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Joshua Jortner

Joshua Jortner is an Israeli physical chemist at Tel Aviv University, known for theoretical work on energy transfer in molecules and for receiving the Israel Prize and the Wolf Prize in Chemistry.

born 1933Theory of radiationless molecular transitionsFounding Tel Aviv University's chemistry departmentPresiding over the Israel AcademyIsrael Prize and Wolf Prize

Born: 14 March 1933, Tarnów
Occupation: chemist, university teacher
Education: Hebrew University of Jerusalem, University of Chicago, Tel Aviv University

Joshua Jortner was born in 1933 in Tarnów

Jortner was born on March 14, 1933, in Tarnów, Poland, to a Jewish family. His family moved to Chernivtsi and then Bucharest, and in 1940 they reached Palestine as refugees. They settled in Tel Aviv, where he attended Tel Nordau school and Ironi Alef high school.

He studied chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and finished his master's degree in 1955. He earned his Ph.D. in 1960 under Gabriel Stein, studying how metal ions in water react to light. During his studies he served as an officer in the IDF Science Corps.

He lectured at the Hebrew University and was a research associate at the University of Chicago with Stuart Rice. In 1964 he joined Tel Aviv University, where he founded the chemistry department and served as its first chairman. He also held administrative posts, including vice president of the university.

In 1968 he and Mordechai Bixon published a theory of radiationless energy transitions inside molecules. He later worked on molecular wavepacket dynamics, solvated electrons and charge transfer. He was president of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities from 1986 to 1995.

He is a professor emeritus at Tel Aviv University. He is married to Ruth T. Jortner, a cardiologist, and they have a son, Roni, and a daughter, Iris.