Yuval Ne'eman ( he, יובל נאמן, 14 May 1925 – 26 April 2006) was an Israeli

theoretical A theory is a rational type of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the results of such thinking. The process of contemplative and rational thinking is often associated with such processes as observational study or research. Theories may be ...

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 ...

, military scientist, and politician. He was Minister of Science and Development in the 1980s and early 1990s. He was the President of Tel Aviv University from 1971 to 1977. He was awarded the Israel Prize in the field of exact sciences (which he returned in 1992 in protest of the award of the Israel Prize to

Emile Habibi Emile Shukri Habibi ( ar, إميل حبيبي, he, אמיל חביבי, 28 January 1922 – 2 May 1996) was a Palestinian-Israeli

), the

Albert Einstein Award The Albert Einstein Award (sometimes mistakenly called the ''Albert Einstein Medal'' because it was accompanied with a gold medal) was an award in theoretical physics, given periodically from 1951 to 1979, that was established to recognize high ac ...

, the Wigner Medal, and the EMET Prize for Arts, Sciences and Culture.

Biography

Yuval Ne'eman was born in Tel Aviv during the Mandate era, graduated from high school at the age of 15, and studied

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, an ...

at the Technion. At the age of 15, Ne'eman also joined the

Haganah Haganah ( he, הַהֲגָנָה, lit. ''The Defence'') was the main Zionist paramilitary organization of the Jewish population ("Yishuv") in Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and its disestablishment in 1948, when it became the core of the Is ...

. During the

1948 Arab-Israeli War Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

Ne'eman served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as battalion deputy commander, then as Operations Officer of Tel Aviv, and commander of

Givati Brigade The 84th "Givati" Brigade ( he, חֲטִיבַת גִּבְעָתִי, , "Hill Brigade" or "Highland Brigade") is an Israel Defense Forces infantry brigade. Until 2005, the Brigade used to be stationed within the Gaza Strip and primarily perf ...

. Later (1952–54) he served as Deputy Commander of Operations Department of General Staff, Commander of the Planning Department of the IDF. In this role, he helped organize the IDF into a reservist-based army, developed the mobilization system, and wrote the first draft of Israel's defense doctrine. Between 1958 and 1960 Ne'eman was IDF Attaché in Great Britain, where he also studied for a PhD in physics under the supervision of 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics winner

Abdus Salam Mohammad Abdus Salam Salam adopted the forename "Mohammad" in 1974 in response to the anti-Ahmadiyya decrees in Pakistan, similarly he grew his beard. (; ; 29 January 192621 November 1996) was a Punjabis, Punjabi Pakistani theoretical physici ...

at Imperial College London. In 1961, he was demobilized from the IDF with a rank of

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

. In 1981, Ne'eman became a founding member of the

World Cultural Council The World Cultural Council is an international organization whose goals are to promote cultural values, goodwill and philanthropy among individuals. The organization founded in 1981 and based in Mexico, has held a yearly award ceremony since 198 ...

. Between 1998 and 2002 Ne'eman was the head of the Israeli Engineer Association

Scientific career

One of his greatest achievements in physics was his 1961 discovery of the classification of

hadron In particle physics, a hadron (; grc, ἁδρός, hadrós; "stout, thick") is a composite subatomic particle made of two or more quarks held together by the strong interaction. They are analogous to molecules that are held together by the e ...

s through the SU(3)

flavour symmetry In particle physics, flavour or flavor refers to the ''species'' of an elementary particle. The Standard Model counts six flavours of quarks and six flavours of leptons. They are conventionally parameterized with ''flavour quantum numbers'' th ...

, now named the '' Eightfold Way'', which was also proposed independently by Murray Gell-Mann. This SU(3) symmetry laid the foundation of the quark model, proposed by Gell-Mann and

George Zweig George Zweig (; born May 30, 1937) is a Russian-American physicist. He was trained as a particle physicist under Richard Feynman. He introduced, independently of Murray Gell-Mann, the quark model (although he named it "aces"). He later turned his ...

in 1964 (independently of each other). Ne'eman was founder and director of the School of Physics and Astronomy at Tel Aviv University from 1965 to 1972, President of Tel Aviv University from 1971 to 1977 (following George S. Wise, and succeeded by

Haim Ben-Shahar Haim Ben-Shahar (חיים בן שחר) (born c.1935) is an Israeli economist, and former President of Tel Aviv University. Biography Ben-Shahar was born in Israel. He earned a Ph.D. in Banking and Finance from New York University. He is an econo ...

