Scienceגרשון בן-שחר

Gershon Ben-Shakhar

Gershon Ben-Shakhar was an Israeli psychologist who served as president of the Open University of Israel and received the Israel Prize in 2024.

1942 to 2026Developing the psychometric entrance examResearch on psychophysiological information detectionCritique of polygraph lie detectionPresidency of the Open University

Born: 25 May 1942, Jerusalem
Died: 11 February 2026
Occupation: psychologist
Education: Northwestern University

Gershon Ben-Shakhar was born in 1942 in Jerusalem

Gershon Ben-Shakhar was born in Jerusalem on May 25, 1942. He did his military service in the Nahal.

He studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, earning a B.A. in psychology and statistics in 1966, an M.A. in 1970 and a Ph.D. in 1975. He then spent a postdoctoral year at Northwestern University in Illinois.

From 1970 he set up an exam unit at the Faculty of Social Sciences, whose admission test became known as the psychometric exam and led to the founding of the National Institute for Testing and Evaluation. He taught in the psychology department of the Hebrew University and served as department chair, dean of social sciences and pro-rector. His research covered orienting responses and detecting information through physiological reactions, and he argued that polygraph lie detection lacks a scientific basis.

In 2003 he became president of the Open University of Israel, succeeding Eliahu Nissim, and held the post until 2008. He then returned to research at the Hebrew University. He died on February 11, 2026, and was buried in Kiryat Anavim.