Google Doodle Honours Polish Inventor Rudolf Weigl

Google: The theme of the Google Doodle on Thursday is Rudolf Stefan Jan Weigl, a Polish scientist and physician. He is well aware of the current state of affairs on the globe.

Weigl, who was born on September 2, 1883, is remembered for his role in developing an efficient vaccine to combat the typhus fever pandemic.

Typhus was not as deadly as the coronavirus, but it did kill a number of people in the early twentieth century. Weigl was a visionary who saw the need for additional medical research and how it may affect people's quality of life in the coming decades, so he established a research institution in Lviv.

He was also a humanitarian who prioritised social service over anything else. During the Holocaust, he played a pivotal role in ensuring the safety of numerous Jewish community members while placing his own life in jeopardy.

Despite a challenging childhood, Weigl's enthusiasm for studying never waned, and he seized every opportunity to contribute to science. During World War I, he was summoned to service by the Austro-Hungarian Army after graduating from Lwow University in Ukraine. He began his studies of typhus disease there.

In WWII, German soldiers requested his assistance in combating typhus fever, and Weigl took advantage of the chance to hire numerous underground members of various Polish parties as well as members of the Jewish community.