Shimon Kanovitch

Shimon Kanovitch was born in 1900 in Germany

Shimon Kanovitch was born in 1900 in Insterburg, in East Prussia, Germany. As a young man he became active in the Zionist movement and in Zionist student groups. He later served as secretary of the Zionist Federation in Germany.

He studied medicine at universities in Königsberg, Frankfurt and Tübingen. He trained as a pediatrician.

In 1933 he immigrated to the Land of Israel and worked as a doctor at the health fund, later also in private practice. He was elected deputy chairman of the Medical Association. He lectured at the Hebrew University medical school and taught educational psychology at the Kibbutz Seminary.

In 1942 he was among the founders of the New Aliyah Party, which later became the basis of the Progressive Party. He was elected to the fourth Knesset for the Progressive Party in 1959 and sat on the Interior Committee and the Public Services Committee. During his term the party merged into the Liberal Party.

In 1961 a law on preventing nuisances was passed, known as the Kanovitch Law. It defined noise, odors and air pollution as nuisances and became a basis for environmental laws. He lost his seat in the 1961 elections and died that year.