Pioneer Scientists
Prof. Isaac Berenblum
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| Prof. Isaac Berenblum was born in 1903 in Bialystok, Poland. He left there with his family three years later because of a pogrom, and lived in Belgium for eight years until the German army invaded that country in World War I. Educated at Leeds University in England, he received his B.Sc. in physiology and biochemistry in 1923, his MB and Ch.B. in 1926, his M.D. in 1930, and his M.Sc. in 1936. He was Riley-Smith Research Fellow in Cancer Research at Leeds University (1927 to 1936), Beit Memorial Research Fellow at the Dunn School of Pathology, Oxford University (1936 to1940), in charge of Oxford University Research Centre of the British Empire Cancer Campaign (1938 to 1948), Demonstrator in Pathology at Oxford University (1940 to 1948), a Special Research Fellow at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland (1948 to 1950), Head of the Department of Experimental Biology and Jack Cotton Professor of Cancer Research at the Weizmann Institute of Science (1950 to 1971). Prof. Berenblum was a founding member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and a founding member and chairman of the Israel Cancer Association. He married Doris L. Bernstein in 1928. He passed away in 2000, and is survived by his daughters Tirtsa Cohen and Hanna Szoke. |
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| Fields of Research ·
Biological and metabolic aspects of
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Radiation biology |
Prof. Berenblum, a pioneer in the field of cancer research, made the discovery that led to the explanation of the basic mechanism of carcinogenesis. In 1941 experiments he conducted showed that carcinogenesis induced by chemicals involves three separate and independent processes: initiation, promotion, and latency. His innovative research, held at the Weizmann Institute of Science, had an enormous impact on cancer research in Israel. It paved the way to explore further diverse topics ranging from epidemiology to psycho-social factors. |
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| Selected Awards and Honorary Degrees | ||
1958 Honorary Life Member of the New York Academy of Sciences 1959 Weizmann Prize, Biological Sciences 1966 Rothschild Prize, Biology 1969 Honorary Member of the American Association for Cancer Research 1974 Israel Prize, Life Sciences 1978 E.W. Bertner Memorial Award and Medal, University of Texas System Cancer Center 1980 Alfred P. Sloan Prize and Gold Medal, General Motors Cancer Foundation |
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| Selected Publications | ||
| Link to Scopus Database |
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| Documents Preserved at the WIS Archives | ||
| Prof. Berenblum’s personal archive, including documents, letters, protocols, lectures, scientific documentation, paper notes, photos and multimedia, is treasured and preserved in the Weizmann Institute Archives. |
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| Selected Archival Documents | ||
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The New York Academy of Sciences, announcing Honorary Life Membership in the Academy, 1958 |
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| A letter from David Ben Gurion, 1959 | ||
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| A letter from Meir Weisgal, 1968 | ||
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A letter from Prof. Hochman, Hadassah University Hospital, 1969 |
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Selected Bibliography |
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| Isaac Berenblum. Cancer Research in Historical Perspective: An Autobiographical Essay, Cancer Research, Vol. 37(1)1-7, 1977 | ||
| S. Stockwell. Isaac Berenblum, M.D., CA : A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, Vol. 31(4):239-240, 1981 | ||
| Prof. Isaac Berenblum. Zchor Organization, Bialystok | ||
