni, dar adevărul totuşi trebuie spus: prea multă nedreptate este în blagoslovita Ţară Românească.

Transylvanian Hermann Oberth -one of the Founding Fathers of rocketry and astronautics

Hermann Julius Oberth (25 June 1894 – 28 December 1989), born in Transylvania, was a Romanian and German physicist and engineer of Saxon ancestry, who along with the Russian Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and the American Robert H. Goddard, was one of the Founding Fathers of rocketry and astronautics. The three never were active collaborators, and in fact, never knew one another: instead, their parallel achievements occurred independently of one another.

Oberth's Early life

Oberth was born to a Saxon family in Hermannstadt/Nagyszeben, (now Sibiu/Hermannstadt, Romania).By his own account and that of many others, around the age of 11 years old, Oberth became fascinated with the field in which he was to make his mark through reading the writings of Jules Verne, especially From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon, re-reading them to the point of memorization. Influenced by Verne's books and ideas, Oberth constructed his first model rocket as a school student at the age of 14. In his youthful experiments, he arrived independently at the concept of the multistage rocket, but he lacked then the resources to pursue his idea on any but a pencil-and-paper level.

In 1912, Oberth began the study of medicine in Munich, Germany, but at the outbreak of World War I, he was drafted into the Imperial German Army, assigned to an infantry battalion, and sent to the Eastern Front against Russia. In 1915, Oberth was moved into a medical unit at a hospital in Segesvár, Transylvania, in Austria-Hungary.There he found the spare time to conduct a series of experiments concerning weightlessness, and later resumed his rocketry designs. By 1917, he showed how far his studies had reached so far by firing a rocket with liquid propellant in a demonstration to Hermann von Stein, the Prussian Minister of War.

On July 6, 1918, Oberth married Mathilde Hummel, with whom he had four children. Among these were a son who died as a soldier in World War II, and a daughter who also died during the war when there was an accidental explosion at a liquid oxygen plant where she was in August 1944. In 1919, Oberth once again moved to Germany, this time to study physics, initially in Munich and later in Göttingen.

In 1922, Oberth's proposed doctoral dissertation on rocket science was rejected as "utopian". He next had his 92-page work published privately in June 1923 as the somewhat controversial book, Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen ("By Rocket into Planetary Space"). By 1929, Oberth had expanded this work to a 429-page book titled Wege zur Raumschiffahrt ("Ways to Spaceflight"). Oberth commented later that he made the deliberate choice not to write another doctoral dissertation. He wrote, "I refrained from writing another one, thinking to myself: Never mind, I will prove that I am able to become a greater scientist than some of you, even without the title of Doctor."Oberth criticized the German system of education, saying "Our educational system is like an automobile which has strong rear lights, brightly illuminating the past. But looking forward, things are barely discernible." Hermann Oberth was finally his doctorate in physics with the same rocketry paper that he had written before, by the Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, under professor Augustin Maior, on May 23, 1923.

Oberth became a member of the Verein für Raumschiffahrt (VfR) - the "Spaceflight Society" - an amateur rocketry group that had taken great inspiration from his book, and Oberth acted as something of a mentor to the enthusiasts who joined the Society. Oberth lacked the opportunties to work or to teach at the college or university level, as did many well-educated experts in the physical sciences and engineering in the time period of the 1920 through the 1930s - with the situation becoming much worse during the worldwide Great Depression that started in 1929. Therefore, from 1924 through 1938, Oberth supported himself and his family by teaching physics and mathematics at the Stephan Ludwig Roth High School in Mediaş, Romania.

In parts of 1928 and 1929, Oberth also worked in Berlin, Germany as a scientific consultant on the first film ever to have scenes set in outer space, Frau im Mond ("The Woman in the Moon"), which was directed and produced by the great film pioneer Fritz Lang at the Universum Film AG company. This film was of enormous value in popularizing the ideas of rocketry and space exploration. One of Oberth's main assignments was to build and launch a rocket as a publicity event just before the film's premiere. He also designed the model of the "Friede", the main rocket portrayed in the film. On June 5, 1929, Oberth won the first (Robert Esnault-Pelterie - André-Louis Hirsch) "Rep-Hirsch Prize" of the French Astronomical Society for the encouragement of astronautics in his book Wege zur Raumschiffahrt ("Ways to Spaceflight") that had expanded Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen to a full-length book.

In the autumn of 1929, Oberth conducted a static firing of his first liquid-fueled rocket motor, which he named the Kegeldüse. He was helped in this experiment by his students at the Technical University of Berlin, one of whom was Wernher von Braun, who would later become a giant in both German and American rocket engineering from the 1940s onward, culminating with the gigantic Saturn V rockets that made it possible for men to land on the Moon in 1969 and in several following years.

In 1938, the Oberth family left Sibiu, Romania, for good, to first to settle in Austria, then in Nazi Germany, then in the United States, and finally back to a free Germany. Oberth himself moved on first to the Technische Hochschule in Vienna, Austria, then the Technische Hochschule in Dresden, Germany. (A Hochschule is rather like a four-year technical insitute, above a high school, but not as highly-regarded, or offering as many years of study as a university does.) Oberth moved to Peenemünde, Germany, in 1941 to work on Nazi German rocketry projects, including the V-2 rocket weapon, and in about September 1943, he was awarded the Kriegsverdienstkreuz I Klasse mit Schwertern (War Merit Cross 1st Class, with Swords) for his "outstanding, courageous behavior … during the attack" on Peenemünde by Operation Hydra.Oberth later worked on solid-propellant anti-aircraft rockets at the German WASAG military organization near Wittenberg. Around the end of World War II in Europe in May 1945, the Oberth family moved to the town of Feucht, near Nuremberg, Germany, which became part of the American Zone of occupied Germany, and also the location of the high-level war-crimes trials of the surviving Nazi leaders. Oberth was allowed to leave Nurmberg to move to Switzerland in 1948, where he worked as an independent rocketry consultant and a writer.

