Yigal Ronen

Yigal Ronen was born in 1940 in Haifa

Yigal Ronen was born in Haifa on August 16, 1940, to Moshe and Hadassah Ronen. He finished the naval officers school in Acre in 1959 and the naval officers course in 1961. He then served in Shayetet 13.

He earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering at the Technion in 1964 and a master's degree in nuclear engineering there in 1967. That year he began doctoral studies at Cornell University in the United States.

After his doctorate he worked as a scientist at the nuclear reactor in Dimona and taught nuclear engineering at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He headed the department from 1977 and again from 1993 to 1996, and became a full professor in 1985. He studied nuclear reactor theory, nuclear fusion, philosophy of science and archaeology, and collected coins of the Land of Israel.

From 1995 to 2002 he was vice rector and dean of the Kreitman School of Advanced Graduate Studies, and from 2003 to 2008 dean of the Faculty of Engineering. He wrote more than 120 papers and publications. He died on December 10, 2025.