), and director of its Sackler Institute of Advanced Studies from 1979 to 1997. He was also the co-director (along with Sudarshan) of the Center for Particle Theory at the University of Texas, Austin from 1968 to 1990. He was a strong believer in the importance of space research and satellites to Israel's economic future and security, and thus founded the

Israel Space Agency The Israel Space Agency (ISA; he, סוכנות החלל הישראלית, ''Sokhnut heKhalal haYisraelit'') is a governmental body, a part of Israel's Ministry of Science and Technology, that coordinates all Israeli space research programs wit ...

in 1983, which he chaired almost until his death. He also served on the

Israel Atomic Energy Commission The Israel Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) ( he, הוועדה לאנרגיה אטומית) is the governmental authority responsible for the State of Israel's activities in the nuclear field. History The establishment of the Israel Atomic Energy C ...

from 1965 to 1984 and held the position of scientific director in its Soreq facility. Nee'man was chief scientist of the Defense Ministry from 1974 to 1976. He was described as "one of the most colorful figures of modern science" and co-authored ''The Particle Hunters'', which was published in English in 1986. '' The Times Literary Supplement'' hailed this book as "the best guide to quantum physics at present available".

Awards and honours

*In 1969, Ne'eman received the Israel Prize in the field of exact sciences (which he returned in 1992 in protest of the award of the Israel Prize to

Emile Habibi Emile Shukri Habibi ( ar, إميل حبيبي, he, אמיל חביבי, 28 January 1922 – 2 May 1996) was a Palestinian-Israeli

). *In 1970, he received the

for his unique contribution in the field of physics. *In 1972, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. *In 1984, he received the Wigner Medal, which is awarded every 2 years for "outstanding contributions to the understanding of physics through group theory." *In 2003, he received the EMET Prize for Arts, Sciences and Culture for his pioneering contribution in the deciphering of the atomic nucleus and its components, and for his enormous scientific contribution to the development of sub-atomic physics in Israel. He was also awarded with the College de France Medal and the Officer's Cross of the French Order of Merit (Paris, 1972), the Wigner Medal (Istanbul-Austin, 1982), Birla Science Award (Hyderabad, 1998) and additional prizes and honorary doctorates from universities in Europe and USA.

Political career

In the late 1970s, Ne'eman founded

Tehiya Tehiya ( he, תחיה, ''Revival''), originally known as Banai (Hebrew: , an acronym for ''Land of Israel Loyalists' Alliance'' (Hebrew: )), then Tehiya-Bnai (Hebrew: ), was an ultranationalist political party in Israel. The party existed from ...

, a right-wing breakaway from Likud, formed in opposition to

Menachem Begin Menachem Begin ( ''Menaḥem Begin'' (); pl, Menachem Begin (Polish documents, 1931–1937); ''Menakhem Volfovich Begin''; 16 August 1913 – 9 March 1992) was an Israeli politician, founder of Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of Israel. B ...

's support for the Camp David talks that paved the way for peace with Egypt and the evacuation of

Yamit Yamit ( he, ימית) was an Israeli settlement in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula with a population of about 2,500 people. Yamit was established during Israel's occupation of the peninsula from the end of the 1967 Six-Day War until th ...

. He was elected to the

Knesset The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with th ...

in the 1981 elections in which Tehiya won three seats. The party joined Begin's coalition about a year after the elections and Ne'eman was appointed Minister of Science and Development, the role later changed to Minister of Science and Technology. He retained his seat in the 1984 elections, but Tehiya were not included in the grand coalition formed by the

Alignment Alignment may refer to: Archaeology * Alignment (archaeology), a co-linear arrangement of features or structures with external landmarks * Stone alignment, a linear arrangement of upright, parallel megalithic standing stones Biology * Struc ...

and Likud. After the 1988 elections, Tehiya were again excluded from the governing coalition. Ne'eman resigned from the Knesset on 31 January 1990 and was replaced by Gershon Shafat. However, Tehiya joined the government in June after the Alignment had left, and he was appointed Minister of Energy and Infrastructure and Minister of Science and Technology despite not retaking his seat in the Knesset. He lost his ministerial position following the 1992 elections and did not return to politics.

Death

He died at age 80, on 26 April 2006 in the Ichilov Hospital, Tel Aviv, from a stroke. He left a wife, Dvora; a son and daughter; and a sister, Ruth Ben-Yisrael.

References

External links

* *
Jerusalem Post obituary

Yuval Ne'eman's papers in the INSPIRE-HEP database

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neeman, Yuval 1925 births 2006 deaths People from Tel Aviv Jews in Mandatory Palestine Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium alumni Technion – Israel Institute of Technology alumni Haganah members Israeli soldiers Israeli Jews Presidents of universities in Israel Jewish scientists Particle physicists Israeli physicists Israeli nuclear physicists Tel Aviv University faculty Israel Prize in exact science recipients Israel Prize in exact science recipients who were physicists EMET Prize recipients in the Exact Sciences Members of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Tehiya leaders Founding members of the World Cultural Council Space program of Israel Jewish physicists Jewish Israeli politicians Members of the 10th Knesset (1981–1984) Members of the 11th Knesset (1984–1988) Members of the 12th Knesset (1988–1992) Fellows of the American Physical Society Burials at Trumpeldor Cemetery Leaders of the Opposition (Israel) Ministers of Energy of Israel Ministers of Infrastructure of Israel Ministers of Science of Israel