Rudolf Weigl - 138th Birthday of the Polish inventor who created the vaccine against epidemic typhus

Rudolf Weigl - Google honours the Polish inventor on his 138th Birthday with a doodle.

Today is the 138th birthday, of Polish inventor, doctor, and immunologist, Rudolf Weigl. He produced the first effective vaccine against epidemic typhus - one of humanity’s oldest and most infectious diseases.

Rudolf Stefan Weigl, was born on 2 September, 1883, in Austro-Hungarian town of Przerów, (modern-day Czech Republic). He went on to study biological sciences at Poland’s Lwów University, and was appointed as a parasitologist in the Polish Army, in 1914. As millions across Eastern Europe were plagued by typhus, Weigl became determined to stop its spread.

Body lice were known to carry the typhus-infecting bacteria, Rickettsia prowazekii. So, Weigl adapted the tiny insect into a laboratory specimen. His innovative research, revealed how to use lice, to propagate the deadly bacteria, which he studied for decades with the hope of developing a vaccine. In 1936, Weigl’s vaccine successfully inoculated its first beneficiary. When Germany occupied Poland during the outbreak of the Second World War, Weigl was forced to open a vaccine production plant. He used the facility, to hire friends and colleagues at risk of persecution under the new regime.

An estimated 5,000 people were saved due to Weigl’s work during this period, both due to his direct efforts to protect his neighbors, and to the thousands of vaccine doses distributed nationwide. His work has been honored by not one but two Nobel Prize nominations!

Happy Birthday, Rudolf Weigl!

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