Jakob Eduard Polak

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Jakob Eduard Polak

Jakob Eduard Polak , also: Jakob Eduard Pollak , also: Jakob Eduard Polack (born November 12, 1818 in Groß Morschin , Böhmen , † October 8, 1891 in Vienna ) was an Austrian doctor and ethnographer who was particularly concerned with building a modern Medicine on the European model in Persia and the relationship between Austria-Hungary and this country.

Live and act

Jakob Eduard Polak was born near Prague to a poor Jewish family. He studied medicine at the universities of Prague and Vienna , where he received his doctorate in medicine in 1845 and in surgery in 1847; By 1849 he had also completed training as a master's degree in obstetrics. He worked in the General Hospital in Vienna for a year before going to Klobouk as a factory doctor . After two years, however, he returned to Vienna and, in addition to his medical profession, also engaged in scientific studies.

In 1851 Polak left Austria, possibly because he had participated in the revolution of 1848 . At the invitation of the Persian government, he went to Tehran in November 1851 to teach at the military school there. After Polak had learned the Persian language and had written a physiological textbook and a medical dictionary in Persian, Arabic and Latin, he worked on the founding and opening (January 1852) of a new, modern university called Dar-ol Fonun , a kind of polytechnic , with, introduced a western-oriented curriculum and taught anatomy and surgery. He also founded a polyclinic , a military hospital and ran his own medical practice.

Polak is therefore considered to be the founder of modern medicine in today's Iran. In 1855 he became the personal physician of the Shah Naser al-Din Shah Qajar , whom he accompanied on his travels. In addition, he also carried out socio-cultural and scientific research - he “was 'a Humboldtist specialized in Persia in the highest sense,' before the separation between natural and human sciences” , according to a researcher specializing in Polak.

Together with Gāstager Khan , he established contacts with industrialists and businesspeople from home and advised Austrians living in Tehran. As an explorer he visited even the most remote areas of Persia and was also at the graves of the biblical figures Mordechai and Esther in Hamadan .

In 1860 he returned to Vienna, where he again worked in the general hospital. In addition, Polak was also active in the fields of science, administration, diplomacy, economics and culture and became an internationally sought-after specialist for Persia. As an advisor, he supported the Austrian authorities and probably also the Austro-Hungarian military mission in Persia , which was active from 1879, and acted as a mediator between Austria-Hungary and Persia in many areas.

As a member of the Geographical Society, he published numerous essays and descriptions on Persia and the neighboring countries. In 1865 he wrote a comprehensive ethnographic work on Iran, which is still important today as a standard work. In collaboration with the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Natural History Museum in Vienna, he organized scientific expeditions to Persia, which he visited again in 1882 and his life's work was continued by his French colleague Tholozan (1820–1897).

Grave of Jakob Eduard Polak in the Vienna Central Cemetery

At the Vienna World Exhibition in 1873 , as a representative of the Persian government and member of the exhibition commission, he made the selection of the objects that were to be brought from Persia to Vienna for the exhibition. On this occasion, the Museum of Applied Arts acquired, among other things, 60 folios of the unique Mughal manuscript Hamzanama .

Polak taught the New Persian language as a lecturer at the University of Vienna until his death . He was so connected to the country and the language that he also chose a verse by the Persian poet Saadi for his gravestone at the Vienna Central Cemetery (Gate 1, Group 19, Row 57, No. 45) :

"THE ETERNAL [GOOD] DOESN'T CLOSE THOR,
BECAUSE IT OPENS ANOTHER BEFORE."

The gravestone, damaged by the effects of the war , was removed in 2007 and has been on display since the reopening of the Weltmuseum Wien in the mezzanine in the section 'The Orient on your doorstep'; today there is a new stone at the cemetery.

Awards

Fonts

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Hedwig Abraham: Jakob Eduard Pollak . In: viennatouristguide.at , accessed on January 11, 2013.
  2. ^ Gudrun Harrer : A Humboldtist specialized in Persia. (See web links)
  3. ^ A. Haschemian: Jacob Eduard Polak: doctor, researcher and the first professor for modern medicine based on the European model in Persia about 150 years ago. In: Borsuye. Journal for Medicine a. Culture. 10, 1998, 39, p. 8 f.
  4. ↑ Adventure with Hamza. The Hamzanama. Research and restoration .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. June 3, 2009 - September 27, 2009 in the Museum of Applied Arts (accessed June 26, 2009)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.mak.at  
  5. ↑ a b c d Little Chronicle. (...) † Dr. Jacob Eduard Polak. In:  Neue Freie Presse , Morgenblatt, No. 9741/1891, October 9, 1891, p. 5, bottom left (online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp.
  6. ↑ https://www.weltmuseumwien.at/object/960057/#sponsorship

Remarks

  1. ↑ The year of birth and the spelling of the name are given differently in literature and science:
    1818 :
    Obituary by Prof. Dr. Drasche in the Neue Freie Presse Abendblatt . (See web links)
    Jakob Eduard Polak: The Jewish Encyclopedia . Vol. X. Funk and Wagnalls, New York / London 1916.
    Jakob Eduard Polak: Jüdisches Lexikon . Volume IV / 1. Jewish publishing house, Berlin 1930.
    Jakob Eduard Polak: JewishEncyclopedia.com (see web links)
    Jacob Eduard Polak: Austrian Academy of Sciences. (See web links)
    1819 :
    Jakob Eduard Polak: Blumesberger et.al .: Handbook of Austrian authors of Jewish origin, 18th to 20th century. Volume 2: J-R. Saur, Munich 2002, p. 1049 f.
    1820 :
    Jakob Eduard Polack: Salomon Wininger: Great Jewish National Biography . Volume 5, Czernowitz 1931, p. 55 f.
    Jakob Eduard Polack: Julius Leopold Pagel : Biographical lexicon of outstanding doctors of the nineteenth century . (See web links)
    Jacob Eduard Polak: Encyclopaedia Judaica . Vol. 13. Keter, Jerusalem 1971.
  2. ↑ Because of a death that occurred after treatment, Polak once had to hide for a long time in Tehran in order to escape the revenge of the relatives of the deceased.
  3. ↑ a b c Research project at the Austrian Academy of Sciences (see web links)

Web links

Commons : Jakob Eduard Polak  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Polak, Jakob Eduard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Polak, Jacob Eduard; Polack, Jakob Eduard; Pollak, Jakob Eduard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian doctor and ethnographer
DATE OF BIRTH November 12, 1818
PLACE OF BIRTH Groß Morschin (also Groß Morzin), Bohemia , today Morina, Czech Republic
DATE OF DEATH October 8, 1891
Place of death Vienna