In 1950, Oberth moved on to Italy, where he completed some of the work that he had begun at the WASAG organization for the new Italian Navy. In 1953, Oberth returned to Feucht, Germany, to publish his book Menschen im Weltraum (Men in Space), in which he described his ideas for space-based reflecting telescopes, space stations, electric-powered spaceships, and space suits.

During the 1950s and 1960s, as a sideline, Oberth offered his opinions regarding unidentified flying objects (UFOs). He was a supporter of the extraterrestrial hypothesis for the origin of the UFOs that were seen at the Earth. For example, in an article in The American Weekly magazine of October 24, 1954, Obert stated, "It is my thesis that flying saucers are real, and that they are space ships from another solar system. I think that they possibly are manned by intelligent observers who are members of a race that may have been investigating our earth for centuries..."

Oberth eventually came to work for his former student, Wernher von Braun, who was developing space rockets for NASA in Huntsville, Alabama. (See also List of German rocket scientists in the United States). Among other things, Oberth was involved in writing the study, The Development of Space Technology in the Next Ten Years. In 1958, Oberth was back in Feucht, Germany, where he published his ideas on a lunar exploration vehicle, a "lunar catapult", and on "muffled" helicopters and airplanes. In 1960, back in the United States again, Oberth went to work for the Convair Corporation as a technical consultant on the Atlas rocket program.

Oberth's Later life

Oberth retired in 1962 at the age of 68. From 1965 to 1967 he was a member of the considered to be far right National Democratic Party. In July 1969, Oberth returned to the United States to witness the launch of the Apollo project Saturn V rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida that carried the Apollo 11 crew on the first landing mission to the Moon.

The 1973 petroleum crisis inspired Oberth to look into alternative energy sources, including a plan for a wind power station that could utilize the jet stream. However, his primary interest during his retirement years was to turn to more abstract philosophical questions. Most notable among his several books from this period is Primer For Those Who Would Govern.

Oberth died in Nuremberg, Germany, on 28 December 1989, just shortly after the fall of the Iron Curtain that had for so long divided Germany into two countries.

Watch Hermann Oberth, Wernher von Braun und die Rakete in Educational & How-To  

  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Oberth's Legacy

Hermann Oberth is memorialized by the Hermann Oberth Space Travel Museum in Feucht, Germany, and by the Hermann Oberth Society, which brings together scientists, researchers, engineers, and astronauts from the East and the West to carry on his work in rocketry and space exploration.

There is also a crater on the Moon named for Oberth (see Oberth (crater)).

The Oberth effect is named after him.

The science-fiction movie Star Trek III: The Search for Spock mentions the Oberth-class of starships hypothetically to be in his honor. Later on, this same class of starships is mentioned in several episodes of the American TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa features Hermann Oberth as the "teacher" of the movie's protagonist, "Edward Elric". Oberth is also mentioned in the last episode of the TV series Fullmetal Alchemist. In this episode, Elric has heard of a great scientist, named "Oberth", with curious theories. The last moments of the series depict Elric on board a train on his way to meet Oberth, determined to study rocketry with him.

Sibianul Hermann Julius Oberth - unul dintre cei trei părinţi fondatori ai ştiinţei rachetelor şi astronauticii

Hermann Julius Oberth (n. 25 iunie 1894, Sibiu - d. 28 decembrie 1989, Nürnberg) a fost unul dintre părinţii fondatori ai rachetei şi astronauticii.


Născut la Sibiu (la acea vreme Nagyszeben sau Hermannstadt), Hermann Oberth a fost, pe lângă rusul Konstantin Ţiolkovski şi americanul Robert Goddard, unul dintre cei trei părinţi fondatori ai ştiinţei rachetelor şi astronauticii. Cei trei nu au colaborat niciodată, în mod activ, concluziile cercetărilor lor fiind în mod esenţial identice, deşi cercetarea a avut loc în mod independent.

Încă de la vârsta copilăriei (la aproximativ 11 ani), Hermann a fost fascinat de acest subiect prin cărţile lui Jules Verne, în special De la Pământ la Lună şi Călătorie în jurul Lunii, pe prima mărturisind că a citind-o de nenumărate ori, până a ajuns aproape să o ştie pe dinafară. În urma influenţei acestor cărţi şi concluziei personale că ideile prezentate de Jules Verne nu erau întru totul fanteziste, Hermann a construit primul model de rachetă încă din şcoala generală, în jur de 14 ani.

Hermann Oberth a realizat că deşi combustibilul rachetei se consumă, prin aceasta reducându-se masa rachetei, continuă totuşi să existe un rezervor care conţinea combustibilul consumat, acesta nemaifiind util din punct de vedere funcţional. Hermann a ajuns astfel, în mod independent, să inventeze conceptul de ardere în etape a combustibilului.

În 1912 Hermann Oberth a devenit student la medicină al Universităţii din München, participând apoi ca medic militar la Primul Război Mondial. Hermann a spus mai apoi că cea mai importantă concluzie personală, pe care a tras-o în urma experienţei avute, a fost că nu va dori niciodată să profeseze ca medic. După război s-a întors la aceeaşi universitate, de data aceasta studiind fizica sub îndrumarea unora dintre cele mai luminate minţi ale vremii în domeniu.

În 1922, lucrarea sa de doctorat despre ştiinţa rachetelor a fost respinsă, fiind considerată utopică. Lucrarea a fost totuşi tipărită folosind fonduri private şi a produs controverse în presă. Hermann a comentat ulterior că s-a abţinut, în mod deliberat, să scrie o altă lucrare de doctorat, cu scopul declarat de a deveni un om de ştiinţă mai valoros decât cei care i-au respins-o, chiar fără a fi recunoscut de aceştia. Oberth a fost un critic al sistemului de învăţământ al vremii, comparându-l cu o maşină cu farurile aţintite înapoi, lipsită de viziune de viitor.

