astronomy

Jakub Karol Parnas

Jakub Karol Parnas is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Jakub Karol Parnas rather than just read about it. In short: Jakub Karol Parnas, also known as Yakov Oskarovich Parnas (Russian: Яков Оскарович Парнас; January 16, 1884 – January 29, 1949) was a prominent Polish–Soviet biochemist who contributed to the discovery of the Embden–Meyerhof–Parnas pathway, together with Otto Fritz Meyerhof and Gustav Embden. He became a Soviet activist after the annexation of Western Ukraine in 1939.

Key takeaways

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Reference excerpt

Jakub Karol Parnas, also known as Yakov Oskarovich Parnas (Russian: Яков Оскарович Парнас; January 16, 1884 – January 29, 1949) was a prominent Polish–Soviet biochemist who contributed to the discovery of the Embden–Meyerhof–Parnas pathway, together with Otto Fritz Meyerhof and Gustav Embden. He became a Soviet activist after the annexation of Western Ukraine in 1939. He was arrested during the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee affair in 1949 and died in the prison, reportedly of heart attack.

Biography Parnas was born in 1884 in Tarnopol, at that time part of Austria-Hungary, in the province of Galicia (now split between Poland and Ukraine), to Jewish parents. He graduated from the Königlich Technische Hochschule Charlottenburg in 1904. From 1920 to 1941, he was head of the Institute of the Medical Chemistry at Lviv University. He traveled across Europe, collaborating with universities in Cambridge, Naples, Strasbourg, Ghent and Zürich. He was a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Corresponding Member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, as well an honorary doctor of Sorbonne University and the University of Athens. After the Soviet invasion of Poland and annexation of Western Ukraine in 1939 by the Soviet Union, Parnas remained in Lviv to continue his work in the institute. He also started collaborating with the Soviet authorities by taking on a political role in the communist District Soviet Worker's Delegation. In 1941, after the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Parnas was evacuated deeper into the USSR and remained there for the rest of his life. Only a few days after his departure, Lviv (Lwów) was occupied by the Nazi Germany army, who massacred approximately 45 Lwów professors. Parnas was a member of the Union of Polish Patriots. In the Soviet Union, Parnas met Joseph Stalin, and received his own laboratory. He became an Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union and a founding member of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences. Despite his achievements and popularity, Parnas was falsely accused of being a spy of the West and arrested by the KGB on January 28, 1949. According to KGB's archives, he died during his first interrogation at Lubyanka prison "from a heart attack" on January 29, 1949.

Achievements Parnas's major work was the study of the mechanisms of carbohydrate metabolism in muscle tissue. Together with Władysław Baranowski, he discovered the process of phosphorolysis. Parnas also made a major contribution to the theoretical analysis of glycolysis. He is the author of about 180 scientific works in German, Polish, English, French, Russian, Ukrainian.

Legacy

Parnas is honored by the Polish–Ukrainian Parnas Conference organized by the Polish and Ukrainian Biochemical Societies, which has been held every two years since 1996. In 2009, Prof. Andrzej Dżugaj, the President of the Polish Biochemical Society, suggested to include Israeli biochemists to the Conference organizers to acknowledge the roots of J.K. Parnas and his co-workers. Thanks to his efforts, the VIII Parnas Conference took place in 2011, in Poland, for the first time, with the joint organization by three national Societies, Polish, Ukrainian and Israel. In 2013 the conference took place in Jerusalem (organized by Israeli Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology). The next Parnas conference took place in Poland at 10–12 July 2016, (Wrocław University).

References

Further reading Tomasz Cieszyński, O PROFESORZE JAKUBIE PARNASIE NA TLE LWOWA z lat 1938 do 1945 (see bottom of the article for English summary) Tadeusz Korzybski, Słownik biologów polskich, Warszawa 1987

External links Barańska J et al. (2007) Jakub Karol Parnas – life and creativity (Opening Lecture), 6th Parnas Conference Molecular Mechanism of Cellular Signalling (Kraków, Poland, 30 May – 2 June 2007) Acta Biochimica Polonica 54 (Suppl. 2), 1

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Jakub Karol Parnas

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Jakub Karol Parnas claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Jakub Karol Parnas before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Jakub Karol Parnas ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Jakub Karol Parnas

In research: Jakub Karol Parnas appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Jakub Karol Parnas in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Jakub Karol Parnas is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1884 births, 1949 deaths, 20th-century Polish chemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Jakub Karol Parnas outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Jakub Karol Parnas in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Jakub Karol Parnas means in your own words.
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Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Jakub Karol Parnas in simple terms?

Why does Jakub Karol Parnas matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Jakub Karol Parnas?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Jakub Karol Parnas.