# Chaim Aronson

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{{Short description|Lithuanian Jewish inventor and memoirist}}
'''Chaim Aronson''' (July 30, 1825 – April 22, 1893) was a [Lithuanian Jewish](/source/Lithuanian_Jews) [inventor](/source/inventor) and [memoir](/source/memoir)ist.

Aronson is remembered today for his memoirs, which were published long after his death in a book titled ''A Jewish Life under the Tsars'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.litvaksig.org/information-and-tools/online-journal/jewish-life-under-the-tsars-the-autobiography-of-chaim-aronson-1825-1888-a|title = Online Journal - A Jewish Life Under the Tsars: The Autobiography of Chaim Aronson, 1825-1888}}</ref> which he wrote in [Hebrew](/source/Hebrew_language).

==Early life==

Aronson was born in the town of Serednik (now [Seredžius](/source/Sered%C5%BEius)) in the province of Lithuania, then part of the [Russian Empire](/source/Russian_Empire), to a poor, rural family. He showed unusual intelligence at a very early age and reportedly had learned to read Hebrew by the age of two. Before his twenties, he was an accomplished (but not certified) Jewish scholar. He also learned [German](/source/German_language) and [Russian](/source/Russian_language) and achieved a high level of fluency in these languages.

==Inventions==

Aronson was a talented engineer, although he had had no formal education in this field. He first became a [clockmaker](/source/clockmaker) and, later, an inventor. His early successes were such that he soon moved his business to the Russian capital, [St. Petersburg](/source/St._Petersburg), where  factory owners and investors might be interested in his inventions.

However, despite several revolutionary inventions, he never achieved commercial success, due to an unfriendly business climate and the [antisemitic](/source/Antisemitism) practices of the Tsarist government.

His inventions included several machines for mass-producing cigarettes, a clockwork calculator, a prototype for a movie camera, and the [microdiorama](/source/Diorama).

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{cite web|url=https://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/ybip/YBIP_JewishLife.html|title=JewishGen Press - A Jewish Life Under the Tsars|website=JewishGen Press}}  
* {{cite web|url=https://jewishgen.org/press/aronson-chaim.pdf|author=Chaim Aronson|lang=he|title=A Jewish Life Under the Tsars (The Autobiography of Chaim Aronson 1825-1888) - Original hand-written Hebrew manuscript|website=JewishGen Press}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aronson, Chaim}}
Category:19th-century Lithuanian Jews
Category:1825 births
Category:1893 deaths
Category:People from Tauragė County

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Chaim Aronson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaim_Aronson) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaim_Aronson?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.