Yuval Ne'eman ( he, יובל נאמן, 14 May 1925 – 26 April 2006) was an Israeli theoretical physicist, military scientist, and politician. He was Minister of Science and Development in the 1980s and early 1990s. He was the President of Tel Aviv University from 1971 to 1977. He was awarded the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize ( he, פרס ישראל; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History The Israel Prize is awarded annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state cer ...

in the field of exact sciences (which he returned in 1992 in protest of the award of the Israel Prize to Emile Habibi), the

Albert Einstein Award The Albert Einstein Award (sometimes mistakenly called the ''Albert Einstein Medal'' because it was accompanied with a gold medal) was an award in theoretical physics, given periodically from 1951 to 1979, that was established to recognize high ac ...

, the Wigner Medal, and the EMET Prize for Arts, Sciences and Culture.

Biography

Yuval Ne'eman was born in Tel Aviv during the Mandate era, graduated from high school at the age of 15, and studied mechanical engineering at the Technion. At the age of 15, Ne'eman also joined the

Haganah Haganah ( he, הַהֲגָנָה, lit. ''The Defence'') was the main Zionist paramilitary organization of the Jewish population ("Yishuv") in Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and its disestablishment in 1948, when it became the core of the ...

. During the

1948 Arab-Israeli War Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

Ne'eman served in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

(IDF) as battalion deputy commander, then as Operations Officer of Tel Aviv, and commander of

Givati Brigade The 84th "Givati" Brigade ( he, חֲטִיבַת גִּבְעָתִי, , "Hill Brigade" or "Highland Brigade") is an Israel Defense Forces infantry brigade. Until 2005, the Brigade used to be stationed within the Gaza Strip and primarily perf ...

. Later (1952–54) he served as Deputy Commander of Operations Department of General Staff, Commander of the Planning Department of the IDF. In this role, he helped organize the IDF into a reservist-based army, developed the mobilization system, and wrote the first draft of Israel's defense doctrine. Between 1958 and 1960 Ne'eman was IDF Attaché in Great Britain, where he also studied for a PhD in physics under the supervision of 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics winner Abdus Salam at Imperial College London. In 1961, he was demobilized from the IDF with a rank of Colonel. In 1981, Ne'eman became a founding member of the World Cultural Council. Between 1998 and 2002 Ne'eman was the head of the Israeli Engineer Association

Scientific career

One of his greatest achievements in physics was his 1961 discovery of the classification of hadrons through the SU(3) flavour symmetry, now named the '' Eightfold Way'', which was also proposed independently by Murray Gell-Mann. This SU(3) symmetry laid the foundation of the quark model, proposed by Gell-Mann and George Zweig in 1964 (independently of each other). Ne'eman was founder and director of the School of Physics and Astronomy at Tel Aviv University from 1965 to 1972, President of Tel Aviv University from 1971 to 1977 (following

George S. Wise George Schneiweis Wise (ג'ורג' וייז; April 6, 1906 – July 2, 1987) was an American sociologist who served as the first president of Tel Aviv University in Ramat Aviv, Israel from 1963 to 1971. Early life George Schneiweis (later Wis ...

, and succeeded by Haim Ben-Shahar), and director of its Sackler Institute of Advanced Studies from 1979 to 1997. He was also the co-director (along with Sudarshan) of the Center for Particle Theory at the University of Texas, Austin from 1968 to 1990. He was a strong believer in the importance of space research and satellites to Israel's economic future and security, and thus founded the Israel Space Agency in 1983, which he chaired almost until his death. He also served on the

Israel Atomic Energy Commission The Israel Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) ( he, הוועדה לאנרגיה אטומית) is the governmental authority responsible for the State of Israel's activities in the nuclear field. History The establishment of the Israel Atomic Energy Co ...

from 1965 to 1984 and held the position of scientific director in its

Soreq Soreq Nuclear Research Center is a research and development institute situated near the localities of Palmachim and Yavne in Israel. It operates under the auspices of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC). History The center conducts res ...

facility. Nee'man was chief scientist of the Defense Ministry from 1974 to 1976. He was described as "one of the most colorful figures of modern science" and co-authored ''The Particle Hunters'', which was published in English in 1986. '' The Times Literary Supplement'' hailed this book as "the best guide to quantum physics at present available".

