Yitzhak Elazari Volcani (; January 28, 1880 - May 24, 1955) was a writer, agronomist and botanist, pioneer of agricultural research in Israel and the founder of Volcani Center of Agricultural Research. Born as Yitzchak-Avigdor Wilkansky in

Eišiškės Eišiškės (, , /Eishishki, /Eishyshki, /Eyshishok/Eishishok) is a city in southeastern Lithuania on the border with Belarus. It is situated on a small group of hills, surrounded by marshy valley of Verseka and Dumblė Rivers. The rivers divid ...

, Russian Empire (now in Lithuania), Elazari-Volcani got a degree in

Agronomy Agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants by agriculture for food, fuel, fiber, chemicals, recreation, or land conservation. Agronomy has come to include research of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and ...

from the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg () was the university of Königsberg in Duchy of Prussia, which was a fief of Poland. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant Reformation, Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke A ...

and made

aliyah ''Aliyah'' (, ; ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel or the Palestine (region), Palestine region, which is today chiefly represented by the Israel ...

Erez Israel The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine. The definitions o ...

in 1908. There, he worked as a director of experimental farm in

Ben Shemen Ben Shemen (, ''lit.'' very fruitful) is a moshav in central Israel. Located around four kilometres east of Lod, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hevel Modi'in Regional Council. In it had a population of . Etymology The village's name is take ...

and

Huldah Huldah ( ''Ḥuldā'') is a prophetess mentioned in the Hebrew Bible in and . After the discovery of a book of the Law during renovations at Solomon's Temple, on the order of King Josiah, Hilkiah together with Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan and As ...

, where he lived from 1914, and was a member of Zionist organization

Hapoel Hatzair Hapoel Hatzair (, "The Young Worker") was a Zionist group active in Palestine from 1905 until 1930. It was founded by A.D. Gordon, Yosef Aharonovich, Yosef Sprinzak and followed a non-Marxist, Zionist, socialist agenda. Hapoel Hatzair was a ...

. He founded the first

agricultural research station An agricultural experiment station (AES) or agricultural research station (ARS) is a scientific research center that investigates difficulties and potential improvements to food production and agribusiness. Experiment station scientists work with ...

in Israel, that later became a faculty of the

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli 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. It is the second-ol ...

. As a member of Hapoel Hatzair, Volcani was a proponent of

moshav A moshav (, plural ', "settlement, village") is a type of Israeli village or town or Jewish settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 and 1 ...

rather that

kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

, believing in a "personal freedom of creation" as opposed by more collectivist kibbutz movement. Volcani was a member of Executive Committee of the Zionist Organization in Palestine, and advisor of the

World Zionist Organization The World Zionist Organization (; ''HaHistadrut HaTzionit Ha'Olamit''), or WZO, is a non-governmental organization that promotes Zionism. It was founded as the Zionist Organization (ZO; 1897–1960) at the initiative of Theodor Herzl at the F ...

. He wrote several plays and articles in Hebrew under pseudonyms Ben Avuya and A. Zioni. His brother, Meir Wilkansky (1882–1949), was a Hebrew writer and translator. His son,

Benjamin Elazari Volcani Benjamin Elazari Volcani (; born 4 January 1915, died 1 February 1999) was an Israeli microbiologist who discovered life in the Dead Sea and pioneered biological silicon research at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of Cali ...

, was a biologist who found life in the

Dead Sea The Dead Sea (; or ; ), also known by #Names, other names, is a landlocked salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east, the Israeli-occupied West Bank to the west and Israel to the southwest. It lies in the endorheic basin of the Jordan Rift Valle ...

; his daughter, Zafrira Volcani (1910-1988), was a microbiologist.

Gallery

File:בן שמן חווה חקלאית 1912 על הסוס יצחק וולקנסקי ובתו צפרירה לידו שרה וולקנסקי (בתו-PHAL-1621456.png, Yitzhak Volcani with his daughter Tzafira and wife Sara in Ben Shemen, 1912 File:Yehoshua Fridman, Yitzchak Vilkanski and Eliezer Eliyahu Fridman in the 13th Zionist Congress in 1923.jpg, , Yitzchak Vilkanski and

Eliezer Eliyahu Fridman Eliezer () was the name of at least three different individuals in the Hebrew Bible. Eliezer of Damascus Eliezer of Damascus () was, according to Targum Jonathan Bereishit, 14:14, the son of Nimrod. As mentioned in Genesis 15:2, Eliezer was ...

in the 13th

Zionist Congress The Zionist Congress was established in 1897 by Theodor Herzl as the supreme organ of the Zionist Organization (ZO) and its legislative authority. In 1960 the names were changed to World Zionist Congress ( ''HaKongres HaTsioni HaOlami'') and Wor ...

in 1923 File:DEDICATION CEREMONY OF SOIL RESEARCH IN REHOVOT. L.TO R. ARTHUR RUPPIN, ITZHAK MAGAZINIK, PROF. VOLCANI, WAUCHOPE, PROF. HAIM WEIZMAN & DISTRICT COMIS.jpg, Dedication ceremony of soil research center in Rehovot. From left to right:

Arthur Ruppin Arthur Ruppin (; 1 March 1876 – 1 January 1943) was a German Zionist and one of the founders of the city of Tel Aviv.Todd Samuel Presner, ’German Jewish Studies in the Digital Age:Remarks on Discipline, Method nand Media,' in William Collin ...

, Itzhak Magazinik, Yitzhak Elazari Volkani, Wauchope,

Chaim Weizmann Chaim Azriel Weizmann ( ; 27 November 1874 – 9 November 1952) was a Russian-born Israeli statesman, biochemist, and Zionist leader who served as president of the World Zionist Organization, Zionist Organization and later as the first pre ...

, Kuperman. 1935 File:הפקולטה (המכון) לחקלאות, רחובות, פרופסור וולקני, שלט המכון-ZKlugerPhotos-00132lg-090717068512afa6.jpg, Professor Volcani at the Institute of Agriculture, Rehovot, 1942

References

External links

*{{commons category-inline Israeli agronomists Hebrew University of Jerusalem 20th-century Israeli Jews Israeli scientists Jewish writers Burials at Nahalal Cemetery Immigrants of the Second Aliyah