În 1923, Hermann Oberth a publicat cartea Racheta în spaţiul interplanetar, iar în 1929, Moduri de a călători în spaţiu. În anii 1928-1929, Hermann a lucrat la Berlin în calitate de consultant ştiinţific la primul film din istorie cu acţiune care se desfăşura în spaţiu: Femeile de pe Lună. Filmul a fost produs de UFA-Film Co., în regia lui Fritz Lang şi a avut un succes enorm în popularizarea noii ştiinţe a rachetelor.

În toamna lui 1929, Hermann Oberth a lansat prima sa rachetă cu combustibil lichid, numită Kegeldüse. În aceste experimente a fost asistat de studenţi de la Universitatea Tehnică din Berlin, printre care se afla şi Wernher von Braun. La construirea primei rachete de mari dimensiuni din lume, numită A4, dar cunoscută astăzi mai degrabă sub numele V2, s-au folosit 95 dintre invenţiile şi recomandările lui Hermann Oberth .

În 1938, familia Oberth s-a mutat din Sibiu. Mai întâi s-a mutat la Colegiul Tehnic din Viena, apoi la Colegiul Tehnic din Dresda, ajungând în final la Peenemünde unde Wernher von Braun construise deja racheta V2.

La sfârşitul războiului, Hermann Oberth lucra la complexul WASAG, de lângă Wittenberg, la rachete cu combustibil solid, pentru apărare aeriană. După terminarea războiului şi-a mutat familia la Feucht, lângă Nürnberg.

În 1948, lucra în calitate de consultant independent şi scriitor în Elveţia. În 1950, a încheiat în Italia munca pe care o începuse la WASAG. În 1953, s-a întors la Feucht pentru a ajuta la publicarea cărţii sale Omul în spaţiu în care descria ideile sale legate de un reflector spaţial, o staţie spaţială, o navă spaţială electrică şi costume de cosmonaut.

Între timp Wernher von Braun fondase un institut pentru explorare spaţială în Statele Unite ale Americii, la Huntsville, Alabama, unde i s-a alăturat şi Hermann Oberth. Aici Hermann Oberth a fost implicat într-un studiu numit Dezvoltarea tehnologiei spaţiale în următorii zece ani. La sfârşitul lui 1958, Hermann Oberth, din nou in Feucht, a găsit timpul să îşi pună pe hârtie şi să publice gândurile sale legate de posibilităţile tehnologice ale unui vehicul lunar, o catapultă lunară, un elicopter şi un avion silenţios şi altele. În anul 1960, a lucrat la Convair, în calitate de consultant tehnic de-a lungul dezvoltării rachetelor Atlas, în Statele Unite.

Hermann Oberth s-a retras în 1962, la vârsta de 68 de ani. Criza petrolului din 1977 l-a făcut să se concentreze asupra surselor alternative de energie, aceasta ducând la concepţia planului unei centrale eoliene. Principalele sale activităţi, după ce s-a retras, au fost însă legate de filosofie, Hermann Oberth mai scriind încă nişte cărţi legate de acest subiect.

Hermann Oberth s-a stins din viaţă la 28 decembrie 1989, la vârsta de 95 de ani, la Feucht.

Hermann Oberth s-a căsătorit în jurul vârstei de 35 de ani cu Tilli Oberth (născută Hummel), cu care a avut patru copii, dintre care un băiat a murit pe front în Al Doilea Război Mondial, iar o fată a murit curând după aceea, în august 1944, într-un accident de muncă.

După moartea sa, s-a deschis la Feucht Muzeul Spaţial Hermann Oberth, unde cercetările sale şi rezultatele acestora sunt disponibile publicului. Societatea Hermann Oberth pe de altă parte aduce laolaltă oameni de ştiinţă, cercetători şi astronauţi din toată lumea pentru a-i continua opera.



PRUNARIU ŞI OBERTH.
 
Singurul român care a zburat în spaţiul cosmic, Dumitru Prunariu, a avut onoarea să-l întâlnească personal pe Hermann Oberth de două ori. Prima dată în 1982: aflat la Moscova cu ocazia aniversării a 25 de ani de la lansarea primului satelit artificial al Pământului, Prunariu a susţinut un discurs în care a vorbit despre Oberth, amintind că marele savant este la origine un sas transilvan. A fost fluierat de audienţă, fiindcă s-a crezut că vrea să atribuie ţării sale merite necuvenite. Întâmplător, Herman Oberth se afla în sală. A venit pe scenă şi a dat mâna cu Prunariu, spunându-i, în româneşte: "Vă mulţumesc, domnule căpitan!". Doi ani mai târziu, Dumitru Prunariu a fost distins cu medalia de aur "Hermann Oberth", de însuşi Hermann Oberth, pentru contribuţia adusă la dezvoltarea cosmonauticii în calitate de prim cosmonaut din ţara sa natală.

Ana Aslan - a founding figure of gerontology and geriatrics

Ana Aslan (born 1 January 1897, at Brăila - death 20 May 1988, at Bucharest) was a Romanian biologist and physician. She is considered to be a founding figure of gerontology and geriatrics in Romania. In 1952, under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Ana Aslan, the Geriatric Institute in Bucharest was founded. This Institute was the first of its kind in Romania and was recognized by the World Health Organization.

The Gerovital H3 concept was introduced for the first time in 1957, in Verona, Italy, on the occasion of the 4th International Gerontology Congress. Many scientists from the USA , Germany , England , Japan , Italy , Austria and Romania have studied and confirmed the effects of the Gerovital H3 treatment suggested by Prof. Dr. Ana Aslan. In the 60’s the Gerovital H3 treatment became a scientific certitude (which, readers should note, is an oxymoron, though certainly pedantic enough to appear credible to consumers), a high value anti-aging treatment.

Notables such as French President Charles De Gaulle, U.S. President John F. Kennedy, West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong, and Vietnamese Chairman Ho Chi Minh have traveled to Romania to benefit this anti-aging therapy.Other well-known people, including actresses Marlene Dietrich, Lillian Gish, the Gabor sisters, actors Charlie Chaplin and Kirk Douglas, and artist Salvador Dalí have also followed the same path. They traveled to Bucharest, where Dr. Aslan did her research with Gerovital H3. Once discovered by these celebrities, Gerovital itself has become famous and is now used in over twenty countries around the world for its renowned anti-aging properties.

