Zvi Ben-Avraham (; born 16 November 1941) is an Israeli earth scientist, specializing in geophysics of the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

and the

Dead Sea Transform The Dead Sea Transform (DST) fault system, also sometimes referred to as the Dead Sea Rift, is a series of Fault (geology), faults that run for about 1,000 km from the Marash triple junction (a junction with the East Anatolian Fault in south ...

. He is currently a professor of Geophysics at

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 ...

. Ben-Avraham was awarded the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize (; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History Prior to the Israel Prize, the most significant award in the arts was the Dizengoff Prize and in Israel ...

in 2003. He is member of several national academies and fellow of geological societies.

Career

Ben-Avraham was born on 16 November 1941 in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. He studied geology at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, 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. ...

and obtained a BSc with honors there in 1969. He subsequently obtained a PhD at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

and

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, acronym pronounced ) is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of marine science and engineering. Established in 1930 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, it i ...

in 1973. He shortly continued as a post-doc at the latter institution before moving on to the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research to work as senior research fellow. In 1975 he started as researcher at the department of mathematics of the

Weizmann Institute of Science 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 ...

. The next year he became senior researcher and in 1981 he became associate professor. From 1979 to 1982 Ben-Avraham was visiting associate professor at the department of geophysics at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, and subsequently worked there as professor until 1989. In 1982 he also started as associate professor of geophysics at

, in 1986 he became a full professor. Since 1989 Ben-Avraham has been Max Sonnenberg Professor of Marine Geoscience at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

. In 2007 Ben-Avraham started as the first director of the Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences at the

University of Haifa The University of Haifa (, ) is a public research university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963 as a branch of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation as an inde ...

. Five years later he also became head of the Mediterranean Sea Research Center of Israel. He also works at the Minerva Dead Sea Research Center. In this capacity a team under his guidance has taken samples from the sea bottom to determine its history. He has helped in setting up a Dead Sea Research center in

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

with help of its

royal family A royal family is the immediate family of monarchs and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term papal family describes the family of a pope, while th ...

. In 2011 Ben-Avraham discovered that fault-finding coral reefs could provide indications on where future earthquakes could take places. In 2015 Ben-Avraham and Emanuele Lodolo discovered an at least 9,350 year-old

monolith A monolith is a geological feature consisting of a single massive stone or rock, such as some mountains. Erosion usually exposes the geological formations, which are often made of very hard and solid igneous or metamorphic rock. Some monolit ...

of the coast of

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

. Ben-Avraham's field of expertise lies in the geophysics of the

and the

. He frequently combines his study of geophysics with

oceanography Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of to ...

. Ben-Avraham has worked as a chief scientist on board EV ''Nautilus'' during its explorations.

Awards and honours

In 1981 Ben-Avraham became a fellow of the

Geological Society of America The Geological Society of America (GSA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of the geosciences. History The society was founded in Ithaca, New York, in 1888 by Alexander Winchell, John J. Stevenson, Charles H. Hi ...

. In 1996 he became a foreign member of the

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of humanities, letters, law, and sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europe ...

. Ben-Avraham was elected a fellow of the

American Geophysical Union The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, Atmospheric science, atmospheric, Oceanography, ocean, Hydrology, hydrologic, Astronomy, space, and Planetary science, planetary scientists and enthusiasts that ...

in 1999. He became a corresponding member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities in 2000. In 2000 Ben-Avraham was elected a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. In 2003 he was awarded the

in earth sciences. The jury praised him for his exploring skills, knowledge of innovative research methods and data-collecting and management capabilities. Ben-Avraham was elected a foreign member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (, KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed in the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam. In addition to various advisory a ...

in 2006. Ben-Avraham has won several awards from the

Israel Geological Society The Israel Geological Society (IGS) is a non-profit organization that is the national organization for geologists in Israel, including those working in academic institutions, research institutions and commercial organizations; it is also open ...

, in 2014 he became an honorary member of the society. Ben-Avraham was elected foreign member of the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...

in 2019.

References

External links

Personal web page at Tel Aviv University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ben-Avraham, Zvi 1941 births Living people Fellows of the American Geophysical Union Fellows of the Geological Society of America Foreign members of the Russian Academy of Sciences Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni Israel Prize in earth sciences recipients Israeli geologists Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni Members of Academia Europaea Members of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Scientists from Jerusalem Academic staff of Tel Aviv University Academic staff of the University of Cape Town Marine geophysicists