Jacob, François

(b. 1920)

   French biologist and Nobel laureate, 1965. After a distinguished war record in the Free French Forces, Jacob worked at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. In 1965 he shared in the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology for work on cellular genetic function and the influence of viruses. JACOBSON, Dan b. 1929. British novelist. Jacobson was born in South Africa, but settled in England in the 1950s and has taught English Literature at University College London since 1976. His early novels reflect his South African background and his collection of short stories from this period A Long Way From London (1962) won the Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize. In his later novels he has turned to Jewish themes. The Beginners (1966) covers three generations of a Jewish family. The Rape of Tamar (1970) is based on the Biblical story of Tamar and Amnon. The Confessions of Josef Baisz (1977) won the Jewish Chronicle HH Wingate Award; Her Story (1987) is set in Israel at the time of Jesus and The God fearer (1992) describes a world in which Judaism is the dominant religion and the Christians are regarded as sub-human outcasts. In addition Jacobson has written a literary critique of the Bible - The Story of Stories: The Chosen People and its God (1982), collections of literary essays and short autobiographical stories. JACOBSON, Howard b. 1942. British writer and humorist. Jacobson was born in Manchester and educated at Cambridge University. His comic novels include Coming From Behind (1983), set in a Polytechnic, Peeping Tom (1984) based on his experience teaching at Sydney University, The Land of Oz (1987) and The Very Model of a Man (1992). Most recently he has explored the Jewish community of today and looked at his own Jewish background in Roots Schmoots (1993). This was turned into a successful television series. JACOBSON, Israel 1768–1828. Pioneer of Reform Judaism. Jacobson was a citizen of Brunswick in Westphalia, ruled by NAPOLEON’S brother Jerome. Encouraged by Napoleon’s emancipation of the Jews, Jacobson introduced the German language, organ music and other reforms into Westphalian synagogue services.