Avshalom Cyrus Elitzur (; born 30 May 1957), is an Iranian-born 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 cau ...

and

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

Biography

Avshalom Elitzur was born in Kerman, Iran, to a Jewish family. When he was two years old, his family immigrated to Israel and settled in

Rehovot Rehovot (, / ) is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel, about south of Tel Aviv. In it had a population of . Etymology Israel Belkind, founder of the Bilu (movement), Bilu movement, proposed the name "Rehovot ...

. He left school at the age of sixteen and began working as a laboratory technician at the

Weizmann Institute of Science The Weizmann Institute of Science ( ''Machon Weizmann LeMada'') is a Public university, public research university in Rehovot, Israel, established in 1934, fourteen years before the State of Israel was founded. Unlike other List of Israeli uni ...

. Elitzur received no formal university training before obtaining his PhD. Elitzur had a relationship with journalist Timura Lessinger, with whom he has a daughter.

Academic career

Elitzur was a senior lecturer at the Unit for Interdisciplinary Studies,

Bar-Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, , ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic university institution. It has 20,000 ...

, Ramat-Gan, Israel. He is noted for the Elitzur–Vaidman bomb tester experiment in

quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is the fundamental physical Scientific theory, theory that describes the behavior of matter and of light; its unusual characteristics typically occur at and below the scale of atoms. Reprinted, Addison-Wesley, 1989, It is ...

, which was publicised by

Roger Penrose Sir Roger Penrose (born 8 August 1931) is an English mathematician, mathematical physicist, Philosophy of science, philosopher of science and Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Laureate in Physics. He is Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics i ...

in his book '' Shadows of the Mind''. In 1987, he published ''Into the Holy of Holies: Psychoanalytic Insights into the Bible and Judaism''. That year, he was invited to present an unpublished manuscript on quantum mechanics at an international conference in

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. He was later invited by Yakir Aharonov of

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

, to write a doctoral thesis on the subject. He was the chief editor of natural sciences in Encyclopaedia Hebraica. In 2008, he was a visiting professor at

Joseph Fourier University Joseph Fourier University (UJF, , also known as Grenoble I) was a French university situated in the city of Grenoble and focused on the fields of sciences, technologies and health. It is now part of the Université Grenoble Alpes. Importance ...

. Elitzur is the founder of Iyar, the Israeli Institute for Advanced Research.

Award and recognitions

In 2010, Elitzur won the Noetic Medal of Consciousness and Brain Research for his contributions to the cosmology of the mind and Quantum Theory.The 2010 Noetic Medal awarded to Israeli Physicist Avshalom C. Elitzur
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Published works

Author

*לפני ולפנים - עיונים פסיכואנליטיים במקרא וביהדות, תל אביב, "ירום"-אליצור, 1987 * זמן ותודעה - תהיות חדשות על חידות עתיקות, אוניברסיטה משודרת, 1994,

Editor

* 'Endophysics, Time, Quantum and the Subjective', edited by Rosolino Buccheri, Avshalom C Elitzur and Metod Saniga; Germany, Bielefeld, 2005 * 'Quo Vadis Quantum Mechanics?' (The Frontiers Collection), by A. Elitzur (Editor), S. Dolev (Editor), N. Kolenda (Editor); New York: Springer, 2005 * 'Mind and its Place in the World: Phenomenology & Minds', Vol. 7 (Phenomenology & Mind) by Alexander Batthyany (Editor), Avshalom Elitzur (Editor), Ontos Verlag, 2006 * 'Irreducibly Conscious: Selected Papers on Consciousness', Herausgegeben von Batthyany, Alexander / Elitzur, Avshalom (Editors), Universitätsverlag Winter GmbH Heidelberg, 2009

References

External links

Elitzur website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elitzur, Avshalom 1957 births Living people Academic staff of Bar-Ilan University Israeli philosophers Israeli physicists Israeli Mizrahi Jews Iranian Jews Iranian emigrants to Israel Jewish physicists Quantum physicists Jewish philosophers Phenomenologists