David Faiman of the Ben-Gurion National Solar Energy Center

David Faiman (born 1944 in the United Kingdom) is a British and Israeli

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

Background

Faiman was educated at Willesden County Grammar School and the University of London, and received his Ph.D from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universi ...

in 1969. After post-doctoral appointments in Oxford and

CERN The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in a northwestern suburb of Gene ...

he arrived in Israel in September 1973, to take up an appointment in theoretical physics at the Weizmann Institute of Science. However, as a result of the energy crisis that followed the

Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab state ...

, he re-directed his research interests from elementary particles into solar energy. In 1976 he was recruited by Amos Richmond to assist in founding the

Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research (BIDR) constitute one of the academic faculties of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), and are located on BGU's Sede Boqer Campus in Midreshet Ben-Gurion in the heart of the Negev Desert ...

at the Sede Boqer campus of

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) ( he, אוניברסיטת בן-גוריון בנגב, ''Universitat Ben-Guriyon baNegev'') is a public research university in Beersheba, Israel. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has five campuses: the ...

. Faiman created the Institutes’ Department of Solar Energy & Environmental Physics, which he headed concurrently with the Ben-Gurion National Solar Energy Center until his retirement in 2013 at the rank of Professor Emeritus. Faiman lives in Sede Boqer, Israel, in a

passive solar house In passive solar building design, windows, walls, and floors are made to collect, store, reflect, and distribute solar energy, in the form of heat in the winter and reject solar heat in the summer. This is called passive solar design because, unli ...

where almost all of the heating and cooling needs are taken care of by the sun. His hobbies include biblical geography, and the music of

Giacomo Meyerbeer Giacomo Meyerbeer (born Jakob Liebmann Beer; 5 September 1791 – 2 May 1864) was a German opera composer, "the most frequently performed opera composer during the nineteenth century, linking Mozart and Wagner". With his 1831 opera ''Robert le di ...

Career

Faiman’s theoretical physics research focused on hadron spectroscopy using the

quark A quark () is a type of elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. All commonly o ...

model and various associated symmetries. His solar energy research spanned studies of

solar radiation Solar irradiance is the power per unit area (surface power density) received from the Sun in the form of electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range of the measuring instrument. Solar irradiance is measured in watts per square metre (W/ ...

energy conversion Energy transformation, also known as energy conversion, is the process of changing energy from one form to another. In physics, energy is a quantity that provides the capacity to perform work or moving, (e.g. Lifting an object) or provides heat. ...

devices, and power-producing systems. His most celebrated work was the development, in collaboration with the

Zenith Solar Zenith Solar was an Israeli solar energy company based in Ness Ziona. History Zenith Solar was founded in 2006 by Roy Segev, David Faiman and Bob Whelen.Reflective mirrors seen raising solar potential
Ari Rabinovitch, '' Reuters'', August 29, 2007. Under full sunshine, this system generated 2 kW of electric power and 5 kW of thermal power, the latter in the form of hot water at 80oC.Israel Pushes Solar Energy Technology

Linda Gradstein Linda Gradstein is the Israel bureau chief for The Media Line news agency. Gradstein was the Israel correspondent for NPR News from 1990 until 2009. As a freelance reporter she has reported for PRI's ''The World'' and AOL News and other venues s ...

, '' National Public Radio'', October 22, 2007. Faiman was Israel’s representative on solar energy to UNESCO, the FAO and Tasks 2 and 8 of the

International Energy Agency The International Energy Agency (IEA) is a Paris-based autonomous intergovernmental organisation, established in 1974, that provides policy recommendations, analysis and data on the entire global energy sector, with a recent focus on curbing carb ...

. Within the latter framework he co-authored the series of books ''Energy from the Desert''.

References

External links

Faculty biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Faiman, David 1944 births Living people Alumni of the University of London Ben-Gurion University of the Negev faculty British emigrants to Israel British Jews Israeli Jews Israeli people of British-Jewish descent Israeli physicists Jewish physicists People associated with solar power Solar power in Israel University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni

Background

Career

See also

References

External links