Moses Wolf Goldberg (June 30, 1905 – February 17, 1964) was an Estonian

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

who, along with Leo Henryk Sternbach, developed a process for the synthesis of

biotin Biotin (or vitamin B7) is one of the B vitamins. It is involved in a wide range of metabolic processes, both in humans and in other organisms, primarily related to the utilization of fats, carbohydrates, and amino acids. The name ''biotin'', bor ...

(a B

vitamin A vitamin is an organic molecule (or a set of molecules closely related chemically, i.e. vitamers) that is an Nutrient#Essential nutrients, essential micronutrient that an organism needs in small quantities for the proper functioning of its ...

) in 1949.

Biography

Moses Wolf Goldberg was born in

Rūjiena Rūjiena (; german: Rujen; et, Ruhja) is a town in Valmiera Municipality, in the Vidzeme region of Latvia. As of 2017 its population was 3,007. Geography The town is located in northern Latvia, near the border with Estonia, in the historical regi ...

, Latvia in 1905 and moved to

Võru Võru (; vro, Võro; german: Werro) is a town and a municipality in south-eastern Estonia. It is the capital of Võru County and the centre of Võru Parish. History Võru was founded on 21 August 1784, according to the wish of the Empress Cather ...

, Estonia as a young child. Goldberg attended the German Oberrealschule in

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after the Northern European country's political and financial capital, Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 91,407 (as of 2021). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of ...

and studied science and mathematics at the

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; et, Tartu Ülikool; la, Universitas Tartuensis) is a university in the city of Tartu in Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is the only classical university in the country, and also its biggest ...

from 1923 to 1924. He then enrolled at

ETH Zurich (colloquially) , former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule , image = ETHZ.JPG , image_size = , established = , type = Public , budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021) , rector = Günther Dissertori , president = Joël Mesot , ac ...

, where he earned a Diploma in Chemical Engineering. He did his doctoral work under

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

winner

Leopold Ružička Leopold Ružička (; born Lavoslav Stjepan Ružička; 13 September 1887 – 26 September 1976) was a Croatian-Swiss scientist and joint winner of the 1939 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his work on polymethylenes and higher terpenes" "including t ...

and was a colleague of other notable chemists, including

Tadeus Reichstein Tadeusz Reichstein (20 July 1897 – 1 August 1996) was a Polish-Swiss chemist and the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate (1950), which was awarded for his work on the isolation of cortisone. Early life Reichstein was born into a Pol ...

, Leo Henryk Sternbach, and

George Rosenkranz George Rosenkranz (born György Rosenkranz; 20 August 1916 – 23 June 2019) was a pioneering Mexican scientist in the field of steroid chemistry, who used native Mexican plant sources as raw materials. He was born in Hungary, studied in Switzerl ...

. In 1931, he submitted a doctoral thesis entitled ''Versuche zur Synthese Ephedrin-ähnlicher Körper (Assay for Synthesis of an Ephedrine-Like Body)'' and earned the

Habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

degree in 1935 despite increasing xenophobia at the institution. In 1940, Goldberg was awarded the Werner Medal and Werner Prize of the

Swiss Chemical Society Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland *Swiss people Places *Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia *Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss International ...

. Due to the increasingly unwelcoming climate for Jews in Europe, in 1942 Goldberg emigrated to the United States along with many other Jewish scientists fleeing the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

. He took a position with

Hoffmann-La Roche F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, commonly known as Roche, is a Swiss multinational healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on the SIX ...

at the company's

Nutley, New Jersey Nutley is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 30,143. What is now Nutley was originally incorporated as Franklin Township by an act of the New Jersey Legisla ...

facility. With

Leo Sternbach Leo Sternbach (May 7, 1908 – September 28, 2005) was a Polish American chemist who is credited with first synthesizing benzodiazepines, the main class of tranquilizers. Background and family Sternbach was born on May 7, 1908, in Opatija, K ...

, Goldberg patented a process for synthesizing

in 1949. He obtained numerous other patents while working for Hoffmann-La Roche, identifying and refining

antibiotics An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the treatment and prevention o ...

and other drugs. Goldberg died at the age of 58 in February, 1964.

Family

Moses Wolf Goldberg was the son of Meyer Itzik Goldberg and Kayla Hanna Gibberman. His parents were born in

Bauska Bauska () is a town in Bauska Municipality, in the Zemgale region of southern Latvia. Bauska is located from the Latvian capital Riga, 62 km (38.5 mi) from Jelgava and from the Lithuanian border on the busy European route E67. The to ...

, Latvia, and they married in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

in 1904. He had a younger brother, Leo (b. 1907), who also studied at the University of Tartu, and a sister Miriam (b. 1909). His father Meyer Itzik Goldberg was deported to Siberia, and died or was killed in the SevUralLag camp in December 1941. His mother Kayla Hanna Goldberg and sister-in-law Erna Furman Goldberg (Leo's wife) were deported to Nedostupny, in the Tomsk region of Siberia, and probably perished there. His sister Miriam and her husband Leo Klionski fled with other Jewish refugees to

Tashkent, Uzbekistan Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous ...

; Leo Klionski survived the war and returned to Estonia, but it is unclear what happened to Miriam. Leo Goldberg was not deported in 1941, and his fate is unknown. Moses Wolf Goldberg married Regina Hauser in Switzerland around 1928, and they emigrated together in January 1942 along with Regina's mother Ida Hauser. They had no children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldberg, Moses Wolf 1905 births 1964 deaths Hoffmann-La Roche people Estonian Jews Estonian chemists Jewish chemists People from Võru People from Rūjiena University of Tartu alumni Estonian emigrants to the United States