Abrahamic / Middle Eastern Judaism Jewish Contributions to Society Share Flipboard Email Print Levi Strauss. UNESCO/Michel Ravassard/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 3.0 Judaism Culture Basics Prayers and Worship Important Holidays By Luana Goriss Updated January 28, 2019 Considering that the Jewish people constitute a mere one-half of one percent of the world's population, Jewish contributions to religion, science, literature, music, medicine, finance, philosophy, entertainment etc., is staggering. Jewish Contributions In the field of medicine alone, Jewish contributions are staggering and continue to be so. It was a Jew who created the first polio vaccine, who discovered insulin, who discovered that aspirin dealt with pain, who discovered chloral hydrate for convulsions, who discovered streptomycin, who discovered the origin and spread of infectious diseases, who invented the test for diagnosis of syphilis, who identified the first cancer virus, who discovered the cure for pellagra and added to the knowledge about yellow fever, typhoid, typhus, measles, diphtheria and influenza. Today, Israel, a nation only sixty years old, has emerged at the forefront of stem-cell research, which will, in the near future, give humanity unprecedented medical treatment for degenerative diseases.There is a passage in the Talmud that says: “We find in the case of Cain, who killed his brother, that it is written: The bloods of thy brother cry unto me: not the blood of thy brother, but the bloods of thy brother is said, that is, his blood and the blood of his potential descendants.” (Sanhedrin 37a, 37-38.) Over the past 2,000 years, in particular, millions of Jews have been killed in Inquisitions, Pogroms, and more recently, the horror of the Holocaust. One wonders how much more humanity could have gained from the descendants of those murdered and their potential contributions to mankind.Below is a short list of some of the most important contributions Jewish individuals have made to society. Jewish Contributions to Society Albert Einstein - PhysicistJonas Salk - Created first Polio VaccineAlbert Sabin - Developed the oral vaccine for PolioGalileo - Discovered the speed of lightSelman Waksman - Discovered Streptomycin. Coined the word 'antibiotic'.Gabriel Lipmann - Discovered color photographyBaruch Blumberg - Discovered origin and spread of infectious diseasesG. Edelman - Discovered the chemical structure of antibodiesBriton Epstein - Identified first cancer virusMaria Meyer - Structure of atomic nucleiJulius Mayer - Discovered law of thermodynamicsSigmund Freud - Father of psychotherapyChristopher Columbus (Marano) - Discovered the AmericasBenjamin Disraeli - Prime Minister of Great Britain 1804-1881Isaac Singer - Invented the sewing machineLevi Strauss - Largest manufacturer of denim jeansJoseph Pulitzer - Established 'Pulitzer Prize' for achievements in journalism, literature, music, and art