Scienceחיים לייב פקריס

Chaim L. Pekeris

Chaim L. Pekeris was an Israeli-American mathematician and physicist who founded the applied mathematics department at the Weizmann Institute and initiated WEIZAC, the first computer in Israel.

1908 to 1993Initiating WEIZAC computerWeizmann Institute applied mathematics departmentGeophysics and tidal researchSpectral theory of helium

Born: 15 June 1908, Alytus
Died: 24 February 1993, Rehovot
Occupation: mathematician, physicist, geologist
Education: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Chaim L. Pekeris was born in 1908 in Alytus

Pekeris was born in 1908 in Alytus, Lithuania, the son of Shmuel, a baker, and Chaya. His parents and younger sister were killed in the Holocaust. In 1924 he finished the Hebrew Real Gymnasium in Kaunas.

With help from his uncle, he and his brothers moved to the United States. He entered MIT in 1925, earned a B.Sc. in meteorology in 1929, and studied under Carl-Gustav Rossby for his doctorate. He married Lea Kaplan in 1933.

He taught geophysics at MIT from 1934 and became a US citizen in 1938. In 1941 he moved to Columbia University for military research, and in 1946 he joined the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He also helped move surplus military equipment to the Haganah.

In 1948 he moved to Israel and founded the applied mathematics department at the Weizmann Institute, which he headed until 1973. He proposed building WEIZAC to solve tidal equations, and its first computation ran in 1955. His research covered tides, seismology and the helium atom.

He received the Vetlesen Prize in 1974 and the Israel Prize in physics in 1980. He died in Rehovot in 1993, and a street there bears his name.

Chaim L. Pekeris's life in 10 milestones

1908
Born in Alytus.
1925
Began studies at MIT.
1934
Joined the MIT faculty in geophysics.
1946
Joined the Institute for Advanced Study.
1948
Moved to Israel.
1955
WEIZAC performed its first computation.
1958
Received the Weizmann Prize for Exact Sciences.
1973
Retired as head of the applied mathematics department.
1980
Received the Israel Prize in physics.
1993
Died in Rehovot.

Chaim L. Pekeris served in the military

He was not a soldier, but in the 1940s he helped transfer surplus military equipment to the Haganah, and during the 1948 war he took part in a secret program in New York State developing munitions for Israel.