Scientists Born In Israel: The Complete List

Israel’s scientific scene combines small-country dynamism with world-class research institutions, producing advances in fields from medicine to theoretical physics. Universities, research centers and industry collaborations have helped many Israeli-born scientists influence global science.

There are 55 Scientists born in Israel, ranging from Aaron Ciechanover to Yuval Ne’eman. For each person you’ll find below Born (year, place),Field,Top achievement (max 15 words),Description (30-50 words), so you can scan achievements, fields and bios easily — you’ll find below.

Which of these scientists have won major international awards?

Several on the list have received top honors; Aaron Ciechanover, for example, is a Nobel laureate in Chemistry. Check each entry’s “Top achievement” field for awards, prizes and notable contributions across disciplines.

How current and complete is this list?

The list is compiled from established biographies and institutional records to be comprehensive for notable figures born in Israel, but it may miss recent recognitions or less-documented researchers — if you spot omissions or updates, they can be incorporated into the entries below.

Scientists Born in Israel

Name	Born (year, place)	Field	Top achievement (max 15 words)	Description (30-50 words)
Ada Yonath	1939, Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine	Chemistry	Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2009) for studies of the ribosome’s structure.	A pioneering crystallographer at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Yonath’s groundbreaking work on the ribosome has revolutionized our understanding of protein synthesis. She shared the 2009 Nobel Prize for her decades-long research (Source: Nobel.org).
Yakir Aharonov	1932, Haifa, Mandatory Palestine	Physics	Co-discovery of the Aharonov–Bohm effect, a key quantum mechanics phenomenon.	A theoretical physicist specializing in quantum mechanics, he is best known for the Aharonov–Bohm effect, where a particle is affected by an electromagnetic potential in a region with zero magnetic field. He won the 1998 Wolf Prize in Physics for this discovery.
Noga Alon	1956, Haifa, Israel	Mathematics	Pioneering contributions to combinatorics and its applications in theoretical computer science.	A renowned mathematician and computer scientist known for his work in combinatorics and graph theory. He has solved long-standing problems and introduced new methods, significantly influencing both pure mathematics and theoretical computer science. He is a recipient of the Gödel Prize.
Uri Alon	1969, Israel	Systems Biology	Discovered network motifs, the recurring building blocks of complex biological networks.	A physicist and systems biologist at the Weizmann Institute of Science. He is renowned for discovering network motifs, the basic building blocks of genetic and other complex networks. His book “An Introduction to Systems Biology” is a standard text in the field.
Ido Amit	1973, Israel	Immunology	Pioneered single-cell genomic methods to map the human immune system.	A leading immunologist at the Weizmann Institute who uses cutting-edge single-cell sequencing to create high-resolution maps of the immune system. His work is transforming our understanding of immune function in health and diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s.
Efi Arazi	1937, Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine	Computer Graphics	Founded Scitex, a pioneer of digital printing and computer graphics technology.	An inventor and high-tech entrepreneur often called one of the fathers of Israel’s tech industry. He founded Scitex, which developed groundbreaking digital pre-press systems that revolutionized the global publishing and printing industries.
Hagai Bergman	1952, Israel	Neuroscience	Developed the scientific basis for deep brain stimulation (DBS) to treat Parkinson’s disease.	A neuroscientist at the Hebrew University, his research on the basal ganglia has been fundamental to understanding movement disorders. His work provided the scientific basis for using deep brain stimulation to alleviate the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, a widely used therapy.
Orna Berry	1949, Jerusalem, Israel	Computer Science	First woman to serve as Chief Scientist of Israel’s Ministry of Industry.	A respected computer scientist and venture capitalist. After a successful career in the US tech industry, she returned to Israel and became the nation’s first female Chief Scientist, promoting technological innovation and fostering the country’s “start-up nation” ecosystem.
