SCHNEIDER Origin of surname
Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name derives from an occupation (also connected with raw material, finished product or implements associated with that trade).
Schneider means "tailor" in German, probably a translation of the Hebrew Hayat which first appears as the term for "tailor" in mishnaic and midrashic literature. Schneider is recorded as a Jewish family names in the 14th century. Other related family names include the Yiddish Chaitman, Shnaider, the Polish form Sznajder, the English Snyder and Taylor, the Russian Portnoy, Ukrainian Kravitz, Hungarian Szabo, and Romanian Croitor(u). Schneider is recorded as a Jewish family name in the 17th century with Moses Schneider of Frankfurt am Main who visited the Leipzig fair in 1681.
Distinguished bearers of the Jewish family name Schneider include the 20th century Polish-born American violinist , Alexander Schneider, and the Lithuanian Hebrew grammarian and Zionist, Mordecai Bezalel Schneider (1865-1941).
DAMSKY
(Family Name)DAMSKY, DAMSKI, DEMSKY
Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name derives from an occupation, profession or trade (also connected with raw material, finished product or implements associated with that trade).
Names indicating occupation, profession or trade are widespread among Jews. The extensive range of Jewish names deriving from occupations illustrates the variety of their activities in all fields.
This family name is derived from damski, the Polish term for "of women", generally referring to a tailor or merchant of women's garments.
Distinguished bearers of the Jewish family name Demsky include Aaron Demsky (b.1938), an American-born Israeli professor of biblical history and onomastics.
Mordecai Bezalel Schneider
(Personality)Mordecai Bezalel Schneider (1859-1941), philosopher, born in Ligumai, Lithuania (then part of the Russian Empire). From an early age made his living as a teacher. From 1896 he lived in Vilna where he was prominent in education and in Zionist activity. In addition to his Jewish studies, he had a broad knowledge of classical languages and literatures. His main interest was Hebrew language on which he wrote many works including his main publication, a history of Hebrew. He also edited a number of Hebrew journals. Schneider continued working on his history in World War II in Vilna ghetto until he was sent to his death in Ponary.
Gregory Breit
(Personality)Gregory Breit (born Breit Schneider) (1899-1981), physicist who supervised the early design of the first atomic bomb in what would later become the Manhattan Project, born in Mykolaiv (Nikolayev), Ukraine (then part of the Russian Empire). He immigrated to the United States in 1915, following his father who had arrived there four years prior. Breit studied Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where he earned a Ph.D. in physics in 1921.
In the 1920s, he played a crucial role in the creation of the first cyclotron, and during the 1930s, he contributed significantly to the development of the resonance theory of nuclear reactions. Renowned for his prowess as a theoretical physicist, Breit contributed significantly to the Manhattan Project in 1942 in Chicago, where he initially worked on atomic bomb designs. After a few months, he left the project to focus on ballistics research at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.
In 1950, due to his expertise, Breit was called upon again to investigate the possibility of a worldwide chain reaction caused by the detonation of a hydrogen bomb. Through meticulous calculations and tests using a new cyclotron at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, he dispelled the theory, demonstrating that such an event was not plausible.
Breit held academic positions at various institutions, including the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis (1923–1924), the Carnegie Institution for Science's department of terrestrial magnetism in Washington, DC, (1924–1929), New York University (1929–1934), the University of Wisconsin in Madison (1934–1947), Yale University in New Haven, CT, (1947–1968), and the State University of New York at Buffalo, NY, (1968–1973). He also was associate editor of Physical Review during 1927–1929, 1939–1941, 1954–1956, and 1961–1963. A number of physics discoveries, among them including the Breit system, have been named after him. Breit died in Salem, OR, United States.