A MAN OF GREATNESS RETURNS TO HIS NATIVE OPATIJA

Abstract

This report deals with a school project that prompted the organisation of the international scientific symposium «Dr. Leo H. Sternbach: Life and Work of Valium Inventor» (Opatija, Villa Angiolina,18th May 2006.), and the unveiling of the commemorative plaque on the house in Opatija where Dr. Leo Henryk Sternbach, an eminent American scientist originating from Opatija, spent his childhood. The project was realised by the pupils of The Eugen Kumičić Grammar School in Opatija; Ana Petrovčić, David Deszô, Dominik Pažin, Davor Dujmić, Marin Dujmić and Hrvoje Tramontana during the 2005/6 academic year, as an assignment of the school history group. The project stemmed from a special curriculum on the holocaust and human rights education including the research into the history of pre-war Jewish community in Opatija, of which the Sternbach family was a part. It was based on the research of original archive material, biographic literature and the application of the historiographic method of oral history. The project was expounded through PowerPoint presentation in the course of the symposium during which both foreign and Croatian presenters shed light on facts pertaining to life and scientific work of Dr. Leo Henryk Sternbach, emphasising his exceptional contribution to the development of the medical science of the 20th century. On 18th May 2006, under the auspices of Roche Croatia and the Town of Opatija, the scientific symposium “Dr. Leo Henryk Sternbach: Life and Work of Valium Inventor” was held at the Villa Angiolina in Opatija. Also, the unveiling of the commemorative plaque on the building at 114 Maršal Tito Street in Opatija, where Dr. Leo Henryk Sternbach spent his childhood was ceremoniously performed, marking thus the perennial memory of this distinguished scientist (picture 14).U prikazu je riječ o školskom projektu kojim je potaknuto održavanje međunarodnoga znanstvenog simpozija “Dr. Leo Henryk Sternbach: Život i djelo izumitelja Valiuma” (Opatija, Villa Angiolina, 18. svibnja 2006.) te postavljanje spomen-obilježja na kuću u Opatiji u kojoj je dr. Leo Henryk Sternbach, ugledni američki znanstvenik rodom iz Opatije, proveo djetinjstvo. Projekt su realizirali učenici Gimnazije Eugena Kumičića u Opatiji: Ana Petrovčić, David Dezsô, Dominik Pažin, Davor Dujmić, Marin Dujmić i Hrvoje Tramontana tijekom školske godine 2005./06., u okviru rada povijesne grupe. Projekt je proizišao iz posebnog programa edukacije o holokaustu i ljudskim pravima, koji uključuje i istraživanje povijesti predratne židovske zajednice Opatije, čijim je dijelom bila i obitelj Sternbach. Temelji se na istraživanju izvorne arhivske građe, biografske literature i periodike te primjeni historiografske metode usmene povijesti (oral history). Predstavljen je PowerPoint prezentacijom tijekom programa simpozija u kojem su strani i domaći izlagači osvijetlili činjenice iz života i znanstvenog djelovanja dr. Lea Henryka Sternbacha, istaknuvši njegov izvanredni doprinos razvoju medicinske znanosti XX. stoljeća