Ismar Isidor Boas (28 March 1858 – 15 March 1938) was a German

gastroenterologist Gastroenterology (from the Greek gastḗr- "belly", -énteron "intestine", and -logía "study of") is the branch of medicine focused on the digestive system and its disorders. The digestive system consists of the gastrointestinal tract, sometime ...

born in the town of

Exin EXIN is a Dutch company which certifies IT professionals worldwide. In addition, EXIN accredits (training and examination) organizations in the field of ICT training and the development of ICT training materials. EXIN is active in more than 165 ...

, then in the

Prussian Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, the House of Hohenzoll ...

Province of Posen The Province of Posen (; ) was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1848 to 1920, occupying most of the historical Greater Poland. The province was established following the Greater Poland Uprising (1848), Poznań Uprisi ...

, today in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. Boas was born in the family of a small merchant and among several siblings he was the only one who was educated. He went to a high school in Zülichau in Silesia and then studied medicine in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, Halle and

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

, and subsequently became an assistant to Carl Anton Ewald (1845-1915) at the Augusta Hospital in Berlin. In 1886, he became a licensed specialist of gastro-intestinal diseases in Berlin. Boas was one of the leading authorities on

gastroenterology Gastroenterology (from the Greek gastḗr- "belly", -énteron "intestine", and -logía "study of") is the branch of medicine focused on the digestive system and its disorders. The digestive system consists of the gastrointestinal tract, sometime ...

in Europe. Alone, and with Professor Ewald, he made several contributions regarding the

pathology Pathology is the study of disease. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in the context of modern medical treatme ...

and

physiology Physiology (; ) is the science, scientific study of function (biology), functions and mechanism (biology), mechanisms in a life, living system. As a branches of science, subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ syst ...

digestion Digestion is the breakdown of large insoluble food compounds into small water-soluble components so that they can be absorbed into the blood plasma. In certain organisms, these smaller substances are absorbed through the small intestine into th ...

. He described ''

Lactobacillus acidophilus ''Lactobacillus acidophilus'' (Neo-Latin 'acid-loving milk-bacillus') is a rod-shaped, Gram-positive bacteria, Gram-positive, homofermentative, Anaerobic organism, anaerobic microbe first isolated from infant feces in the year 1900. The species ...

'', a

bacillus ''Bacillus'', from Latin "bacillus", meaning "little staff, wand", is a genus of Gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria, a member of the phylum ''Bacillota'', with 266 named species. The term is also used to describe the shape (rod) of other so-sh ...

found in the

gastric The stomach is a muscular, hollow organ in the upper gastrointestinal tract of humans and many other animals, including several invertebrates. The Ancient Greek name for the stomach is ''gaster'' which is used as ''gastric'' in medical terms re ...

juice of individuals with stomach

carcinoma Carcinoma is a malignancy that develops from epithelial cells. Specifically, a carcinoma is a cancer that begins in a tissue that lines the inner or outer surfaces of the body, and that arises from cells originating in the endodermal, mesoder ...

. This

bacterium Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among the ...

is sometimes referred to as the "Boas-Oppler bacillus". In 1895 he founded the ''Archiv für Verdauungs-Krankheiten'', the first medical journal dedicated to gastroenterological topics, and in 1913 established the German gastroenterological society (''Deutsche Gesellschaft für Verdauungs- und Stoffwechselkrankheiten''). He set up a policlinic in the north of Berlin. He also has a handful of eponyms named in his honor, including: * "Boas' algesimeter": an instrument used for determining the sensitiveness over the

epigastrium In anatomy, the epigastrium (or epigastric region) is the upper central region of the abdomen. It is located between the costal margins and the subcostal plane. Pain may be referred to the epigastrium from damage to structures derived from the for ...

. * " Boas' point": a tender spot to the left of the twelfth

thoracic vertebra In vertebrates, thoracic vertebrae compose the middle segment of the vertebral column, between the cervical vertebrae and the lumbar vertebrae. In humans, there are twelve thoracic vertebra (anatomy), vertebrae of intermediate size between the ce ...

in individuals with

gastric ulcer Peptic ulcer disease is when the inner part of the stomach's gastric mucosa (lining of the stomach), the first part of the small intestine, or sometimes the lower esophagus, gets damaged. An ulcer in the stomach is called a gastric ulcer, while ...

. Being a Jew, Boas lost his teaching position in the University of Berlin and left for Vienna in 1936. His wife escaped to Holland. When the Nazis entered Austria, he killed himself with an overdose of the sedative

Veronal Barbital (or barbitone), sold under the brand names Veronal for the pure acid and Medinal for the sodium salt, was the first commercially available barbiturate. It was used as a sleeping aid (hypnotic) from 1903 until the mid-1950s. The chemical ...

. His wife Sophie and son Kurt, a dermatologist, were killed by the Nazis.

References

Other sources

* Harro Jenss, Guido Gerken, Markus M. Lerch (2013). 100 Jahre Deutsche Gesellschaft für Verdauungs- und Stoffwechselkrankheiten DGVS. August Dreesbach Verlag Munich.
Online
.

@

Who Named It ''Whonamedit?'' is an online English-language dictionary of medical eponyms and the people associated with their identification. Though it is a dictionary, many eponyms and persons are presented in extensive articles with comprehensive bibliograp ...

1858 births 1938 deaths People from Kcynia German gastroenterologists 19th-century German Jews People from the Province of Posen Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg alumni Leipzig University alumni 1938 suicides Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the Netherlands German emigrants to Austria Drug-related suicides in Austria Barbiturates-related deaths German Jews who died in the Holocaust Suicides by Jews during the Holocaust {{Germany-med-bio-stub