Elisabeth Wollman

Elisabeth Wollman (née Michelis; 15 August 1888 – 22 December 1943) was a microbiologist at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. Born in Minsk in a Jewish family, she graduated from the University of Liège with a degree in physics and mathematics. She married the son of family friends, Eugène Wollman, and moved with him to Paris, where he began his career at the Pasteur Institute. Pioneers in the field of molecular genetics, the Wollmans collaborated for two decades on work that lay critical groundwork for understanding viruses, cancer, and HIV.

In December 1943, the couple were deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where they died soon after arrival, presumably murdered in gas chambers. A former student, André Lwoff, continued their work after the war, leading to a Nobel Prize in 1965. Their son, Élie Wollman, was part of the team. He and his son, Francis-André Wollman, both had prominent careers in science. One of the Wollman's daughters, Nadine Marty, became a professor of physics, and the other, Alice, became a medical doctor. Elisabeth, Eugène, and Élie Wollman are memorialized for their contributions to biology by a plaque at the Pasteur Institute.

Early life

Elisabeth Wollman (née Michelis) was born in Minsk, then in the Russian Empire. Her husband-to-be, Eugène Wollman, was the son of long-time family friends. Both were Jewish, and moved to Belgium to study, with Michelis gaining a degree in physics and mathematics at the University of Liège. Élie's son, Francis-André Wollman, also became a biologist, and research director of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS).

During the First World War, Eugène volunteered as a doctor. He served in Paris, at the eastern front, and in Africa, and was awarded a military medal. In 1922, he gained French citizenship in recognition of his war service.

The Wollmans co-authored most of the major publications of their work. Elisabeth had also co-authored a publication with Eugène in 1915. In 1933, she published a paper without his co-authorship, preceding a joint publication on the topic in 1935, indicative of the prominent role she had in their joint experimental work. From 1920 to 1943, the couple conducted experiments in bacteria to study bacteriophages and lysogeny, the cycle of infections in bacteria. They were among the first to recognise bacteriophage transmission of infection, a phenomenon they initially called "paraheredity". The Wollmans identified alternating infectious and non-infectious stages. Their studies in infection in bacteria made them early pioneers of molecular genetics.

Holocaust

The couple's work was first limited, and then ended, by the Nazi occupation of France, beginning in 1940. Although they could not publish their work, and Eugène could not continue in his leadership position, the couple continued their research at the institute. In March 1943, police came to the Pasteur Institute to arrest Eugène, but the institute's director admitted him to hospital and told the police he was too ill to be moved. Wollman then slept at the hospital every night. Élie Wollman was living under an assumed name in the south-west of France and active in the French Resistance. He came back to Paris to try to get his parents released. However, the Wollmans remained interred at Drancy camp. As both Wollman and her husband both died in Auschwitz concentration camp on 22 December 1943, it is assumed they were among those murdered in the gas chambers. Using new specialized equipment that had not been available to the Wollmans, Lwoff was able to observe processes the Wollmans had speculated about. He developed a hypothesis critical to the understanding of viruses, and viruses and cancer. In 1965, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for this work, acknowledging the Wollmans' work in his Nobel lecture. Lwoff's work in turn led to the understanding of retroviruses that enabled the discovery of the cause of HIV, as well as understanding of cancer.

A plaque in memory of Elisabeth, Eugène, and Élie Wollman was unveiled at the Émile-Roux pavilion of the Pasteur Institute in Paris in 2009. An Elisabeth Wollman archive is held at the Pasteur Institute, including personal correspondence and administrative records, as well as a scientific notebook. Photos of her as a student in Liège in 1908, and later with her husband, are online at the Pasteur Institute.