Heinz Steinitz
Heinz Steinitz was born in Breslau, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland) on April 26, 1909, to Walter Steinitz (1882-1963), a cardiologist and zoologist, and Marta Schindler Steinitz (1885-1926). He grew up in Breslau and was greatly inspired by his father to study science and to be an active Zionist. He studied medicine from 1927-1933 in the universities of Breslau, Freiburg and Berlin. Although he passed the Medical Board examination in 1933, and would have started work in a hospital in Berlin and in the Jewish hospital in Breslau, he was prohibited from practicing by the Nazi regime which came to power that same year. Together with his wife Ruth Aber Steinitz (1907-1995), a medical student as well, he left Germany in 1933 and immigrated to Palestine.
The Log from the Sea of Cortez
Early in 1940, Steinbeck and Ricketts hired a Monterey Bay sardine fishing boat, the "Western Flyer", with a four-man crew, and spent six weeks travelling the coast of the Gulf of California collecting biological specimens. Along with Ricketts and the four crew members mentioned in the book, Steinbeck was accompanied by his wife, Carol. Steinbeck hoped that the trip would help rescue their failing marriage, but it seems to have had the opposite effect: the marriage ended soon after they returned. Steinbeck's lawyer and friend, Toby Street, was also on board as far as San Diego.