HIRSZFELD, LUDWIK

HIRSZFELD, LUDWIK (1884–1954), Polish physician, immunologist, serologist, and microbiologist. Hirszfeld, who was born in Warsaw, spent from 1907 to 1911 in Heidelberg where in 1910, in collaboration with the German scientist Emil von Dungern, he demonstrated the heredity of the different blood groups. During his World War I army service in Serbia, Hirszfeld discovered the bacteria of paratyphoid C, which is known as Salmonella hirzfeldi. In 1924 he was appointed professor at the Free University of Warsaw. After the occupation of Poland in World War II he escaped from the Warsaw Ghetto, and described his experiences in the book Historia jednego życia. In 1945 he organized the faculty of medicine of Wroclaw University where he became professor of microbiology. He also established the Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy. He founded a research center in Wroclaw for the pathology of pregnancy. A member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, he introduced the study of seroanthropology in his country. Among Hirszfeld's most important books are Grupy krwi w zastosowaniu do biologji, medycyny i prawa ("Blood Groups in Relation to Biology, Medicine and Law," 1934) and Dochodzenie ojcostwa w świetle nauki o grupach krwi ("The Establishment of Paternity in the Light of the Science of Blood Groups," 1948). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Hirszfeldowa et al., Ludwik Hirszfeld (Pol. and Fr., 1956). (Stefan Lutkiewicz)