Jr Miloslav Rechcigl

Notable Americans with Slovak Roots Jr Miloslav Rechcigl

Two individuals featured on the front cover, no doubt, belong among the most distinguished Slovak Americans: the physician Joseph Goldberger and the theologian Jaroslav Pelikan, Jr. Joseph Goldberger (1874-1929) (on the left in uniform) was American epidemiologist in the US Public Health Service. He discovered the cause of pellagra and stepped on a number of medical toes when his research experiments showed that diet and not germs caused the disease. Due to his important discoveries, he was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Jr. (1923-2006) was one of the world's leading scholars in the history of Christianity, who authored more than 30 books. Pelikan was the Sterling Professor Emeritus of History at Yale University and dean of the graduate school. He was president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and recipient of over 40 honorary doctorates all over the world.