Avishai Dekel
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Avishai Dekel (; born 1951) is a professor of
physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...
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. ...
, holding the Andre Aisenstadt Chair of
Theoretical Physics Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict List of natural phenomena, natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental p ...
. His primary research interests are in
astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline, James Keeler, said, astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the ...
and
cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe, the cosmos. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', with the meaning of "a speaking of the wo ...
.


Academic career

Dekel earned his
Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
from the Hebrew University in 1980, and was a research fellow at
Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private university, private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small g ...
and assistant professor at
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
before joining the faculty of the Hebrew University in 1986. He served as the Head of
The Racah Institute of Physics The Racah Institute of Physics () is an institute at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, part of the faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences on the Edmund J. Safra Campus in the Givat Ram neighborhood of Jerusalem. The institute is the cente ...
(1997–2001), the Dean of the Authority for the Community and Youth at the Hebrew University (2005–2011), and the President of the Israel Physical Society (2008–11). He headed the university computing committee, was a member of the executive committee of the board of trustees and a member of the standing committee of the Hebrew University. Dekel was awarded a Visiting Miller Professorship at UC Berkeley, a
Blaise Pascal Blaise Pascal (19June 162319August 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic Church, Catholic writer. Pascal was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen. His earliest ...
International Chair of Research by the
École Normale Supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...
in Paris (2004–06), and a Lagrange fellowship in IAP Paris (2015–16). He has been elected as a fellow of the Israel Physical Society (2019), and has been awarded the Landau Prize for Arts and Sciences (2020). Dekel is known for his contributions to research in cosmology, especially the study of the formation of
galaxies A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, and dark matter bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar Sys ...
and large-scale structure in the Universe, which is dominated by
dark energy In physical cosmology and astronomy, dark energy is a proposed form of energy that affects the universe on the largest scales. Its primary effect is to drive the accelerating expansion of the universe. It also slows the rate of structure format ...
and
dark matter In astronomy, dark matter is an invisible and hypothetical form of matter that does not interact with light or other electromagnetic radiation. Dark matter is implied by gravity, gravitational effects that cannot be explained by general relat ...
. His expertise is
dwarf galaxies A dwarf galaxy is a small galaxy composed of about 1000 up to several billion stars, as compared to the Milky Way's 200–400 billion stars. The Large Magellanic Cloud, which closely orbits the Milky Way and contains over 30 billion stars, is so ...
and
supernova A supernova (: supernovae or supernovas) is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. A supernova occurs during the last stellar evolution, evolutionary stages of a massive star, or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion ...
feedback (1986, 2003), large-scale cosmic flows and early estimates of fundamental cosmological parameters (1989-2001), the structure of dark-matter galactic halos (2000–2003), and the theory of
galaxy formation In cosmology, the study of galaxy formation and evolution is concerned with the processes that formed a Homogeneity and heterogeneity, heterogeneous universe from a Big Bang, homogeneous beginning, the formation of the first galaxies, the way ga ...
(2003–2012). His research focuses on galaxy formation in its most active phase at the early universe, using analytic models and computer simulations. He studies how continuous streams of cold gas and merging galaxies from the cosmic web lead to star-forming disks and drive violent gravitational disk instability, and how this instability leads to the formation of compact spheroidal galactic components with central massive black holes. His recent work focuses on the formation of the first galaxies as observed by the James Webb Space Telescope, proposing a unique phase of feedback-free starbursts in the early Universe. Dekel is the most highly cited astrophysicist in Israel, with 60,000 citations and H-index 120.


References


External links


Scholarly Works by Avishai Dekel from the Astrophysical Data System
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dekel, Avishai 1951 births Living people Israeli Jews Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Israeli astronomers Cosmologists Israeli physicists Israeli astrophysicists Jewish physicists California Institute of Technology fellows