Bogumiła Szponar, PhD, DSc, was a guest on the ‘Eureka’ programme on Polskie Radio 1. The programme was broadcast on the 86th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II. In an interview with Jakub Domoradzki, Prof. Szponar talked about Professor Rudolf Weigl – an outstanding biologist and inventor of the typhus vaccine, who was nominated for the Nobel Prize several times.
During the German occupation of Lviv, Professor Weigl established a research institute where he employed thousands of people as so-called ‘lice feeders’ – people who consciously donated their own blood to breed lice, which were essential in the process of creating the vaccine. In reality, however, many of these people found refuge from the occupier’s repression in Weigl’s laboratory. Thanks to this, the Professor saved the lives of many scientists, intellectuals, artists, as well as members of the Polish resistance movement and the Jewish population.
An obelisk erected at the entrance to the Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Wrocław commemorates the Professor’s heroism and achievements.
We warmly encourage you to listen to the broadcast (third conversation – from 24 to 36 minutes):