Ana Aslan’s research activity received many international distinctions, among which:

“Cross of Merit” – First Class of the Order of Merit , Germany ,1971

“Cavalier de la Nouvelle Europe” Prize Oscar , Italy , 1973

“Les Palmes Academiques”, France, 1974

“honorary Foreign Citizen and Honorary Professor of Sciences”, Philippines , 1978

“Member Honoris Causa” Diploma of the Bohemo-Slovakian Society of Gerontology, 1981

“Leon Bernard” Prize, important distinction granted by the World Health Organization upon nomination and endorsement by officials of a member state (in this case by the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu) for contributing to the development of gerontology and geriatrics, 1982

The Gerovital H3 was a revolutionary medicine and many people are trying nowadays to profit from its fame. They are using The "Gh3" or "Gerovital H3" name to sell some odd anti aging medicine.

The genuine recipe was only known by Ana Aslan. The drugs existing on the market today are made after the original medicine but are not directly related to Ana Aslan's medicine. They are only using the fame of the original name. Especially the ones produced outside Romania.

There are opinions against the positive effects of the drug, most of them based on the fact that drugs containing procaine, like the original GH3, are not approved by the FDA, but the FDA is well known for not approving many drugs with no real side effect.

Also besides the Gerovital H3 Medicine, Ana Aslan developed Anti Aging Cosmetics Lines. The original recipes for the preparation of the cosmetics are still respected today, by Farmec (Romanian Company) which received the rights from Ana aslan to produce the Gerovital Cosmetics.

The Gerovital cosmetics products include several lines for skin care, hair care, eyes care etc. Some of the cosmetics lines produced by Farmec after the original recipes of Ana Aslan: Gerovital H3, Gerovital Plant, Aslavital etc.

The Cosmetics do not have anything to do with the well known procaine drugs, are made of natural plant extracts, produced at high quality standards and are approved by all standards. (also approved by the FDA)

DR. ANA ASLAN - Fondatoarea primului institut de Geriatrie

Ana Aslan (n. 1 ianuarie 1897, la Brăila - d. 20 mai 1988, la Bucureşti) a fost medic român specialist în gerontologie, academician din 1974, director al Institutului Naţional de Geriatrie şi Gerontologie (1958 - 1988).

A evidenţiat importanţa procainei în ameliorarea tulburărilor distrofice legate de vârstă, aplicând-o pe scară largă în clinica de geriatrie, sub numele de Gerovital. Numeroase personalităţi internaţionale au urmat tratament cu Gerovital: Tito, Charles de Gaulle, Hrusciov, J.F. Kennedy, Indira Gandhi, Imelda Marcos, Marlene Dietrich, Konrad Adenauer, Charlie Chaplin, Kirk Douglas, Salvador Dali. Ana Aslan a inventat (în colaborare cu farmacista Elena Polovrăgeanu) produsul geriatric Aslavital, brevetat şi introdus în producţie industrială în 1980.

Ana Aslan s-a născut la 1 ianuarie 1897, la Brăila, fiind cel mai mic dintre cei patru copii ai Sofiei şi ai lui Mărgărit Aslan, o familie de intelectuali. Urmează cursurile colegiului Romaşcanu din Brăila. La 13 ani îşi pierde tatăl. Familia Aslan părăseşte oraşul natal şi se mută la Bucureşti. În 1915, Ana absolvă Şcoala Centrală din Bucureşti. La 16 ani, visează să ajungă pilot şi chiar zboară cu un mic aparat, tip Bristol - Coandă. În cele din urmă se decide să devină medic. Declară greva foamei pentru a înfrânge împotrivirea mamei şi se înscrie la Facultatea de Medicină.

În timpul Primului Război Mondial, îngrijeşte soldaţii în spitalele militare din spatele frontului de la Iaşi. După întoarcerea la Bucureşti, în anul 1919, lucrează alături de marele neurolog Gheorghe Marinescu. Trei ani mai târziu, absolvă Facultatea de Medicină. Este numită preparator la clinica II din Bucureşti, condusă de profesorul Daniel Danielopolu, care o îndrumă şi în alcătuirea tezei de doctorat.

Urmează o activitate didactică şi spitalicească la Filantropia, Institutul Clinico-Medical al Facultăţii de Medicină din Bucureşti, Clinica Medicală din Timişoara, Spitalul CFR. Din 1949, devine şeful Secţiei de fiziologie a Institutului de Endocrinologie din Bucureşti. Este punctul de plecare al carierei ei de gerontolog. Experimentează procaina în afecţiunile reumatice, în cazul unui student ţintuit la pat din cauza unei crize de artroză. Continuă cercetările într-un azil de bătrâni şi evidenţiază importanţa procainei în ameliorarea tulburărilor distrofice legate de vârstă. Obţine rezultate remarcabile, care sunt comunicate Academiei Române.

Ana Aslan a fost si membru al Academiei de Stiinte, din New York, al Uniunii Mondiale de Medicina profilactica si igiena sociala, membru de onoare al Centrului European de Cercetari Medicale Aplicative, membru in Consiliul de Conducere al Asociatiei Internationale de Gerontologie, membru al Societatii Nationale de Gerontologie din Chile, presedinta a Societatii Romane de Gerontologie etc.

In 1952, prepara vitamina H3 (Gerovital), produs farmaceutic cu actiune in tratamentul fenomenului de imbatranire, precum si in bolile batranetii, in ateroscleroza, vitiligo, sclerodermie etc. Produsul se bazeaza pe descoperirea proprietatii regeneratoare a troficitatii procainei aplicate in tratament cronic. In 1958, incepe prepararea produsului pe scara larga si introducerea sa in circuitul farmaceutic. Ea a evidentiat importanta novocainei in ameliorarea tulburarilor distrofice, legate de varsta. Gerovital-ul a fost brevetat in peste 30 de tari, fiind considerat, initial, un medicament miraculos; are o actiune de echilibrare a sistemului nervos vegetativ, cu vizibile efecte de ameliorare a diverselor afectiuni psihice.

