Ghost Map Links and Deaf Scientists
https://library.rit.edu/theghostmap/book/about-author.htmlThe link for resources related to Ghost Map is here: https://library.rit.edu/theghostmap/node
Reading Guide is here: https://library.rit.edu/theghostmap/book/reading-guide.html
The Ghost Map chronicles the development, spread and containment of the cholera epidemic in 1850’s London. Think about some current epidemics we are dealing with such as AIDS and the Avian bird flu.
The following info is from the Gallaudet Biography Database http://liblists.wrlc.org/deafbiog/home.htm and Harry Lang's book called Silence of the Spheres (3rd floor, Q175.5 .L34 1994). Explore some of the deaf bacteriologists who made significant discoveries in the field.
There are scientists that have been Nobel Prize winners. Charles Henri Nicolle, a French deaf scientist discovered that typhus which was an epidemic is caused by lice. He eventually won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1928 for this work (the first deaf person to win a Nobel Prize). He also made other important discoveries in the spread and control of epidemic diseases. References: Harry, Lang and Bonnie Meath-Lang. Deaf persons in the arts and sciences, p.276-278; Lang, Harry. Silence of the spheres, p.107-108.
Interestingly enough, there is a connection with cholera and a deaf scientist by the name of Clyde S. Jones. He was the first deaf person to earn two doctoral degrees (public health and MD). He became interested in experimental work on cholera and perfected a serum for diphtheria. crusaded against impure milk and helped raise cleanliness standards in the dairy industry. References: Lang, Harry. Silence of the Spheres, p.104.
Anthony A. Hajna was one of the nation’s authoritative scientists in enteric bacteriology, designing lab procedures for identifying epidemic type forms of bacteria. He spent many years researching techniques to accurately and quickly identify epidemic type bacteria especially thouse found in spoiled food and contaminated water. References: Lang, Harry and Bonnie Meath-Lang. Deaf Persons in the Arts and Sciences, p.166-168; Lang, Harry. Silence of the Spheres, p.105; American Annals of the Deaf, vol.85 no.2, March 1940, p.152; Digest of the Deaf, vol.1 no.3, Dec. 1938, p.20-22; Silent News, May 1992, p.21; Deaf American, June 1967, p.3-6.
Check out our library and web resources on epidemics. For example, there are books on epidemics such as When germs travel : six major epidemics that have invaded America since 1900 and the fears they have unleashed (3rd floor,RC111 .M226 2004), Global epidemics (3rd floor, RA649 .G56 2007), ebooks such as Epidemics and pandemics: their impacts on human history (http://albert.rit.edu/record=b1995338), Credo Reference to find encyclopedia articles, short biographical excerpts, Nobel Prize Winners in Science, and more. There are Nobel Prize websites such as http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1928/nicolle-bio.html,and Wikipedia articles http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Nicolle.
Think about what life was like in the 1850s in England and in America for deaf people.