March 15, 1860
He was born in Odessa, into the family of a Jewish teacher. Vladimir Khavkin — bacteriologist and epidemiologist. Creator of the first vaccines against plague and cholera. "The most unknown man" in the Russian Empire.
Birth name - Markus-Wolf (in Yiddish Mordechai-Wolf).
At 19, he graduated from high school in Berdyansk and entered the Imperial University in Odessa. As a student, he joined the Narodnaya Volya (People's Will) revolutionary group. He later left, disagreeing with its members' radical views. He was arrested three times, expelled from university twice, and lived under police surveillance for another eight years.
In 1881, during a Jewish pogrom, he was wounded but arrested (the police were pursuing the self-defense participants, not the pogromists).
At 24, he graduated from university with a degree in zoology and worked at the Odessa Zoological Museum. As a Jew, he was unable to pursue research in Russia—the university administration offered him the opportunity to convert to Orthodoxy, but he declined.
Whatever I did, I always understood that the burden of responsibility my people bear rested on my shoulders. This thought has been my guiding star throughout my life.
At 28 he moved to Switzerland following the emigrated microbiologist and future Nobel laureate Ilya Mechnikov (He left because of the reactionary tsarist policies.) He studied ways to protect the human body from infections using serums and vaccines.
He worked as a librarian in the Paris laboratory of a famous chemist. Louis Pasteur. There, in 1892, he created the world's first cholera vaccine. He first tested it on rabbits, then on himself. of Russia his ideas were considered too "revolutionary" and rejected (just like in Spain and in France).
But his invention was appreciated by the British. In 1893, Khavkin went to test the vaccine in India, Where the cholera epidemic was raging, he served as the British government's official bacteriologist. He was nearly stoned to death by local residents; to gain their trust, he was forced to inject himself. Within two years, he established vaccine production and reduced cholera mortality by 75% (more than 42 people were vaccinated).
After this, vaccinations with the Khavkin vaccine became widespread; in an improved form, they are still used today.
In 1896, also at the request of the British authorities, he created the world's first plague vaccine in just three months (testing it again on himself). He vaccinated the population for several years. Bombay и его окрестностей.
Later, his small anti-plague laboratory became the largest research center for bacteriology and epidemiology (the Khavkin Institute).
In 1897 received from Queen Victoria The Order of the Indian Empire (one of Britain's highest honours) was awarded to him. He was called "the savior of humanity."
In Russia, few people knew about Khavkin in those years. Anton Chekhov called him "the most unknown man in the world" - referring to his obscurity in the empire.
As for whether the plague will come to us, nothing definitive can be said yet. Khavkin's vaccinations offer some hope, but unfortunately, Khavkin is not popular in Russia.
(Chekhov)
Khavkin's reputation abroad was far from unclouded: he was sometimes considered a Russian spy, and rumors were spread about a poisonous vaccine. The staff of his anti-plague laboratory (mostly British officers) hatched intrigues and conspiracies. In 1907, an open letter from scientists defending him in The Times put an end to the attacks.
During the First World War, he led the vaccination campaign for British soldiers.
He was involved in public activities, defended the rights of Jews in Eastern Europe, and was a member of the central committee of the first international Jewish organization, the World Jewish Union.
He lived an extremely ascetic life, donating money to charitable societies and those in need.
I don’t remember a person with a more modest, subtle and developed soul, so faithful to his principles.
(infectious disease specialist and malaria researcher Hillel Yaffe)
He bequeathed his savings—approximately $300—to the establishment of a fund to support yeshivas (educational institutions for the study of Judaism). He urged them to teach not only religion but also secular disciplines and crafts.
He died in 1930, in Switzerland, at 70.
