Yaakov Ben-Tor (; 1910–2002) was an Israeli

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

Biography

Ben-Tor was born as Kurt Winter in the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...

city of

Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

, Germany, (since 1945

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad,. known as Königsberg; ; . until 1946, is the largest city and administrative centre of Kaliningrad Oblast, an Enclave and exclave, exclave of Russia between Lithuania and Poland ( west of the bulk of Russia), located on the Prego ...

, now in Russia) in 1910. Winter began studying law at the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg () was the university of Königsberg in Duchy of Prussia, which was a fief of Poland. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant Reformation, Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke A ...

, continuing in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and then studied

Linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

at the

University of the Sorbonne The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

in Paris, prior to leaving Europe. With the rise of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

in Germany, he emigrated to the then British Mandate of Palestine (now

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

) in 1933, where he later hebraicized his name. Ben-Tor joined the

Geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

Department at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

, and continued on to doctoral studies in Switzerland, where he was erroneously arrested at the outbreak of the Second World War on suspicion of being a German spy, but he managed to flee home to Mandate Palestine. Not long after, he completed his thesis in Geology at the Hebrew University, becoming the first person to be awarded a doctoral degree by the University. Ben-Tor served from 1944-1948 in the state-to-be's Provisional Council, as a member of the Aliyah Hadashah Party, comprising immigrants from Germany. He was also active in the

Haganah Haganah ( , ) was the main Zionist political violence, Zionist paramilitary organization that operated for the Yishuv in the Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine. It was founded in 1920 to defend the Yishuv's presence in the reg ...

(the underground Jewish defence force) and was asked to serve in Hemed, its Scientific Division, by Professor Yisrael Dostrovski. At the height of the

1947–1949 Palestine war The 1948 Palestine war was fought in the territory of what had been, at the start of the war, British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. During the war, the British withdrew from Palestine, Zionism, Zionist forces conquered territory and established ...

, together with Leo Picard and Akiva Vroman, he conducted geological mapping surveys of the

Negev The Negev ( ; ) or Naqab (), is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its southern end is the Gulf of Aqaba and the resort town, resort city ...

, for the purpose of locating potential deposits of oil and

uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...

: however, they found only

phosphate Phosphates are the naturally occurring form of the element phosphorus. In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthop ...

deposits Oron, near Dimona, and copper at

Timna Timna ( Qatabānic: , romanized: , ; ) is an ancient city in Yemen, the capital of the Qataban kingdom. During ancient times, Timna was an important hub in the famous Incense Route, which supplied Arabian and Indian incense via camel caravan ...

. For this work, he and Vroman were later awarded the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize (; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History Prior to the Israel Prize, the most significant award in the arts was the Dizengoff Prize and in Israel ...

. During this period, Ben-Tor also completed a second doctorate with distinction, this time at the Sorbonne. In 1953, he served as the head of the

Israel Geological Society The Israel Geological Society (IGS) is a non-profit organization that is the national organization for geologists in Israel, including those working in academic institutions, research institutions and commercial organizations; it is also open ...

and in 1954 he was appointed head of the Israel Geological Survey. He later became Head of the

Department at the

and later was also a professor at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

, in the United States of America. The mineral

Bentorite Bentorite is a mineral with the chemical formula . It is colored violet to light violet. Its crystals are hexagonal to dihexagonal dipyramidal. It is transparent and has vitreous luster. It has perfect cleavage. It is not radioactive. Bentorite ...

, discovered in the

Hatrurim Formation The Hatrurim Formation or Mottled Zone is a geologic formation with outcrops all around the Dead Sea Basin: in the Negev Desert in Israel, in the Judaean Desert on the West Bank, and in western Jordan. It includes late Cretaceous to Eocene aged im ...

of the

Dead Sea The Dead Sea (; or ; ), also known by #Names, other names, is a landlocked salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east, the Israeli-occupied West Bank to the west and Israel to the southwest. It lies in the endorheic basin of the Jordan Rift Valle ...

in 1980 by

Shulamit Gross Shulamit Gross (; lived 1 October 1923 – 19 Sep 2012) was an Israeli mineralogist and geologist who studied the Hatrurim Formation. Biography Gross was born as Shulamit Lifszyc in Grodno, Poland (today, Hrodna, Belarus). She was the daughte ...

, was named in his honour. The

dinoflagellate cyst Dinocysts or dinoflagellate cysts are typically 15 to 100 μm in diameter and produced by dinoflagellates as a dormant, zygotic stage of their lifecycle, which can accumulate in the sediments as microfossils. Organic-walled dinocysts are often ...

''Spiniferites bentorii'' was also named in his honour.

Awards

* In 1955, Ben-Tor was awarded the

, for his contribution to

Life Sciences This list of life sciences comprises the branches of science that involve the scientific study of life – such as microorganisms, plants, and animals including human beings. This science is one of the two major branches of natural science, ...

References

External links

Bentorite Mineral Data
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ben-Tor, Yaakov 1910 births 2002 deaths University of Königsberg alumni Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni University of Paris alumni University of California, San Diego faculty Israel Prize in life sciences recipients Israel Prize in life sciences recipients who were geologists Israeli geologists Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to Mandatory Palestine Scientists from Königsberg People from East Prussia 20th-century geologists German expatriates in France Burials at Har HaMenuchot

Biography

Awards

See also

References

External links