Sub conducerea Anei Aslan, se infiinteaza, in 1952, Institutul de Geriatrie din Bucuresti, primul de acest fel din lume, al carui mod de organizare a fost recomandat de Organizatia Mondiala a Sanatatii (OMS) pentru toate institutele similare.




Ana Aslan primeste in 1952, la palatul ONU din Geneva, premiul international si medalia "Leon Bernard", prestigioasa distinctie acordata de OMS, pentru contributia adusa la dezvoltarea gerontologiei si geriatriei.

A inventat (impreuna cu Elena Polovrăgeanu) noul produs geriatric Aslavital, brevetat si introdus in productie industriala, in 1980.

Ana Aslan a mai fost distinsa cu Merito della Republica (Italia), Cavaler al Ordinului Palmas Academica (Franta), Profesor Honoris Causa si Doctor emerit al Universitatii Braganza Paulista, din Brazilia.

Medicamentele esentiale pentru tratarea imbatranirii (Gerovital H3, Aslavital), create de Ana Aslan si brevetate in numeroase tari, sunt garantate si de marca olografa.

Invenţii

1952 - prepară vitamina H3 (Gerovital), produs geriatric brevetat în peste 30 de ţări

1980 - a inventat, împreună cu farmacista Elena Polovrăgeanu, Aslavital, produs geriatric

Titluri

Membră a Academiei de Ştiinţe, din New York

Membră a Uniunii Mondiale de Medicină Profilactică şi Igienă Socială

Membră de Onoare al Centrului European de Cercetări Medicale Aplicative

Membră în Consiliul de Conducere al Asociaţiei Internaţionale de Gerontologie

Membră a Societăţii Naţionale de Gerontologie din Chile

Preşedintă a Societăţii Române de Gerontologie

Premii şi distincţii

1952 - Premiul internaţional şi medalia "Leon Bernard", prestigioasă distincţie acordată de Organizaţia Mondială a Sănătăţii, pentru contribuţia adusă la dezvoltarea gerontologiei şi geriatriei

Merito della Republica, Italia

Cavaler al Ordinului Palmes académiques, Franţa

Profesor Honoris Causa şi Doctor emerit al Universităţii Bragança Paulista, din Brazilia

George E. Palade - The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1974

Autobiography

"I was born in November 1912 in Jassy (Iasi), the old capital of Moldavia, the eastern province of Romania. My education was started in that city and was continued through a baccalaureate (continental style) at the "Al Hasdeu" Lyceum in Buzau. My father, Emil Palade, was professor of philosophy and my mother, Constanta Cantemir-Palade, was a teacher. The family environment explains why I acquired early in life great respect for books, scholars and education.

  My father had hoped I was going to study philosophy at the University, like himself, but I preferred to deal with tangibles and specifics, and - influenced by relatives much closer to my age than he was - I entered the School of Medicine of the University of Bucharest (Romania) in 1930.

  Early in my student years I developed a strong interest in basic biomedical sciences by listening to, and speaking with, Francisc Rainer and André Boivin, professors of Anatomy and Biochemistry, respectively. As a result, I started working in the Anatomy laboratory while still in medical school. I went, nonetheless, through six years of hospital training, mostly in internal medicine, but I did the work for my doctorate thesis in microscopic anatomy on a rather unusual topic (for an M.D.): the nephron of the cetacean Delphinus delphi. It was an attempt to understand its structure in terms of the functional adaptation of a mammal to marine life.

  I graduated in 1940 and, after a short period as an assistant in internal medicine, I went back to Anatomy, since the discrepancy between knowledge possessed by, and expected from, the medical practitioners of that time made me rather uneasy.

  During the second world war, I served in the medical corps of the Romanian Army, and after the war - encouraged by Grigore Popa, Rainer's successor - I came to the United States in 1946 for further studies. I worked for a few months in the Biology Laboratory of Robert Chambers at New York University and, while there, I met Albert Claude who had come to give a seminar on his work in electron microscopy. I was fascinated by the perspectives opened by his findings and extremely happy when, after a short discussion following his seminar, he asked me to come to work with him at The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in the fall of the same year. This was truly a timely development, since Chambers was retiring that summer.

  At The Rockefeller Institute, Claude was working in the department of Pathology of James Murphy with George Hogeboom and Walter Schneider as direct collaborators; Keith Porter was in the same department but had developed his own line of research on the electron microscopy of cultured animal cells. At the beginning, I worked primarily on cell fractionation procedures, and I developed with Hogeboom and Schneider the "sucrose method" for the homogenization and fractionation of liver tissue. This first "Rockefeller group" had a rather short existence: Schneider returned to the University of Wisconsin, Hogeboom moved to the National Cancer Institute, and Claude went back to Belgium in 1949 to assume the directorship of the Jules Bordet Institute. Only Porter and I remained at The Rockefeller Institute; two years later, upon Murphy's retirement, we became "orphans" and were adopted by Herbert Gasser then the director of the Institute, since none of us had the rank required to head a laboratory.

  Around that time, I started working in electron microscopy with the general aim of developing preparation procedures applicable to organized tissue. This line of research had been tackled before by a few investigators, Claude included, but there was still ample room for improvement. Taking advantage of whatever techniques were already available, Porter and I worked out enough improvements in microtomy and tissue fixation to obtain preparations which, at least for a while, appeared satisfactory and gratifying. A period of intense activity and great excitement followed since the new layer of biological structure revealed by electron microscopy proved to be unexpectedly rich and surprisingly uniform for practically all eukaryotic cells. Singly, or in collaboration with others, I did my share in exploring the newly open territory and, in the process, I defined the fine structure of mitochondria, and described the small particulate component of the cytoplasm (later called ribosomes); with Porter, I investigated the local differentiations of the endoplasmic reticulum and with Sanford Palay I worked out the fine structure of chemical synapses. With all this activity, our laboratory became reasonably well known and started functioning as a training center for biological electron microscopy. The circumstances that permitted this development were unusually favorable: we didn't have to worry about research funds (since we were well supported by Herbert Gasser), we had practically complete freedom in selecting our targets, strong competitors who kept us alert, and excellent collaborators who helped us in maintaining our advance.

