[LANDMARKS IN THE MEDICAL HISTORY OF ISRAEL - IS IT TRULY INTERWEAVING WITHIN THE ISRAELI POSTAL STAMP]

Issuing postal stamps is the main sign of a nation's independence. The first stamps series of Israel were issued a mere two days after the declaration of Israel's independence. Since then, almost 1750 postal stamps were issued as a single unit or different stamps series. These stamps delineate and emphasize innovations, military and civilian technological developments, the high holidays and nature as well as respecting important national figures and holidays. The aim of our historical search of philately (stamps collection) through the 20th century till today was to find out the frequency of the interweaving of medicine, medical developments and the tribute to outstanding figures, in all medical fields, and their contribution during peace and war periods in Israeli stamps. The thorough research study revealed only 16 stamps that were issued perpetuating medical disciplines - 0.9% of all stamps. Despite their national and worldwide significance there were no stamps commemorating many medical and surgical fields. I did not find reminiscence of our military medical developments that have become a competent authority for numerous armies all over the world. Organ transplantation, surgical innovations and the large group of women physicians and surgeons that took leadership in several medical fields have no presence in our postal stamps. Nowadays, philately has lost its importance as a financial value for the prompt e-mails. I believe philately should be encouraged to issue current postal stamps dedicated to "blue and white" medicine, a thing that is even more adequate these days in which all the medical community was enlisted to battle the new corona pandemic.

Chemistry in the mail: Stamps from around the globe and public science communication in the twentieth century

Postage stamps are designed to convey messages that reverberate symbolically with broad swaths of the public, and their content has been employed as a window into how members of the public understand the ideas represented therein. In this rhetorical analysis, we analyze Philadelphia's Science History Institute's Witco Stamp Collection, which features 430 stamps from countries around the globe dating from 1910 to 1983, to identify how chemistry is portrayed in this ubiquitous medium. We find the vernacular of science reflected and supported by these images functions to (a) define chemistry in terms of its invisibility and abstraction; (b) uphold chemical operations as instrumental and daedal, or exceptional, in nature; and (c) delineate practitioners of chemistry as-on the whole-privileged and preternatural. Our findings reveal some of the overarching communicative tools made available to twentieth-century non-experts for articulating chemistry as an enterprise and reveal how those tools positioned chemistry in terms of values related to opacity and exclusivity.

Analysing malaria events from 1840 to 2020: the narrative told through postage stamps

The role played by postage stamps in the history of malaria control and eradication has largely gone unrecognized. Scientific investigators of malaria, especially Nobel laureates, were commemorated with special issues, but the work of the World Health Organization (WHO), which promoted an ambitious and global philatelic initiative in 1962 to support global eradication, is generally overlooked. This review examines the philatelic programme that helped to generate international commitment to the goal of malaria eradication in 1962 and established philatelic malaria icons that had worldwide recognition. Malaria-related postage stamps have continued to be issued since then, but the initial failure of malaria eradication and the changing goals of each new malaria programme, inevitably diluted their role. After the first Global Malaria Eradication Campaign was discontinued in 1969, few Nations released philatelic issues. Since the Spirit of Dakar Call for Action in 1996 a resurgence of postage stamp releases has occurred, largely tracking global malaria control initiatives introduced between 1996 and 2020. These releases were not co-ordinated by the WHO as before, were more commercialized and targeted stamp collectors, especially with attractive miniature sheets, often produced by photomontage. Having a different purpose, they demonstrated a much wider diversity in symbolism than the earlier stylized issues and at times, have been scientifically inaccurate. Nonetheless postage stamps greatly helped to communicate the importance of malaria control programmes to a wide audience and to some extent, have supported preventive health messages.

The Doctor Stamp and COVID-19: A Perspective

Sources from literature and art continue to offer perspectives on episodes of collective sense of loss and despair from unavoidable tragedies. The Doctor Stamp, based on the famous painting by British artist Sir Luke Fildes (1844-1927), was issued in 1947 by the US Postal Service to commemorate the first centennial of the founding of the American Medical Association. At the time of issue, the US was in the middle of the mid-century polio epidemic. The author obtained two First Day Covers of The Doctor Stamp, one of which was addressed to Dr. George Minot, who shared the 1934 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for developing the treatment for pernicious anemia. The conjunction of these events-an anniversary, an incurable virus epidemic, and a doctor who found a treatment for a devastating condition of unknown etiology-offer those suffering from a sense of loss and despair due to COVID-19 some hopeful anticipation of better days to come.

Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR FT-IR) Spectroscopy as a Forensic Method to Determine the Composition of Inks Used to Print the United States One-cent Blue Benjamin Franklin Postage Stamps of the 19th Century

Through the combined use of infrared (IR) absorption spectroscopy and attenuated total reflectance (ATR) sampling, the composition of inks used to print the many different types of one-cent Benjamin Franklin stamps of the 19th century has been established. This information permits a historical evaluation of the formulations used at various times, and also facilitates the differentiation of the various stamps from each other. In two instances, the ink composition permits the unambiguous identification of stamps whose appearance is identical, and which (until now) have only been differentiated through estimates of the degree of hardness or softness of the stamp paper, or through the presence or absence of a watermark in the paper. In these instances, the use of ATR Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) spectroscopy effectively renders irrelevant two 100-year-old practices of stamp identification. Furthermore, since the use of ATR sampling makes it possible to obtain the spectrum of a stamp still attached to its cover, it is no longer necessary to identify these blue Franklin stamps using their cancellation dates.

Maria Montessori (1870-1952): Women's emancipation, pedagogy and extra verbal communication

Maria Montessori is one of the most well-known women in Italian history. Although she was the first woman who graduated in medicine in Italy, she is mostly known as an educator. Her teaching method--the Montessori Method- is still used worldwide--Because she could not speak English during the imprisonment in India, there was a big obstacle for her communication with children. However, the need to adopt a non-verbal communication, led her to a sensational discovery: children use an innate and universal language. This language, made of gestures and mimic, is called extra verbal communication.

[Emile Espérandieu and the stamps of Roman ophthalmologists]

Major Émile Espérandieu, the famous author of the Recueil des bas-reliefs de la Gaule, also compiled the Recueil des cachets d'oculistes romains, a very useful corpus for the history of ancient ophtalmology. He was a striking example of the social and intellectual situation of a scholar out of the University, and of the morbid emulation between French scholarship and that of other European countries in the field of ancient epigraphy.

Ramón y Cajal erroneously identified as Camillo Golgi on a souvenir postage stamp

Focusing on a philatelic oddity that erringly identifies a picture of Santiago Ramón y Cajal as that of Camillo Golgi, this brief article examines official and unofficial stamp issues honoring the two great neuroanatomists, one from Spain and the other from Italy, who were early Nobel Prize winners in Physiology or Medicine.

Johns Hopkins Hospital notables portrayed on philatelic material

The philatelic medium is an extensive repository of the portraits of doctors of many nations. Using an electronic matching system to identify links between the lists of alumni and faculties register of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and that of three stamp catalogues, 14 notable persons have been identified in the philatelic record. The Johns Hopkins Hospital was established in Baltimore in 1889 and instituted the revolutionary concept of combining patient care with research and teaching. Its founder Johns Hopkins (1795-1873) and 13 among alumni and faculties have been portrayed on postage stamps and first day covers of USA, Canada, Antigua, Barbuda, Palau, Maldives, Canada and Sweden. Five of them--du Vigneaud (1901-78), Smith (b. 1931), Nathans (1928-99), Hubel (b. 1926) and Wiesel (b. 1924)--were awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology. By means of the philatelic medium, portraits of Hopkins scientists and doctors, including Sir William Osler (1849-1919) and Dr Virgina Apgar (1909-74), are distributed in their many tens of thousands on envelopes sent not only to recipients in the USA but to the wider world.

[Biomedicine philately]

Biomedicine is a vast field in philately or stamp collecting. It opens the topic the image of the goddess Hygeia, issued in a stamp from Nevis Island dated 1861. The first physicians to appear printed in stamps, in 1869, were three American constitutionalists, but only in 1937 there appear Dutch physicians as an acknowledgement of their contribution to public health. In Argentina the first stamp officially related to the topic was issued in 1944, to raise funds for the victims of the San Juan earthquake. Florentino Ameghino was the first scientist included in 1954, and in 1967 a stamp was issued in honour of Dr. Cecilia Grierson. Afterwards, Argentinean philately has recognized several of our scientists and physicians, congresses, universities, health campaigns, dentistry topics, chemistry, and nursery, among others, promoting a large amount of philatelic material in acknowledgement of the social value that Argentinean biomedical science has gained locally and abroad. Probably, it is a scientist, Dr. Bernardo Houssay, the Argentinean who has more often appeared in international philately.

A brief Iranian medical history through commemorative postage stamps

Medical philately provides a useful medium for the study of medical history. There are a handful of Iranian stamps which have been issued with a medical theme. This report briefly reviews the history of Iranian medicine through Iranian commemorative postage stamps. Some notable stamps are presented.

Alessandro Volta and the politics of pictures

An astute diplomat, Alessandro Volta secured the patronage of Napoleon Bonaparte to promote his rise to fame as an electrical expert. Reciprocally, politicians helped their own causes by presenting him as a national as well as a scientific figurehead.