Scienceמיכאל אבן-ארי

Michael Evenari

Michael Evenari was an Israeli botanist and professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, known for his research on desert agriculture in the Negev.

1904 to 1989Desert agriculture researchAncient Nabataean runoff farmingThe Avdat experimental farm

Born: 9 October 1904, Metz
Died: 15 April 1989, Jerusalem
Occupation: botanist, university teacher
Education: Technical University of Darmstadt, Goethe University Frankfurt

Michael Evenari was born in 1904 in Metz

Evenari was born Walter Schwarz in Metz on 9 October 1904, to a German Jewish merchant family. After World War I the family chose Germany and had to leave Metz. He grew up in Hesse.

He studied botany and earned his doctorate in 1927. He then taught at universities in Frankfurt, Prague and Darmstadt until 1933.

In 1933 he left Nazi Germany for the Land of Israel and joined the Haganah. From 1940 he served in the British Army, and he fought in the 1948 war.

He joined the botany department of the Hebrew University in 1934 and became a professor in 1951. From 1953 to 1959 he was vice president and oversaw building the Givat Ram campus. In 1959 he set up an experimental farm at ancient Avdat that tested ancient runoff farming methods.

In 1971 he became scientific director of the Sde Boker Midrasha. He received the Israel Prize and, in 1988, the Balzan Prize. He died on 15 April 1989 and was buried in Jerusalem.