  In the middle 1950's, I felt that the time was ripe for going back to cell fractionation as a means of defining the chemical composition and the functional role of the newly discovered subcellular components. The intent was to use electron microscopy for monitoring cell fractionation. I was starting from structural findings and morphological criteria seemed appropriate for assessing the degree of homogeneity (or heterogeneity) of the cell fractions. Philip Siekevitz joined our laboratory in 1955 and together we showed that Claude's microsomes were fragments of the endoplasmic reticulum (as postulated by Claude in 1948) and that the ribosomes were ribonucleoprotein particles. To find out more about the function of the endoplasmic reticulum and of the attached ribosomes, we started an integrated morphological and biochemical analysis of the secretory process in the guinea pig pancreas.

  In 1961, Keith Porter who had been the head of our group since 1953 joined the Biological Laboratories of Harvard University and, with his departure, the history of the second "Rockefeller group" came to an end. It was during this period that cell biology became a recognized field of research in biological sciences and that the Journal of Cell Biology and the American Society for Cell Biology were founded. Our group participated actively in each of these developments.

  In the 1960's, I continued the work on the secretory process using in parallel or in succession two different approaches. The first relied exclusively on cell fractionation, and was developed in collaboration with Philip Siekevitz, Lewis Greene, Colvin Redman, David Sabatini and Yutaka Tashiro; it led to the characterization of the zymogen granules and to the discovery of the segregation of secretory products in the cisternal space of the endoplasmic reticulum. The second approach relied primarly on radioautography, and involved experiments on intact animals or pancreatic slices which were carried out in collaboration with Lucien Caro and especially James Jamieson. This series of investigations produced a good part of our current ideas on the synthesis and intracellular processing of proteins for export. A critical review of this line of research is presented in the Nobel Lecture.

  In parallel with the work on the secretory process in the pancreatic exocrine cell, I maintained an interest in the structural aspects of capillary permeability, that goes back to the early 1950's when I found a large population of plasmalemmal vesicles in the endothelial cells of blood capillaries. Along this line of research, Marilyn Farquhar and I investigated the capillaries of the renal glomeruli and recognized that, in their case, the basement membrane is the filtration barrier for molecules of 100A diameter or larger; a byproduct of this work was the definition of junctional complexes in a variety of epithelia. Visceral (fenestrated) capillaries were investigated with Francesco Clementi, and muscular capillaries with Romaine Bruns and Nicolae and Maia Simionescu.

  The capillary work has relied primarily on the use of "probe" molecules of known dimensions detected individually or in mass (after cytochemical reactions) by electron microscopy. It led to the identification of the passageways followed by large water-soluble molecules in both types of capillaries and by small molecules in visceral capillaries. The pathway followed by small, watersoluble molecules in muscular capillaries is still under investigation.

  In the middle of the 1960's our laboratory began a series of investigations on membrane biogenesis in eukaryotic cells using as model objects either the endoplasmic reticulum of mammalian hepatocytes (with P. Siekevitz, Gustav Dallner and Andrea Leskes), or the thylakoid membranes of a green alga (Chlamydomonas reinhardtii) (With P. Siekevitz, Kenneth Hoober and Itzhak Ohad). These studies showed that "new" membrane is produced by expansion of "old" preexisting membrane (there is no de novo membrane assembly), and that new molecules are asynchronously inserted, and randomly distributed throughout the expanding membrane. Asynchrony also applies to the turnover of membrane proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum as shown by work down with P. Siekevitz, Tsuneo Omura and Walter Bock.

  In 1973, I left the Rockefeller University to join the Yale University Medical School. The main reason for the move was my belief that the time had come for fruitful interactions between the new discipline of Cell Biology and the traditional fields of interest of medical schools, namely Pathology and Clinical Medicine. Besides, my work at the Rockefeller University was done: when I left there were at least five other laboratories working in different sectors of cell biology.

  At present I am investigating, together with my collaborators, the interactions which occur among the membranes of the various compartments of the secertory pathway, namely the endoplasmic reticulum, the Golgi complex, the secretion granules, and the plasmalemma.
  I have been a member of the National Academy of Sciences (U.S.A.) since 1961, and I have received in the past a number of awards and prizes for my scientific work, among them: the Lasker Award (1966), the Gairdner Special Award (1967), and the Hurwitz Prize - shared with Albert Claude and Keith Porter (1970).
  Since my high school years I have been interested in history, especially in Roman history, a topic on which I have read rather extensively. The Latin that goes with this kind of interest proved useful when I had to generate a few terms and names for cell biology.
  I have a daughter, Georgia Palade Van Duzen, and a son Philip Palade from a first marriage with Irina Malaxa, now deceased. In 1970 I married Marilyn Gist Farquhar who is a cell biologist like myself.
 From Les Prix Nobel en 1974, Editor Wilhelm Odelberg, [Nobel Foundation], Stockholm, 1975
  This autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and later published in the book series Les Prix Nobel/Nobel Lectures. The information is sometimes updated with an addendum submitted by the Laureate. To cite this document, always state the source as shown above.
George E. Palade died on 7 October, 2008.

George Emil Palade Laureat al Premiului Nobel pentru Fiziologie şi Medicină în anul 1974

George Emil Palade (n. 19 noiembrie 1912, Iaşi – d. 8 octombrie 2008) a fost un medic şi om de ştiinţă american de origine română, specialist în domeniul biologiei celulare, Laureat al Premiului Nobel pentru Fiziologie şi Medicină în anul 1974. De asemenea, Dr. George E.Palade a fost premiat în 1986, în Statele Unite, cu Medalia Naţională pentru Ştiinţă -- în biologie(National Medal of Science) pentru: "descoperiri fundamentale ('pioneering') a unei serii esenţiale de structuri supercomplexe, cu înaltă organizare, prezente în toate celulele vii", (inclusiv cele umane).

