Benjamin Fain (, ; February 17, 1930 – April 15, 2013) was an Israeli physicist, professor-emeritus, and former

refusenik Refusenik (, ; alternatively spelled refusnik) was an unofficial term for individuals—typically, but not exclusively, Soviet Jews—who were denied permission to emigrate, primarily to Israel, by the authorities of the Soviet Union and oth ...

Biography

Fain was born to a Jewish family in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

. His father was a mathematician. He instilled in the child a love for science as well as a strong national sentiment. Benjamin Fain was named after his grandfather, who was murdered in the Proskurov pogrom. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the family was evacuated and changed location several times. After the end of the war the family stayed in

Dushanbe Dushanbe is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Tajikistan. , Dushanbe had a population of 1,564,700, with this population being largely Tajiks, Tajik. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe, and from 1929 to 1961 as St ...

, where Fain graduated from school. He became a student in the Moscow Institute of Energetics. During his first year in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

he visited

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

and attempted to learn the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

and

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

languages. Fain was strongly impressed by the historical visit of the first Israeli ambassador to

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Golda Meir Golda Meir (; 3 May 1898 – 8 December 1978) was the prime minister of Israel, serving from 1969 to 1974. She was Israel's first and only female head of government. Born into a Jewish family in Kyiv, Kiev, Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine) ...

. Fain managed to transfer in 1950 to the Faculty 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 ...

in Gorky University. He graduated there

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

. His instructor was future

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

winner

Vitaly Ginzburg Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg ForMemRS (; – 8 November 2009) was a Russian physicist who was honored with the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2003, together with Alexei Abrikosov and Anthony Leggett for their "pioneering contributions to the theory ...

Academic career

Fain successfully started his scientific career, and already in 1965 became a professor in his

alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...

. He wrote several scientific books translated into English and German. In 1966 he moved to Moscow and started successful work in the Institute of Solid State Physics in Chernogolovka. Starting from 1972 Fain gradually started to participate in a

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

movement. He took part in

scientific seminar, and also in

Samizdat Samizdat (, , ) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the documents from reader to reader. The practice of manual rep ...

. He applied for exit visa to Israel in 1974 and became a

. He also became unemployed after dismissal from his work on political grounds.

Sociological research of Soviet Jewry

In 1976 Fain initiated a sociological research on Soviet Jewry. An attempt to organize an international symposium on the subject was foiled by the

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

, which closely watched all his steps from then on. At the same period Fain gradually started practicing

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

. After several arrests, searches, interrogations and a hunger strike Fain finally arrived in Israel in 1977. Fain published his study on

Jewish identity Jewish identity is the objective or subjective sense of perceiving oneself as a Jew and as relating to being Jewish. It encompasses elements of nationhood, "The Jews are a nation and were so before there was a Jewish state of Israel" "Jews are ...

Soviet Jews The history of the Jews in the Soviet Union is inextricably linked to much earlier expansionist policies of the Russian Empire conquering and ruling the eastern half of the European continent already before the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. "Fo ...

with the American sociologist Mervin Verbit. Fain and Verbit published their findings in 1984 through the

Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs The Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA), formerly the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA), is an Israeli think tank specializing in public diplomacy and foreign policy founded in 1976. JCPA publishes the biennial jo ...

In Israel

He continued to struggle to improve the life of Soviet Jews and also continued his scientific work in

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 ...

in the fields of

quantum electronics Quantum optics is a branch of atomic, molecular, and optical physics and quantum chemistry that studies the behavior of photons (individual quanta of light). It includes the study of the particle-like properties of photons and their interaction w ...

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word ''laser'' originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radi ...

s and condensed matter. Starting from 1998 his field of interest moved to the

philosophy of science Philosophy of science is the branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. Amongst its central questions are the difference between science and non-science, the reliability of scientific theories, ...

and Judaism and the interrelation between them. After retirement Fain wrote his first philosophic book in Hebrew: "Creation Ex Nihilo", where he analyzes the relationship between

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

and

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

. It was published in Hebrew as well as in English and Russian translations. The Russian version of the book also has an autobiographic part to it. In 2008 Fain completed another book in Hebrew: "Law and Providence". It was published in 2011 in English by Urim Publications. In January 2011 Fain's third book was published by .

Children

Fain is the father of two sons and one daughter.

References

Bibliography

"Creation Ex Nihilo : Thoughts on Science, Divine Providence, Free Will, and Faith in the Perspective of My Own Experiences"
Benjamin Fain * "Laws of Nature and the Providence", Benjamin Fain (in print)
"Quantum Electronics"
by Benjamin Fain and Ya. I. Khanin, The MIT Press (15 September 1969), in English, , {{DEFAULTSORT:Fain, Benjamin 1930 births 2013 deaths Israeli Ashkenazi Jews Israeli physicists Scientists from Kyiv Refuseniks Russian physicists Soviet emigrants to Israel Jewish Ukrainian scientists Jewish physicists Modern Hebrew writers Russian Zionists