Prof. Francois Jacob, one of the three Frenchmen awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine last week, confirmed here today that he is a Jew and that one of his brothers is a prominent member of the Jewish Consistory in their home city of Nancy. The second of the three new French laureates is the son of a Jew who, while he was converted to Christianity as a child, takes pride in his Jewish past. All three prize winners acknowledged today that their respective assistants are Jews.
Prof. Jacob was born in Nancy, fought with Gen. Charles de Gaulle’s Free French forces during World War II, suffered 90 percent disability during the war, and was decorated later with the French Legion of Honor and with four army citations for bravery in action.
The second of the three scientists, Prof. Andre Lwoff, speaks of his father’s “Jewish past,” pointing out that his parent, a practicing French physician, was baptized in Russia while he was still a child. The three assistants to the laureates, all Jews, are Dr. F. Gros, Dr. E. Wollmann and Dr. M. Cohen.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
