A professor at one of Israel’s most prestigious universities has died after an explosion at his laboratory, which took place while he was performing a hydrogen-based test.

Professor Emeritus Elazar Gutmanas was severely injured in an explosion two weeks ago on October 13 at his lab at the Technion - Israel’s institute of technology - in Haifa. The professor, a member of the institution’s department of material sciences and engineering, was evacuated to the city’s Rambam hospital. 

At the time, a medic for Magen David Adom described the professor as having suffered “burns on all parts of his body and injuries to his upper body”. No-one else was reported hurt by the explosion, which was attended by ten fire crews and was said to have caused heavy damage to the fifth floor of the faculty building. The hospital subsequently confirmed that the academic had passed away on Saturday.

Prof Gutmanas, who immigrated to Israel from Russia in 1974, joined the Technion just a few months after his arrival in the country. During his decades at the university he published close to 100 papers, with a particular emphasis on composite materials and alloys.

A statement from the institution expressed its condolences to the family of Prof Gutmanas at the academic’s death, and confirmed that an investigation had been launched into the circumstances surrounding the explosion. A statement from Prof Gutmanas’s family thanked the manager of the university department, Dr Yaron Bar-Lavie, for his efforts to save his colleague.