Zicman Feider
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Zicman Feider (1903–1979) was a Jewish Romanian acarologist. His name as a researcher is associated with the Acari a.k.a. Acarina (a taxon of arachnids that contains mites and ticks), for which he worked to perfect their taxonomy.
Feider was born on April 17, 1903, in Roman, in the province of Moldova, Romania, the eldest of seven children of Beila and Daniel (Idel) Feider, of Ashkenazy Jewish ethnicity. Beila and Daniel Feider were owners of a small rotary-shop, and as the Jewish tradition still demands, they saved most of their income to offer their son the best opportunity to study to become a "doctor".
In 1922, after receiving his baccalaureate, he enrolled in the University of Pavia, Italy, as a foreign student. From 1923 to 1925, Feider attended Histology and Pathology classes of professor Camillo Golgi, the scientist-physician who discovered the Golgi apparatus, the Golgi tendon organ and the Golgi tendon reflex. However in 1925, after three years of starvation, he contracted pulmonary tuberculosis.
Forced to leave his studies in Italy, he returned to Romania, and was admitted to the Tuberculosis Sanatorium of Bârnova, close to Iași. He enrolled in the Faculty of Medicine of Iași University, and in 1928, he was accepted due to his work in Pavia. The rise of anti-Semitic feelings throughout most of the students and some faculty members, and the lack of Jewish cadavers for anatomy study, forced Zicman to quit studying medicine at Iași. He enrolled at the Faculty of Natural Sciences, at the University of Chernivtsi. Feider studied only one year there, and then moved back to Iași, province of Moldova.
Back in Iași, he studied from 1930 to 1933, at the Natural Sciences section, of the Science Faculty at the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, previously known as "Michaelian Academy" of Iași, from which he graduated with honors in 1933.
Post-graduation and early working years
Feider started as a teacher in his native city of Roman, and then taught in the town of Târgu Ocna until he passed his Teacher's Capacity Examination in 1935. Having obtained his Capacity Degree, he was hired as teacher of Natural Sciences at the "St. O. Iosif Boys Lyceum" in Odorheiu Secuiesc (Hungarian: Székelyudvarhely), Harghita County, Transylvania, Romania.
In 1938, Feider married Ilona Pal, a local Székely person, who was a graduate of Benedek Elek Teachers' College. Working as a teacher, researcher and pedagogue, Feider helped establish the Natural Science Museum in Odorheiu Secuiesc. In 1938, Feider published in the "Annals of the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University" one of the discoveries of his passionate, under the title "Sur une espèce nouvelle de genre Euthrombidium" (About a new species of Euthrombidium).
The atmosphere in Odorheiu Secuiesc became incendiary after the 30 August 1940 - "Vienna Diktat", when Hungary received northern Transylvania from Romania, and the anti-Semitic manifestation became so pervasive that Zicman and his pregnant wife were forced to leave Transylvania for Moldova. Zicman sought to work as a teacher in Piatra Neamț, and eventually he found an opportunity to teach at the "Jewish Lyceum" of the city of Roman, Romania, at the end of 1940. He became the Principal of the "Jewish Lyceum", where he worked until 1944, during World War II.
From 1944 to 1949, he continued to work as a Biology teacher at "Roman's Boys Lyceum" and at the "Commercial Lyceum" of the City of Roman. Meanwhile, his research was extremely active, resulting in the publication of several papers on Trombidiidae (a.k.a. Red Velvet Mites or Rain Bugs, arachnids found in soil litter known for their bright red colors), in 1945.