Rafi Bistritzer	1974, Israel	Physics	Co-predicted the emergence of superconductivity in “magic-angle” twisted bilayer graphene.	A theoretical physicist whose 2011 paper predicted that twisting two layers of graphene to a specific “magic angle” would create unique electronic properties. This prediction was experimentally confirmed in 2018, opening up the new field of “twistronics.”
Aaron Ciechanover	1947, Haifa, Mandatory Palestine	Biology	Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2004) for discovering ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation.	A biologist who, with Avram Hershko and Irwin Rose, discovered a crucial cellular process for degrading proteins. This finding is vital for understanding and treating diseases like cancer and neurodegenerative disorders (Source: Nobel.org).
Tal Dvir	1976, Israel	Bioengineering	3D printed the first vascularized human heart using a patient’s own cells.	A pioneering bioengineer at Tel Aviv University working on engineering complex tissues. His lab achieved a major breakthrough by 3D printing a complete, vascularized heart using human patient tissue, a significant step toward creating personalized organs for transplant.
Yosef Garfinkel	1956, Haifa, Israel	Archaeology	Excavated Khirbet Qeiyafa, a fortified city from the time of King David.	An archaeologist specializing in the Proto-historic era of the Ancient Near East. His excavation of Khirbet Qeiyafa provided important insights into the early Kingdom of Judah and the historicity of the biblical narrative of King David.
Oded Goldreich	1957, Tel Aviv, Israel	Computer Science	Israel Prize (2021) for fundamental contributions to computational complexity and cryptography.	A professor at the Weizmann Institute, he is a leading figure in the foundations of cryptography and computational complexity theory. His work on zero-knowledge proofs and pseudo-randomness has shaped the theoretical underpinnings of modern computer science.
Naama Goren-Inbar	1948, Jerusalem, Israel	Archaeology	Excavated Gesher Benot Ya’aqov, revealing early evidence of hominin fire use.	A paleoarchaeologist whose work at the 790,000-year-old site of Gesher Benot Ya’aqov has been transformative. The site provides some of the earliest definitive evidence for controlled fire use, sophisticated tool-making, and organized living space by early humans.
Amiram Grinvald	1943, Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine	Neuroscience	Invented voltage-sensitive dye imaging to visualize brain cortical dynamics.	A neuroscientist who pioneered optical imaging techniques for visualizing brain activity. His invention of voltage-sensitive dye imaging allows researchers to see neuronal activity in real-time, revolutionizing our understanding of brain function and cortical columns.
Yoram Groner	1946, Israel	Molecular Biology	Identified key genes on chromosome 21 linked to Down syndrome.	A molecular biologist at the Weizmann Institute whose research has focused on understanding the molecular basis of Down syndrome. He cloned several genes located on chromosome 21 and studied their function, providing crucial insights into the pathology of the condition.
Haim Harari	1940, Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine	Theoretical Physics	Proposed the Rishon Model, a speculative model for quarks and leptons.	A theoretical physicist known for the Harari-Zweig rule and the Rishon Model. He also served as the President of the Weizmann Institute of Science for 12 years, significantly shaping Israeli science policy and education.
Shlomo Havlin	1942, Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine	Physics	Pioneering research on complex networks, percolation theory, and statistical physics.	A statistical physicist renowned for his contributions to the study of complex systems. His work on percolation theory and the resilience of networks to attacks has had wide-ranging applications, from infrastructure systems to biological networks.
Michal Irani	Israel	Computer Science	Pioneered methods for video analysis and internal statistics of natural images.	A professor at the Weizmann Institute, she is a leading researcher in computer vision. Her work on “internal statistics” showed that small image patches contain enough information for complex tasks like super-resolution, significantly influencing computational photography.
Daniel Kahneman	1934, Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine	Psychology	Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2002) for prospect theory.	A psychologist renowned for his work on the psychology of judgment and decision-making, as well as behavioral economics. His work with Amos Tversky challenged rational models of human judgment and led to the bestselling book “Thinking, Fast and Slow”.