Biografie

   S-a născut la Iaşi în 1912, într-o familie de profesori, tatăl său fiind profesor de filosofie, iar mama sa profesoară de liceu. Mediul familial l-a încurajat în prodigioasa sa formaţie intelectuală.
  În 1930 este admis ca student la Facultatea de Medicină a Universităţii din Bucureşti, pe care o absolvă în 1940, obţinând titlul de Doctor în Medicină cu o teză asupra unor probleme de structuri histologice. În perioada 1942 - 1945, George Palade a servit în Corpul Medical al Armatei Române.

  În 1946 s-a căsătorit cu Irina Malaxa, fiica industriaşului Nicolae Malaxa şi pleacă cu soţia sa în Statele Unite ale Americii, fiind angajat ca cercetător la New York University. Acolo l-a întâlnit pe Albert Claude, omul de ştiinţă care i-a devenit mentor. Doctorul Claude lucra în Institutul Rockefeller (Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research) şi l-a invitat pe Palade să lucreze împreună cu el în Departamentul de Patologie celulară. George Palade a realizat importanţa excepţională a microscopiei electronice şi a biochimiei în studiile de citologie. Cum nu era biochimist, a iniţiat o colaborare cu Philip Siekevitz. Împreună au combinat metodele de fracţionare a celulei cu microscopie electronică, producând componenţi celulari care erau omogeni morfologic. Analiza biochimică a fracţiunilor mitocondriale izolate a stabilit definitiv rolul acestor organule subcelulare ca un component major producător de energie. Cel mai important element al cercetărilor lui Palade a fost explicaţia mecanismului celular al producţiei de proteine. El a pus în evidenţă particule intracitoplasmatice bogate în ARN, la nivelul cărora se realizează biosinteza proteinelor, numite ribozomi sau "corpusculii lui Palade". Împreună cu Keith Porter, a editat revista "The Journal of Cell Biology" (Revista de Biologie Cellulară), una dintre cele mai importante publicaţii ştiinţifice din domeniul biologiei celulare.

  În 1961 G. E. Palade a fost ales membru al Academiei de Stiinte al SUA(United States National Academy of Sciences). În 1973 părăseşte Institutul Rockefeller, mutându-se la Yale University, iar din 1990 lucrează la Universitatea din San Diego (California).
În anul 1974 Dr. George E. Palade primeşte Premiul Nobel pentru Fiziologie şi Medicină, pe care l-a împărţit cu Albert Claude şi Christian de Duve."for discoveries concerning the functional organization of the cell that were seminal events in the development of modern cell biology.",, cu referire la cercetările Dânsului în Institutul Rockefeller pentru Cercetări Medicale (the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research), adică, în traducere: ,,pentru descoperiri privind organizarea functională a celulei ce au avut un rol esenţial in dezvoltarea Biologiei Celulare moderne."

  Prezentarea Dr.-lui Palade de primire a Premiului Nobel (Nobel Lecture), a avut loc în Decembrie 12, 1974, cu tema: " Intracellular Aspects of the Process of Protein Secretion, " (în româneşte: ,,Aspecte intracelulare în procesul de secreţie a proteinelor"), care a fost publicată în 1992 de Fundaţia Premiului Nobel (the Nobel Prize Foundation),

  A fost ales membru de onoare al Academiei Române în anul 1975.

  La 12 martie 1986, Preşedintele SUA,Ronald Reagan, l-a premiat pe Dr. George Palade cu Medalia Naţională de Ştiinţă (National Medal of Science)-- în ştiinţele biologice, pentru merite deosebite constînd în: ,,descoperiri fundamentale --'pioneering'-- a unei serii esenţiale de structuri super-complexe cu înaltă organizare prezente în toate celulele biologice", (inclusiv cele umane).

  În anul 2008, Preşedintele Traian Băsescu l-a decorat cu Ordinul Naţional "Steaua României" în grad de Colan.

  În data de 8 octombrie 2008, George Emil Palade moare la vârsta de 96 de ani, în SUA.
 Nota doctorului Palade privind colaborările sale în ştiinţă în anii 1960

 Extrasul următor este un citat exact (verbatim) din Autobiografia doctorului Palade, publicată în documentele Fundaţiei Premiului Nobel:

"In the 1960's, I continued the work on the secretory process using in parallel or in succession two different approaches. The first relied exclusively on cell fractionation, and was developed in collaboration with Philip Siekevitz, Lewis Greene, Colvin Redman, David Sabatini and Yutaka Tashiro; it led to the characterization of the zymogen granules and to the discovery of the segregation of secretory products in the cisternal space of the endoplasmic reticulum. The second approach relied primarly on radioautography, and involved experiments on intact animals or pancreatic slices which were carried out in collaboration with Lucien Caro and especially James Jamieson. This series of investigations produced a good part of our current ideas on the synthesis and intracellular processing of proteins for export. A critical review of this line of research is presented in the Nobel Lecture" .

  În traducere: ,,În anii 1960, am continuat să lucrez în direcţia procesului de secreţie intracelulară, folosind în paralel sau sucesiv, ambele moduri de abordare a problemei. Primul mod foloseşte exclusiv metoda fracţionării celulare şi a fost dezvoltată în colaborare cu următorii colegi: Philip Siekevitz, Lewis Greene, Colvin Redman, David Sabatini şi Yutaka Tashiro; această abordare a dus la caracterizarea granulelor de zimogen şi la descoperirea segregării produşilor de secreţie în spaţiul cisternelor din reticulul endoplasmatic (RE). Cel de-al doilea mod de abordare a utilizat în principal metode de radioautoradiografie şi a implicat experienţe pe animale 'intacte', cu secţiuni din pancreas, care eforturi au avut loc cu colaborarea lui Lucien Caro şi în special a lui James Jamieson. Această serie de experienţe a dus în bună parte la ideile actuale privind sinteza şi procesarea intracelulară a proteinelor pentru exportul în afara celulei. O prezentare critică, de ansamblu, a acestui mod de abordare se găseşte în textul cuvîntării mele la Ceremonia de Acordare a Premiului Nobel."

