Shlomo Kaplansky

Shlomo Kaplansky was born in 1884 in Białystok

Shlomo Kaplansky was born in Białystok in 1884 to Sarah and Nachman, a merchant. He studied in a cheder, a primary school and a gymnasium, and was active in Zionist work and learned Hebrew.

In 1903 he went to study at the Polytechnic in Vienna and qualified as an engineer in 1912. In Vienna he founded the Austrian branch of Poale Zion and helped found its world union in 1907. He later headed the World Union of Poale Zion, and in 1920 he and David Ben-Gurion set up a party office in London.

He moved to the Land of Israel in 1912 and was among the first group to settle at Merhavia. A member of Ahdut HaAvoda, he supported a bi-national state and cooperation with the Arabs, a view Ben-Gurion opposed. He directed the Zionist Settlement Department and sat on the Zionist Executive and the National Council.

He led the Technion until his death in 1950. In his time it became an academic institution, and faculties of mechanical, electrical and chemical engineering were founded. He died in Haifa in 1950 and was buried at Merhavia.