Ludwik Zamenhof: A Major Contributor to World Culture, on the 150 th Anniversary of His Birth

Abstract

More than 200 universal languages have been proposed to replace the nearly 3,000 existing languages. Esperanto, developed by the Polish-Jewish ophthalmologist Ludwik Zamenhof in 1887, became the most widely used artificial language of the 20 th century. It is estimated that between one million and 15 million people in the world can speak or read Esperanto. Zamenhof was nominated 14 times for the Nobel Peace Prize, and also received the French Legion of Honor, and the Medal of Isabelle of Spain the Catholic. Ludwik Zamenhof started his professional training in ophthalmology at the Jewish Hospital in Warsaw, later spent several months in Vienna, and finally started a private ophthalmology practice in Warsaw, where he remained for most of his life. His son Adam was an associate professor of ophthalmology at the University of Warsaw and head of ophthalmology in the Jewish Hospital in Czyste, the biggest and most modern hospital in Warsaw at that time. Some lesser known aspects of Zamenhof's life and work drawn from the original 19 th century Russian and 20 th century Esperanto documents are described.