Raphael Mechoulam

Raphael Mechoulam was born in 1930 in Sofia

Mechoulam was born in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1930 to a Sephardic Jewish family. His father was a physician who headed a hospital. During World War II the family moved between villages, and his father was sent to a concentration camp, which he survived.

He studied chemical engineering in Bulgaria, and in 1949 the family immigrated to Israel. He earned a master's degree in biochemistry from the Hebrew University in 1952. After army service, he completed a doctorate on steroid synthesis at the Weizmann Institute and did postdoctoral work at the Rockefeller Institute in New York.

In 1963 he began studying the components of cannabis, and in 1964, with Yechiel Gaoni, he isolated pure THC and described its structure. He later identified anandamide and 2-AG, substances in the body that act on cannabinoid receptors. This work led to the discovery of the endocannabinoid system.

He joined the Hebrew University faculty in 1966 and became a full professor in 1972. He served as rector from 1979 to 1982 and was elected to the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities in 1994. He received the Israel Prize in 2000 and died on 9 March 2023.