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Clara Heyn

Clara Heyn was an Israeli botanist and professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who studied legumes, especially the genus Medicago.

1924 to 1998Research on the genus MedicagoManaging the Hebrew University herbariumCo-founding OPTIMABryophyte Flora of Israel

Born: 13 June 1924, Cluj-Napoca
Died: 27 December 1998, Jerusalem
Occupation: botanist, botanical collector, scientific collector
Education: Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Clara Heyn was born in 1924 in Cluj-Napoca

Clara Blau was born in 1924 in Cluj, Romania. Her father was a journalist and businessman, and her brother was Joshua Blau. The family moved to Austria in 1931, left after the Anschluss in 1938, and settled in Tel Aviv.

She studied at a teachers seminary and taught in an elementary school for 7 years. In 1945 she began studying biology at the Hebrew University, after hearing a lecture by Yeshayahu Leibowitz. In 1946 she married the poet Zalman Heyn, and they had 2 children.

The War of Independence interrupted her studies, and she was active in the Haganah and the IDF. She earned a master's degree in botany in 1954 and a doctorate in 1960, on annual species of Medicago. Her advisers were Naomi Feinbrun and Michael Zohary.

She joined the university's botany staff in 1962 and became a full professor in 1978. She ran the university herbarium from 1969 to 1997 and helped computerize its collections. She was a founder of OPTIMA in 1974 and headed the Academy of the Hebrew Language committee on plant names.

Later she studied the mosses of Israel with Ilana Herrnstadt. She died of cancer on December 27, 1998, in Jerusalem. Three plant taxa are named after her.