Raphael Falk (July 14, 1929 – September 15, 2019) was a German-born Israeli geneticist and historian of science. He was professor emeritus of

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar worki ...

at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. His early research was on the genetics of ''

Drosophila ''Drosophila'' () is a genus of flies, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called "small fruit flies" or (less frequently) pomace flies, vinegar flies, or wine flies, a reference to the characteristic of many s ...

''; from 1983 he was active in researching the

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

and

philosophy of science Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. The central questions of this study concern what qualifies as science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ulti ...

, with a particular focus on genetics.

Biography

Falk was born in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian dialects, Hessian: , "Franks, Frank ford (crossing), ford on the Main (river), Main"), is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as o ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. He was educated at the

University of Stockholm Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, so ...

, where he worked with

Gert Bonnier Gert Bonnier (1890 – 1961) was a Swedish geneticist and ''Drosophila'' researcher. He was a professor in the zoology department at Stockholm College. Family life A member of the Bonnier family, Bonnier was the third of four sons of Karl Otto Bo ...

, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He subsequently completed his

postdoc A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to pu ...

with H. J. Muller and Curt Stern. His former teacher,

Elisabeth Goldschmidt Elisabeth Goldschmidt (; September 22, 1912 – May 6, 1970) was a German-born Israeli geneticist who founded the genetics program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She has been described as "the founding mother of the field of genetics in Is ...

, eventually persuaded him to switch his research focus from ''Drosophila'' genetics to the history and philosophy of genetics as it pertains to the people of Israel. He was married to psychologist and probability theorist Ruma Falk.

References

1929 births 2019 deaths German geneticists Historians of biology 20th-century German historians Scientists from Frankfurt German emigrants to Israel Stockholm University alumni Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni Hebrew University of Jerusalem faculty {{Geneticist-stub