Adolf Beck (1 January 1863, Kraków – 1942, Lwów) was a Polish Jew, physician of and professor of physiology at the University of Lwów. He was born on 1 January 1863, in Kraków, Galicia, into a family of poor parents. During his academic career, Beck supported himself as a private tutor. Upon graduating with distinction from the gymnasium of his native city in 1884, he entered the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. In 1888, while still a medical student, Beck gained the prize of the university by a paper on the excitability of a nerve, afterward published under the title, "O pobudliwości różnych miejsc tego samego nerwu" (On the Excitability of a Nerve at Different Points). In 1890 he received the degree of M.D., and in the same year published the results of his extensive research on electr