Avinoam Danin

Avinoam Danin was born in 1939 in Haifa

Avinoam Danin was born in Haifa in 1939 to Sara and Hiram Danin. His grandfather Yehezkel Danin bought land for the Jewish National Fund. His uncle was Ezra Danin, an Orientalist and member of the Shai.

After his military service he studied biology and botany at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He finished his master's thesis in 1964 and his doctorate on the vegetation of the northern Negev in 1970.

He taught at the Hebrew University from 1973 to 2007 and became an associate professor in 1988. He discovered dozens of plant species and subspecies new to science, and some species were named after him. He also served on government and academy committees for plant names.

In 1991 he published a guide to the wild plants of the Land of Israel with Naomi Feinbrun-Dothan. From 1995 he studied plant images on the Shroud of Turin and presented his findings at international conferences. In 2006 he founded Flora of Israel Online.

He retired in 2007 but continued his research. He received a lifetime achievement award in 2014 and died in 2015.