Israel Dostrovsky

Israel Dostrovsky was born in 1918 in Odesa

Dostrovsky was born in Odesa in 1918. In 1919 he came to the Land of Israel with his parents aboard the ship Ruslan. His father, the dermatologist Arieh Dostrovsky, was a founder of the Hebrew University medical school and of Hadassah hospital, and his cousin Yaacov Dori became the first IDF Chief of Staff.

He studied at the Hebrew Gymnasium in Jerusalem and joined a youth movement whose members founded kibbutz Maoz Haim. He earned a B.Sc. in chemistry in 1940 and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 1943 at University College London. He then taught chemistry in Britain.

In 1948 he returned and joined the Weizmann Institute, where he headed the Isotope Research Department for 17 years. He set up a facility on campus that produced water enriched with heavy oxygen for medical diagnosis. He was the first Director of Research of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission and later its Director-General until 1971.

He became vice president of the Weizmann Institute in 1971 and served as its fifth president from 1973 to 1975, when he was named Institute Professor. He chaired Israel's Desalination Committee from 1966 to 1981 and promoted solar energy research. He also took part in the GALLEX neutrino experiment in Italy.

He was married to Daphne and had 2 children. He died in 2010 and was buried at kibbutz Maoz Haim.