Awards and honours

*In 1969, Ne'eman received the

in the field of exact sciences (which he returned in 1992 in protest of the award of the Israel Prize to Emile Habibi). *In 1970, he received the

for his unique contribution in the field of physics. *In 1972, he was elected to the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

. *In 1984, he received the Wigner Medal, which is awarded every 2 years for "outstanding contributions to the understanding of physics through group theory." *In 2003, he received the EMET Prize for Arts, Sciences and Culture for his pioneering contribution in the deciphering of the atomic nucleus and its components, and for his enormous scientific contribution to the development of sub-atomic physics in Israel. He was also awarded with the College de France Medal and the Officer's Cross of the French Order of Merit (Paris, 1972), the Wigner Medal (Istanbul-Austin, 1982), Birla Science Award (Hyderabad, 1998) and additional prizes and honorary doctorates from universities in Europe and USA.

Political career

In the late 1970s, Ne'eman founded Tehiya, a

right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...

breakaway from Likud, formed in opposition to

Menachem Begin Menachem Begin ( ''Menaḥem Begin'' (); pl, Menachem Begin (Polish documents, 1931–1937); ''Menakhem Volfovich Begin''; 16 August 1913 – 9 March 1992) was an Israeli politician, founder of Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of Israel. B ...

's support for the Camp David talks that paved the way for peace with Egypt and the evacuation of Yamit. He was elected to the Knesset in the

1981 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1981. Africa * Central African Republic presidential election * Djiboutian presidential election * Egyptian presidential confirmation referendum * Rwandan parliamentary election * South African ...

in which Tehiya won three seats. The party joined Begin's coalition about a year after the elections and Ne'eman was appointed Minister of Science and Development, the role later changed to Minister of Science and Technology. He retained his seat in the

1984 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1984. Africa * 1984 Beninese parliamentary election * 1984 Botswana general election * 1984 Burundian presidential election * 1984 Cameroonian presidential election * 1984 Comorian presidential electi ...

, but Tehiya were not included in the grand coalition formed by the Alignment and Likud. After the

1988 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1988. Africa * 1988 Cameroonian general election * 1988 Equatorial Guinean legislative election * 1988 Kenyan general election * 1988 Malian parliamentary election * 1988 Rwandan parliamentary elect ...

, Tehiya were again excluded from the governing coalition. Ne'eman resigned from the Knesset on 31 January 1990 and was replaced by

Gershon Shafat Gershon Shafat ( he, גרשון שפט, 6 December 1927 – 16 August 2020) was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Tehiya during the mid-1980s and early 1990s. Biography Born Gershon Staub in Vienna, Austria in 1927, ...

. However, Tehiya joined the government in June after the Alignment had left, and he was appointed Minister of Energy and Infrastructure and Minister of Science and Technology despite not retaking his seat in the Knesset. He lost his ministerial position following the 1992 elections and did not return to politics.

Death

He died at age 80, on 26 April 2006 in the Ichilov Hospital, Tel Aviv, from a stroke. He left a wife, Dvora; a son and daughter; and a sister,

Ruth Ben-Yisrael Ruth (or its variants) may refer to: Places France * Château de Ruthie, castle in the commune of Aussurucq in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département of France Switzerland * Ruth, a hamlet in Cologny United States * Ruth, Alabama * Ruth, Arka ...

References

External links

* *
Jerusalem Post obituary

Yuval Ne'eman's papers in the INSPIRE-HEP database

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neeman, Yuval 1925 births 2006 deaths People from Tel Aviv Jews in Mandatory Palestine Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium alumni Technion – Israel Institute of Technology alumni Haganah members Israeli soldiers Israeli Jews Presidents of universities in Israel Jewish scientists Particle physicists Israeli physicists Israeli nuclear physicists Tel Aviv University faculty Israel Prize in exact science recipients Israel Prize in exact science recipients who were physicists EMET Prize recipients in the Exact Sciences Members of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Tehiya leaders Founding members of the World Cultural Council Space program of Israel Jewish physicists Jewish Israeli politicians Members of the 10th Knesset (1981–1984) Members of the 11th Knesset (1984–1988) Members of the 12th Knesset (1988–1992) Fellows of the American Physical Society Burials at Trumpeldor Cemetery Leaders of the Opposition (Israel) Ministers of Energy of Israel Ministers of Infrastructure of Israel Ministers of Science of Israel