Eli Keshet	1945, Israel	Molecular Biology	Discovered the central role of VEGF in regulating blood vessel formation (angiogenesis).	A molecular biologist whose research on angiogenesis (the formation of new blood vessels) has had a major clinical impact. His discoveries regarding the VEGF signaling pathway have been crucial for developing anti-cancer therapies.
Daphne Koller	1968, Jerusalem, Israel	Computer Science	Co-founded Coursera and pioneered probabilistic graphical models in machine learning.	A computer scientist and a leading figure in machine learning. A former Stanford professor and MacArthur Fellow, she co-founded the massive open online course (MOOC) platform Coursera, revolutionizing access to higher education globally.
Elon Lindenstrauss	1970, Jerusalem, Israel	Mathematics	Fields Medal (2010) for results on measure rigidity in ergodic theory.	A mathematician who was awarded the Fields Medal, often called the “Nobel Prize of Mathematics,” for his groundbreaking work in ergodic theory and its applications to number theory. He is the first and only Israeli recipient of this prestigious award.
Ron Milo	1975, Israel	Systems Biology	Co-authored “Cell Biology by the Numbers,” quantifying key biological parameters.	A systems biologist whose research focuses on quantitatively understanding biological systems. He is known for creating bio-atlases of cellular data, such as BioNumbers, a database of key numbers in molecular biology that bridges theoretical and experimental biology.
Moni Naor	1961, Israel	Computer Science	Gödel Prize (2014) for foundational work on differential privacy.	A computer scientist specializing in cryptography and complexity theory. His research has had a major impact on internet security, with inventions like visual cryptography and contributions to differential privacy, for which he received the Gödel Prize.
Yuval Ne’eman	1925, Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine	Physics	Independently proposed the SU(3) classification of hadrons (the “Eightfold Way”).	A physicist and politician famous for his 1961 “Eightfold Way” classification of hadrons, a major step towards the quark model. He also founded the Israel Space Agency and served in the Knesset, blending a career in science with public service.
Uzi Ornan	1923, Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine	Linguistics	Developed computational linguistics for the Hebrew language and advocated for linguistic secularism.	A linguist who pioneered computational linguistics for Hebrew at the Technion. He developed tools for morphological analysis and was a member of the Academy of the Hebrew Language. He was also a prominent activist for separation of religion and state.
Yoram Palti	1937, Haifa, Mandatory Palestine	Biophysics	Invented Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields), a novel cancer therapy using electric fields.	A professor of physiology who invented Tumor Treating Fields, a fourth modality of cancer treatment that uses alternating electric fields to disrupt tumor cell division. His company, Novocure, commercialized this FDA-approved therapy.
Judea Pearl	1936, Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine	Computer Science	Turing Award (2011) for developing probabilistic reasoning in artificial intelligence.	A computer scientist and philosopher known for developing Bayesian networks and championing the probabilistic approach to AI. His work on causal inference has influenced statistics, psychology, and social sciences.
Dan Peer	1973, Israel	Biomedical Engineering	Developed targeted RNAi nanomedicines for cancer and inflammatory diseases.	A pioneer in nanomedicine at Tel Aviv University, he engineers nanoparticles to deliver therapeutic payloads like RNA directly to diseased cells. His work focuses on creating precision medicines and establishing Israel as a leader in drug delivery.
Amir Pnueli	1941, Nahalal, Mandatory Palestine	Computer Science	Turing Award (1996) for introducing temporal logic into computing science.	An influential computer scientist who introduced temporal logic for the formal verification of computer programs. This work laid the foundation for modern methods of ensuring software and hardware reliability, especially for safety-critical systems.
Ilan Ramon	1954, Ramat Gan, Israel	Aerospace Engineering	First Israeli astronaut, flying on Space Shuttle Columbia mission STS-107.	Israel’s first astronaut, he was the payload specialist on the fatal STS-107 mission of Space Shuttle Columbia. He conducted several scientific experiments in space before tragically perishing with his six crewmates when the orbiter disintegrated upon re-entry in 2003.
