Scienceמשה וולמן

Moshe Wolman

Moshe Wolman was an Israeli pathologist and neuropathologist who described Wolman's disease in 1954 and worked in histochemistry.

1914 to 2009Describing Wolman's diseaseHistochemistry research in IsraelMedical ethics and medical errors

Born: 19 October 1914, Warsaw
Died: 5 September 2009, Tel Aviv
Occupation: physician, pathologist, scientist
Education: Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium, University of Florence

Moshe Wolman was born in 1914 in Warsaw

Moshe Wolman was born in Warsaw in 1914. In 1925 he moved with his family to the Land of Israel and lived in Tel Aviv, where he finished the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium.

In 1932 he went to Florence to study medicine and later studied in Rome, earning his medical degree in 1938. In Italy he met Bigi, a German-born medical student, whom he married in 1939. They had 4 children, among them film director Dan Wolman and philosopher Ruth Manor.

He joined the British Army in 1940 and served in East Africa and Egypt during World War II. He returned to the Land of Israel in 1946.

He taught pathology at the Hebrew University and showed that the PAS staining method also stains lipids. In 1959 he became head of pathology at the Sheba hospital, and in 1964 he became professor and head of pathology at Tel Aviv University's medical school. He published about 200 research papers.

He chaired the ethics committee of the Israel Medical Association and wrote on medical errors with his daughter Ruth Manor. He died in 2009 and was buried at Kibbutz Kfar Menahem.

Milestones in Moshe Wolman's life

1925
Moved to the Land of Israel.
1938
Received his medical degree in Rome.
1941
Joined Wingate's forces in the East Africa campaign.
1951
Received the Magnes Prize.
1954
Described Wolman's disease.
1959
Became head of pathology at the Sheba hospital.
1964
Became head of pathology at Tel Aviv University.
1966
Elected a member of the Leopoldina academy.
1989
Became the first recipient of the Pearse Prize.
2004
Published a book on medical errors with Ruth Manor.

Moshe Wolman served in the military

He joined the British Army in 1940 and in 1941 served with Orde Wingate's forces in East Africa, where he became personal physician to Emperor Haile Selassie and ran a hospital department in Addis Ababa as a captain. In 1945 to 1946 he headed a pathology lab at a hospital in Tel el-Kebir, Egypt.