SALAMAN, REDCLIFFE NATHAN

SALAMAN, REDCLIFFE NATHAN (1874–1955), pathologist and geneticist. He was director of the Pathological Institute of the London Hospital from 1901 to 1904. His later scientific investigations were devoted chiefly to the genetics and diseases of the potato, and in 1926 he was appointed director of the potato virus research station in Cambridge. One of his major achievements was the initiation of stocks of virus-free seed potatoes. He wrote Jewish Achievements in Medicine (1911) and Racial Origins of Jewish Types (1922). Two books on his specialty were Potato Varieties (1926) and The History and Social Influence of the Potato (1949). In 1935 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

During World War i Redcliffe Salaman served in Palestine and in 1920 published Palestine Reclaimed. He had a lifelong commitment to the Jewish community and to Zionism, was a trustee of Jews' College, London, and a governor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He also served as president of the Jewish Historical Society of England, the Jewish Health Organization of Great Britain, and the Jewish Commission for Relief Abroad. His first wife, nina ruth salaman (née Davis; 1877–1925), was well known as a poet and translator of medieval Hebrew poetry. Her own verse included Apples and Honey (1921) and she translated *Judah Halevi's poems (1924). Their son, myer head salaman (1902–1994), was a bacteriologist and doctor. Engaged in cancer research and pathology in World War ii, he joined the Department of Cancer Research, London Hospital Medical College, in 1946, where he became director in 1948.

bibliography:

jc (June 17, 1955), 12; K.M. Smith, in: Royal Society of London, Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 1 (1955), 239–45; J.W. Parkes, in: jhset, 18 (1953–55), 296–8.

[George H. Fried]