Infobox Scientist
name = Lina Stern
image_width=150px
birth_date = August 26, 1878
birth_place = Liepāja, Latvia flagicon|Latvia
death_date = March 7, 1968 flagicon|Soviet Union
citizenship = flagicon|Soviet Union USSR
field = blood-brain barrier, biochemistry, neuroscience
known_for = The first female professor at the University of Geneva, the first female member of the USSR Academy of Sciences
alma_mater = University of Geneva
work_institution = Moscow 2nd Medical Institute, Institute of Physiology, Biophysics Institute
Lina Solomonovna Stern (Latvian: "Līna Šterna"; Russian: Лина Соломоновна Штерн) (August 26, 1878-March 7, 1968) was a notable biochemist, physiologist and humanist whose medical discoveries saved thousands of lives at the fronts of World War II. She is best known for her pioneering work on blood-brain barrier, which she described as "hemato-encephalic barrier" in 1921.[ [http://www.bri.ucla.edu/nha/ishn/ab44-2006.htm Lina Stern: Science and fate] by A.A. Vein. Department of Neurology, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands] ]Life and career
Born in Liepāja (today's Latvia) into a Jewish family and educated in Geneva, Switzerland, she pursued a brilliant academic career and performed original research in biochemistry and in the neurosciences. From 1918 onwards she was the first woman awarded professional rank at the University of Geneva, being a Professor of chemio-physiology, and researching cellular oxidation.In 1925 she had emigrated to the Soviet Union out of ideological convictions.[ In 1925-1948 she served as Professor of the 2nd Medical Institute and in 1929-1948 — the Director of Institute of Physiology of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Among many problems Stern and her scientific group worked on were longevity and sleep. Under her leadership multidisciplinary groups of colleagues worked on the problems of the hemato-encephalic and histohematic barriers. The results of this work were later implemented in clinical practice and saved thousands of lives at the fronts of World War II. In 1939 she became the first female full member of the Academy. In 1943 she won the Stalin Prize.]Activism and persecutions
A member of the Women's Anti-Fascist Committee and the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (JAC) since 1942, Stern was the sole survivor out of fifteen arrested (one person died in prison, thirteen were executed) when the JAC was eradicated by Stalin in January 1949. She was sentenced to a prison term, followed by five-year exile to Dzhambul (current Taraz), Kazakhstan.
After rehabilitation
After Stalin's death in 1953 Lina Stern was allowed to return to Moscow and in 1954-1968 she headed the Department of Physiology at Biophysics Institute.
References
*cite journal
quotes = yes
last=Vein
first=Alla A
authorlink=
year=2008|month=.
title=Science and fate: Lina Stern (1878-1968), a neurophysiologist and biochemist
journal=Journal of the history of the neurosciences
volume=17
issue=2
pages=195-206
publisher = | location = | issn =
pmid = 18421636
doi = 10.1080/09647040601138478
bibcode = | oclc =| id = | url = | language = | format = | accessdate = | laysummary = | laysource = | laydate = | quote =
ee also
*Gulag
External links
*ru icon [http://www.vestnik.com/issues/2002/0724/win/lukianova.htm Star called Lina] by Irina Lukyanova (Vestnik journal)
*ru icon [http://russcience.euro.ru/papers/mal95f.htm Difficult Years of Lina Stern] by V.B. Malkin (russcience)
*ru icon [http://russcience.euro.ru/papers/grig03vr.htm First Woman Academic] by N.A. Grigoryan (russcience)
*ru icon [http://nature.web.ru/db/msg.html?mid=1165380&uri=index.html Lina Solomonovna Stern (1878-1968)] by R.A Chaurina (nature.web.ru)
Further reading
* "Stalin's Secret Pogrom: The Postwar Inquisition of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee" by Joshua Rubenstein. ISBN 0-300-08486-2
