ByJennifer Lipman, Jennifer Lipman
A scientist who helped found Israel’s prestigious Weizmann Institute has died at the age of 92.
Professor Israel Dostrovsky, who served as the Institute’s fifth president, was also the chief scientist at Israel’s defence ministry under Yitzhak Rabin.
Born in Odessa, Prof Dostrovsky moved to what was then British mandate Palestine in 1919. After a period spent studying and then lecturing in chemistry at University College, London, he returned to Israel after the country gained independence.
In 1948 he joined the Weizmann Institute, becoming its president in 1972.
He also spent eight years as a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.
The recipient of several awards for his scientific accomplishments, he was awarded the Israel Prize in 1995 and given honorary doctorates from Tel Aviv University and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.