Gheorghe Botezatu (Dr. Georges A. de Bothezat) helicopter pioneer and precursor of the U.S. Apollo Space Research Program

Gheorghe Botezatu, known as Dr. Georges A. de Bothezat (1893, Jassy, Romania - February 2, 1949, Dayton, USA), Romanian inventor, engineer and mathematician.

Gheorghe Botezatu was born in Iaşi, Romania 1883 or 1882. He studied in Iaşi, Petrograd and Sorbonne, Paris, and obtained here a PhD (Étude de la stabilité de l'aéroplane - 1911), first of its kind. He was an aeronautical engineer and mathematician, professor of the Petrograd Polytechnic Institute in the beginning of the WWI, worked for DEKA in Petrograd between 1916 and 1917 and next he stayed in Iaşi at the turn of 1918. In 1918 Botezatu wrote the letter and report "General Theory of the Screw" (air-screw i.e. propeller of an aircraft), after he wrote off to Subcommittee on Buildings, Laboratories and Equipments in Feb. 1919 and the US Army Air Corps awarded a contract in January 1921 to Dr. George de Bothezat and Ivan Jerome to develop a vertical flight machine.

The 1678 kg "X"-shaped structure supported a 8.1m diameter six-blade rotor at each end of the 9m arms. At the ends of the lateral arms, two small propellers with variable pitch were used for thrusting and yaw control. A small lifting rotor was also mounted above the 180HP Le Rhone radial engine (which it also cooled) at the junction of the frames, but was later removed as unnecessary. Each rotor had individual collective pitch control to produce differential thrust through vehicle inclination for translation. The aircraft weighed 1700 kg at take-off and made its first flight in October 1922. The engine was soon upgraded to a 220HP Bentley BR-2 rotary. About 100 flights were made by the end of 1923 at what would eventually be known as Wright Field near Dayton, Ohio, including one with three "passengers" hanging onto the airframe. Although the contract called for a 100m hover, the highest it ever reached was about 5m. After expending $200,000, de Bothezat demonstrated that his vehicle could be quite stable and that the practical helicopter was theoretically possible.

He studied Earth-Moon-Earth routes and made a large number of calculations on the likely trajectory variations. Subsequently, calculations of Botezatu were consulted in preparing the U.S. Apollo Space Research Program.

In 1936 Gheorghe Botezatu published a revolutionary book, Back to Newton: A Challenge to Einsteins Theory of Relativity - Critical Discussion of The Three Great Cognitive Issues: Infinity, Absolute Time, Absolute Motion, Including the Rigorous Proof of the Fallacy of Einstein's Theories of Relativity, in which de Bothezat explores even more fundamental issues as human cognition, rationalism versus realism, the meaning of number, infinity, continuity, and, of course, absolute time and motion. Only after eight chapters of rigorous discussion of these fundamental concepts does he turn his attention to the Special Theory of Relativity and the concept of ether. Waxing philosophical in the tradition of the Greeks and Poincaré, this book walks through the necessary steps to understand nature at a fundamental level. The discussion of how Einstein's ideas fail is almost a side benefit.

Gheorghe Botezatu (Georges A. de Bothezat) -precursorul programului "APOLLO"

Primul doctorat în aviaţie

Născut în 1883, în Iaşi, Gheorghe Botezatu a urmat studiile liceale în oraşul natal, iar pe cele universitare la Universitatea "Al. I. Cuza" şi în Rusia, la Petrograd, absolvind facultăţile de Matematică şi Ştiinţe Naturale. Şi-a luat doctoratul la Sorbona, fiind creditat ca primul om cu o lucrare de acest gen în domeniul aviaţiei ("Étude de la stabilité de l'aéroplane" - 1911).

S-a întors în ţară, ca profesor, în jurul anului 1918, dar nu pentru mult timp.

Se pare însă că atunci ar fi realizat primele proiecte a ceea ce avea să pună în practcă mai târziu.

A emigrat în Statele Unite, unde i s-a oferit un post de director al Laboratorului de Aerodinamică şi de profesor, ambele la Universitatea din Dayton, Ohio. Ulterior, în ianuarie 1921 a semnat un contract cu Armata SUA, pentru care s-a obligat să construiască unul dintre cele mai mari elicoptere din acea vreme. Pentru a nu-i tulbura pe constructori şi a-i ţine deoparte pe curioşi, proiectul a fost catalogat "top-secret". În intervalul 1922-1923, "Caracatiţa zburătoare", cum a fost denumit elicopterul, a zburat cu succes de mai multe ori, însă niciodată la o altitudine mai mare de 2 metri.

Precursorul "Apollo"

Din cauza performanţelor sub aşteptări, a costurilor foarte mari - se cheltuiseră deja peste 200.000 de dolari, o sumă impresionantă la acea vreme - şi a interesului crescut al armatei pentru giroplane - elicoptere cu mai puţine palete -, proiectul a fost anulat. Principalul motiv a fost că în contract se prevedea că aparatul va atinge o înălţime de cel puţin 100 de metri, şi nu câţiva metri, cum s-a întâmplat în practică.

Botezatu a fost extrem de dezamăgit de anularea proiectului, dar a continuat să lucreze. În 1936 a construit alt model de elicopter, care însă nu a adus îmbunătăţiri vechiului proiect.

A murit pe 1 februarie 1940, în Boston, în urma unei operaţii. Muzeul Naţional al Aerului şi al Spaţiului din Washington expune şi astăzi părţi din elicopterul său.

Pe lângă studiile despre elicoptere, românul a studiat traseele Pământ-Lună-Pământ şi a realizat un mare număr de calcule privind variante de traiectorii probabile. Ulterior, calculele efectuate de Botezatu au fost consultate la pregătirea programului american de cercetare a spaţiului cosmic - "Apollo".