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Aaron Ismach (dob - ) Born in Year of Discovery: 1960   Jet Injector Makes Vaccinators Fly Through Their Work In 1960 Aaron Ismach, a civilian in the U.S. Defense Department, improved the Jet Injector medical device which was used for quick mass vaccination of Smallpox and other diseases. The Jet injector was originally designed for a deeper, subcutaneous injection but Ismach modified it in 1962 to accomplish the more superficial smallpox vaccination. It was capable of vaccinating more than 1000 individuals an hour. To enable vaccinators to take the jet injector out into the field, Ismach developed the foot-powered injector called the "ped-o-jet," which was not dependent on electricity. Smallpox, a viral infection with no treatment, was one of the greatest scourges of humankind. In the New World it decimated the Incas, the Aztecs, and the American Indians, killing as many as 95% of them. Even in the 20th century it slowly killed close to one third of the people it infected, coating their bodies with hard pustules. Those who survived were scarred for life. As late as the 1960s more than two million people a year died from it.
Introduction by Billy Woodward
Table of Contents IntroductionLinks to More Information About the Scientist Key Insight Key Experiment or Research Key Contributors Quotes by the Scientist Quotes About the Scientist Anecdotes Fun Trivia About The Science The Science Behind the Discovery Personal Information Science Discovery Timeline Recommended Books About the Science Books by the Scientist Books About the Scientist Awards Major Academic Papers Curriculum Vitae Links to Science and Related Information on the Subject Sources
Links to More About the Scientist & the Science Wikipedia entry about jet injectors created by Ismach: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_injector A National Institutes of Health article on the eradication of smallpox, citing Ismach: http://mplus.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/smallpox/sp_eradicate.html Sentinel for health, by Elizabeth W. Etheridge, citing Ismach: Sliders & Images here Image Flow Here
Key Contributors
One of the stories about Aaron was that he once received a letter from Europe and the only address on it was Aaron Ismach, USA. We did not know if he was that well known or someone in the Post Office assumed that USA could mean the US Army. Thanks to Louis Rubenstein for this fun anecdote. Aaron Ismach, the Dad
I never realized how smart Aaron Ismach, my dad, was until I entered college as a science major. At barely 17 years old (I am an August baby who skipped 8th grade), I was enrolled at SUNY Stony Brook, in a calculus course. Math always came very easy to me, at least until this point. My instructor was from Harvard, and I mentioned to my dad on the phone that "I could follow him explicitly until he picked up the chalk."
Dad asked me to send him a used copy of the textbook, and he knew I was returning home in two weeks. I asked him why, and he said "maybe I can help you the weekends you come home." I rolled my eyes to myself, but went to the bookstore and mailed him the book that day.
I returned home on a Friday evening and promptly at 8AM Saturday morning we began. Dad was 50 years old that year, and I imagined he did not even see a calculus textbook for 25 or more years. I had breezed through High School classes without ever asking dad for any help at all, so I really had no idea what to expect or any appreciation for how smart he was.
We stopped working about 7PM that night, him fresh as a daisy and me a very wilted and exhausted college freshman. My brain was fried, but dad just kept saying "let's do one more problem to make sure you get it."
Over dinner I asked him how he remembered calculus for that many years after he studied it, he answered: "I do not remember it. I understand it." My dad had a notebook alongside the textbook, and to my utter amazement he had already done every problem in the textbook!!!! I am not sure how long I stared at him, with my jaw dropped and my mouth wide open. Too bad there were no on-line classes then!
That Saturday was the first of many Saturday sessions with my dad that year. And I NEVER doubted his genius again. To this day I believe he was the smartest man I have ever met, and certainly he was one of the funniest and kindest as well. He always had a joke to make you laugh, a manner that put you at ease, and an unrelenting mind and work ethic to solve the most difficult problems.
Steve Ismach
The Science Behind the Discovery
Curriculum VitaeLinks to Information on the Science Sources/References |
