Ephraim Katzir

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Ephraim Katzir (Template:Langx; Template:OldStyleDate<ref name="parish-book" /> – 30 May 2009) was an Israeli biophysicist and Labor Party politician. He was the fourth President of Israel from 1973 until 1978.<ref name=rsbm>Template:Cite journal</ref>

BiographyEdit

Efraim Katchalski (later Katzir) was the son of Yudel-Gersh (Yehuda) and Tzilya Katchalski,<ref name="parish-book">Запис про народження 3 травня (ст. ст.) 1916 року Ефраїма Качальського в метричній книзі київського рабинату // ЦДІАК України. Ф. 1164. Оп. 1. Спр. 158 (колишній номер — 514). Арк. 337зв.–338. (ru) (uk)</ref> in Kiev, in the Russian Empire (today in Ukraine). In 1925 (several publications cite 1922<ref>KUnderground group's explosives maker who became president. Theage.com.au. Retrieved on 9 September 2011.</ref>), he immigrated to Mandatory Palestine with his family and settled in Jerusalem. In 1932, he graduated from Gymnasia Rehavia.<ref name="TimesOfIndia"/> A fellow classmate, Shulamit Laskov, remembers him as the "shining star" of the grade level. He was “an especially tall young man, a little pudgy, whose goodness of heart was splashed across his smiling face.” He excelled in all areas, “even in drawing and in gymnastics, where he was no slouch. He was the first in the class in arithmetic, and later on in mathematics. No one came close to him.”<ref>Memoir / A History of Her Own, Haaretz</ref>

Like his elder brother, Aharon, Katzir was interested in science. He studied botany, zoology, chemistry and bacteriology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 1938 he received an MSc, and in 1941 he received a PhD degree.<ref name="TimesOfIndia"/> In 1939, he graduated from the first Haganah officers' course, and became commander of the student unit in the field forces (Hish).

He and his brother worked on the development of new methods of warfare. In late 1947, after the outbreak of the 1948 Palestine war, and in anticipation of the War for Israel’s Independence, Katzir met the biochemist David Rittenberg, then working at Columbia University, stating: ‘I need germs and poisons for the [impending/ongoing Israeli] war of independence,’ Rittenberg referred the matter to Chaim Weizmann. Weizmann initially dismissed the request, branding Katzir a ‘savage’ and requested his dismissal from the Sieff Scientific Institute in Rehovot, but weeks later he relented, and his dismissal was rescinded. Shortly afterwards, in March 1948, his brother Aharon, who decades later was one of the victims of the Lod Airport Massacre, was appointed director of a research unit, HEMED, in Mandatory Palestine involving biological warfare. A decision to use such material against Palestinians was then taken in early April.<ref>Benny Morris, Benjamin Z. Kedar, ‘Cast thy bread’: Israeli biological warfare during the 1948 War Middle Eastern Studies 19 September 2022, pages =1-25 pp.2-3,p.19,n.15.</ref> In May Ben-Gurion appointed Ephraim to replace his brother as director of the HEMED research unit, given his success abroad in procuring biological warfare materials and equipment to produce them.<ref>Benny Morris, Benjamin Z. Kedar, ‘Cast thy bread’: Israeli biological warfare during the 1948 War Middle Eastern Studies 19 September 2022, pages =1-25 p.9:'A major shift in modus operandi and personnel occurred after the return of Ephraim Katchalsky from New York, via Europe, to Palestine.82 On 13 May Ben-Gurion jotted down in his diary:‘Ephraim has come’, and then went on to list the scientist’s expenditure on chemicals and sniper-scopes (due to arrive by boat), four radar systems (still in the United States), and ‘biological materials’ that Katchalsky bought for $2,000 and most probably carried with him. Ben-Gurion decided that Ephraim should stay in the country and replace his brother Aharon as overall commander of HEMED.83 Evidently Ephraim’s efforts to obtain ‘germs and poisons’, or at least equipment to facilitate their weaponization, met with success, and we may assume that the ‘biological materials’ he acquired boosted the capabilities of HEMED B. (It is significant that the editors of the printed version of Ben Gurion’s war diary – Gershon Rivlin and Elhanan Oren – chose to delete the words ‘Biological materials $2000’ from the entry for that day.)8.'</ref>

Katzir was married to Nina (née Gottlieb), born in Poland, who died in 1986. As an English teacher, Nina developed a unique method for teaching language. As the president's wife, she introduced the custom of inviting the authors of children's books and their young readers to the President's Residence. She established the Nurit Katzir Jerusalem Theater Center in 1978 in memory of their deceased daughter, Nurit, who died from accidental carbon monoxide exposure. Another daughter, Irit, killed herself.<ref>Nurit Katzir Jerusalem Theater Center Template:Webarchive. Jerusalem.muni.il. Retrieved on 9 September 2011.</ref> They had a son, Meir, and three grandchildren. Katzir died on 30 May 2009 at his home in Rehovot.<ref name="TimesOfIndia">Template:Cite news </ref><ref name=HA>Israel's fourth president Ephraim Katzir dies at 93 Template:Webarchive Haaretz, 31 May 2009</ref>

Scientific careerEdit

After continuing his studies at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, Columbia University and Harvard University, he returned to Israel and became head of the Department of Biophysics at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, an institution he helped to found. In 1966–1968, Katzir was Chief Scientist of the Israel Defense Forces.<ref name="TimesOfIndia"/> His initial research centered on simple synthetic protein models, but he also developed a method for binding enzymes, which helped lay the groundwork for what is now called enzyme engineering.

PresidencyEdit

File:Flickr - Government Press Office (GPO) - Pres. Katzir Shaking hands with one of the Bedouin sheikhs.jpg

President Katzir meeting with Bedouin sheikhs

In 1973, Golda Meir contacted Katzir at Harvard University, asking him to accept the presidency. He hebraicized his family name to Katzir, which means 'harvest'.

On 10 March 1973, Katzir was elected by the Knesset to serve as the fourth President of Israel. He received 66 votes to 41 cast in favour of his opponent Ephraim Urbach and he assumed office on 24 May 1973. During his appointment, UN approved resolution 3379 which condemned "Zionism as Racism". He was involved in the dispute between Mexico (where the resolution was initially promoted during the World Conference on Women, 1975) and the US Jewish community because of a touristic boycott directed from the latter to that country.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In November 1977, he hosted President Anwar Sadat of Egypt in the first ever official visit of an Arab head of state. In 1978, he declined to stand for a second term due to his wife's illness,<ref name=HA/> and was succeeded by Yitzhak Navon. After stepping down as President, he returned to his scientific work.

Awards and recognitionEdit

In 1959, Katzir was awarded the Israel Prize in life sciences.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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In 1966, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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In 1966, he was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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In 1972, he was awarded the Sir Hans Krebs Medal of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
In 1976, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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In 1977, he was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS)<ref name=rsbm/>
In 1985, he was awarded the Japan Prize.
In 2000, the Rashi Foundation established the Katzir Scholarship Program in honor of Katzir, one of the first members of its board of directors.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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He is also a recipient of the Tchernichovsky Prize for exemplary translation.

He also received honorary degrees from various scientific societies and universities worldwide. The Department of Biotechnology Engineering at the ORT Braude Academic College of Engineering in Karmiel was named after him during his lifetime.

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Ephraim Katzir

Contents

BiographyEdit

Scientific careerEdit

PresidencyEdit

Awards and recognitionEdit

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

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