Daniel Zajfman (; born June 7, 1959) is an 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 ...

whose main research interests are centered on the physics of simple

molecular ion A molecule is a group of two or more atoms that are held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions that satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, ...

s. On December 1, 2006, he was elected as the tenth president of the

Weizmann Institute 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 ...

Early life

Daniel Zajfman was born in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, Belgium. He joined the

Hashomer Hatzair Hashomer Hatzair (, , 'The Young Guard') is a Labor Zionism, Labor Zionist, secular Jewish youth movement founded in 1913 in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary. It was also the name of the Hashomer Hatzair Workers Party, the ...

movement while studying at the

Athénée Robert Catteau The Athénée Robert Catteau (ARC) is a French-language secondary school owned by the City of Brussels, located on rue Ernest Allard, part of the subsidized public schools network ''enseignement officiel''. Since 1948, it holds the name of Rober ...

. In 1979 he emigrated to Israel where he met his wife, Joëlle Hayoun. In 1983 he graduated in

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 ...

(B.Sc.), at the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology,

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

. He continued his studies at the Technion and in 1989 received his PhD, in

atomic physics Atomic physics is the field of physics that studies atoms as an isolated system of electrons and an atomic nucleus. Atomic physics typically refers to the study of atomic structure and the interaction between atoms. It is primarily concerned wit ...

. He conducted his post-doctoral at the

Argonne National Laboratory Argonne National Laboratory is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center in Lemont, Illinois, Lemont, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1946, the laboratory is owned by the United Sta ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, United States. (1989–1991)

Career

In 1991 he returned to Israel and began his career as a senior scientist at the Dept. of

Particle Physics Particle physics or high-energy physics is the study of Elementary particle, fundamental particles and fundamental interaction, forces that constitute matter and radiation. The field also studies combinations of elementary particles up to the s ...

(

of Science). In 1997, he was appointed Associate Professor and was promoted to full professor in 2003. Since 2001, he has been an external member of the

Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics The Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik ("MPI for Nuclear Physics" or MPIK for short) is a research institute in Heidelberg, Germany. The institute is one of the 80 institutes of the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (Max Planck Society), an independent, ...

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

, Germany, and in 2005, he was appointed as a Director at this

Max Planck Institute The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. Founded in 1911 as the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, it was renamed to the M ...

. On December 1, 2006, he was elected as the tenth president of the

, the youngest ever. He was in turn succeeded in 2019 by Alon Chen. On January 1, 2020, he was elected as the Chair of the Academic Board of the Israel Science Foundation. In 2023 he received the

Harnack Medal The highest award which is presented by the Max Planck Society for services to society is the Harnack Medal, first awarded in 1925. The Harnack Medal is named after the theologian Adolf von Harnack, who was the first president of the Kaiser Wilhelm ...

. for his contributions to the advancement of science and German-Israeli cooperation

Research and patents

His research focuses on the

reaction dynamics Reaction dynamics is a field within physical chemistry, studying why chemical reactions occur, how to predict their behavior, and how to control them. It is closely related to chemical kinetics, but is concerned with individual chemical events o ...

of small

molecule A molecule is a group of two or more atoms that are held together by Force, attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions that satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemi ...

s and how they influence the composition of the

interstellar medium The interstellar medium (ISM) is the matter and radiation that exists in the outer space, space between the star systems in a galaxy. This matter includes gas in ionic, atomic, and molecular form, as well as cosmic dust, dust and cosmic rays. It f ...

. He recreates the conditions of outer space in the laboratory using special devices called '

ion trap An ion trap is a combination of electric field, electric and/or magnetic fields used to capture charged particles — known as ions — often in a system isolated from an external environment. Atomic and molecular ion traps have a number of a ...

s' or '

storage ring A storage ring is a type of circular particle accelerator in which a continuous or pulsed particle beam may be kept circulating, typically for many hours. Storage of a particular particle depends upon the mass, momentum, and usually the charge o ...

s'. In these devices, he is able to briefly store and measure the properties of small amounts of material, as little as a few hundred

atom Atoms are the basic particles of the chemical elements. An atom consists of a atomic nucleus, nucleus of protons and generally neutrons, surrounded by an electromagnetically bound swarm of electrons. The chemical elements are distinguished fr ...

s or molecules-worth, under the extreme conditions of interstellar space (especially very low temperatures and low densities). Some of his research has focused on the puzzle of how complex molecules are formed in outer space.

Patents

A Device for Three dimensional Imaging

References

External links

Weizmann Institute President Page

Daniel Zajfman professional page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zajfman, Daniel 1959 births Living people Scientists from Brussels Belgian Jews Belgian emigrants to Israel Israeli physicists Academic staff of Weizmann Institute of Science Presidents of Weizmann Institute of Science Jewish physicists Presidents of universities in Israel