L. L. Zamenhof L. L. Zamenhof Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof (; , ; – ), credited as L. L. Zamenhof and sometimes as the pseudonymous Dr. Esperanto, was a Polish-Jewish ophthalmologist and the creator of Esperanto, the most successful constructed language in the world. He grew up fascinated by the idea of a world without war and believed that this could happen with the help of a new international auxiliary language, which he first developed in 1873 while still in school. Zamenhof was born on 15 December (3 December OS) 1859, the son of Markus Zamenhof (27 January 1837 - 29 November 1907) and
Ludwik Birkenmajer of scholars. He was married Zofia (Sophie), the daughter of Franciszek Karliński, the professor of astronomy in the Jagiellonian University, and inherited his library embracing mostly the books on mathematics and physics. They had three sons: Aleksander Ludwik (historian of culture and exact sciences, and bibliologist), Józef (poet, interpreter and literature historian), and Wincenty (Polish philologist, teacher and renown Tatra Mountains-climber). His grandson is Krzysztof Birkenmajer (professor of geology, member of the Polish Academy of Sciences). In 2011 the Institute for the History of Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences received the name of father and son: Ludwik &