Katzir (Katchalski), Aharon

(1914–72)

   Israel scientist. Katzir came to Palestine from Poland with his family in 1925. He studied at the Hebrew University and became a world authority on polymers and membranes, professor of physical chemistry at the Hebrew University from 1952, and president of the International Union of Pure and Applied Bio-physics from 1963. He joined the Haganah in 1936, and in 1947 helped found Hemed, the scientific branch of the Israel army. In May 1972, Katzir was one of those massacred at Lod airport by a group of Japanese terrorists. Ephraim b. 1916. Fourth President of Israel. The younger brother, he also came to Palestine as a child, graduated from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and from 1951 was professor and head of the biophysics department at the Weizmann Institute of Science. His work on polyamino acids and proteins gained him an international reputation. He was awarded the Israel Prize (1959), the Rothschild Prize (1961), and the Linderstrom-Lang gold medal (1969). He was a member of a number of overseas scientific bodies, and in 1966 was the first Israeli elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences. He served as chief scientist to the Israel Defence Ministry, 1966–8. He became President of Israel in 1973, by far the youngest person to be elected to that office, which is that of a constitutional Head of State, lacking political power.