Oded Rechavi	1980, Israel	Biology	Discovered that acquired traits can be inherited through small RNAs in worms.	A biologist studying unconventional forms of inheritance. His work on C. elegans worms demonstrated that learned behaviors and stress responses can be passed down for multiple generations via RNA molecules, challenging traditional views of genetics.
Yair Reisner	1948, Tel Aviv, Israel	Immunology	Developed novel methods for bone marrow transplantation to treat leukemia.	An immunologist whose research has revolutionized bone marrow transplantation. He developed techniques to overcome the need for perfectly matched donors, making life-saving transplants accessible to many more patients with leukemia and other blood disorders.
Ariel Rubinstein	1951, Jerusalem, Israel	Economics	Developed the Rubinstein bargaining model, a foundational concept in modern game theory.	A prominent economist known for the Rubinstein bargaining model, which describes how two players negotiate. His work has profoundly influenced economic theory, particularly in the fields of bargaining, bounded rationality, and language in economics. He is an Israel Prize laureate.
Uriel Safriel	1941, Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine	Ecology	Headed the UN Convention to Combat Desertification’s science and technology committee.	An ecologist specializing in desertification and biodiversity. He has played a major role in global environmental policy, serving as a key figure in the UN’s efforts to combat land degradation and promote sustainable land management in drylands worldwide.
Irit Sagi	1963, Israel	Biochemistry	Developed novel approaches to inhibit enzymes involved in cancer and inflammation.	A structural biologist at the Weizmann Institute who studies the enzymes involved in tissue remodeling. Her research on matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) has led to a better understanding of their role in disease, paving the way for new therapeutic strategies.
Eran Segal	1975, Israel	Computational Biology	Developed personalized nutrition algorithms based on the gut microbiome and blood sugar.	A computational biologist who uses machine learning to understand human health. His research on the gut microbiome and its effect on blood sugar led to personalized nutrition models that can predict individual responses to food, challenging one-size-fits-all dietary advice.
Nathan Seiberg	1956, Tel Aviv, Israel	Theoretical Physics	Made foundational contributions to string theory, quantum field theory, and M-theory.	A leading theoretical physicist at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. His work on string theory and quantum field theory, particularly on duality, has had a profound impact on the field. He is a recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship and the Dirac Medal.
Adi Shamir	1952, Tel Aviv, Israel	Computer Science	Co-inventor of the RSA algorithm, a cornerstone of modern public-key cryptography.	A world-renowned cryptographer who co-invented the RSA algorithm, for which he received the 2002 Turing Award, the highest honor in computer science. His work is fundamental to modern internet security and e-commerce.
Micha Sharir	1950, Tel Aviv, Israel	Mathematics	A leading figure in computational geometry and its combinatorial foundations.	A mathematician and computer scientist at Tel Aviv University, he is one of the world’s foremost authorities in computational and combinatorial geometry. His work has solved numerous fundamental problems with broad applications in robotics and computer graphics.
Amnon Shashua	1960, Tel Aviv, Israel	Computer Science	Co-founded Mobileye, a world leader in autonomous driving and driver-assistance systems.	A computer science professor and a major figure in AI and computer vision. He co-founded Mobileye, whose vision-based driver-assistance systems became an industry standard, leading to its $15.3 billion acquisition by Intel.
Nir Shavit	1959, Tel Aviv, Israel	Computer Science	Gödel Prize (2004) for work on applying topology to distributed computing.	A computer science professor known for his research in concurrent and distributed computing. He co-authored “The Art of Multiprocessor Programming” and won the Gödel Prize for his foundational work on the topological structure of distributed computation models.
Dan Shechtman	1941, Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine	Materials Science	Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2011) for the discovery of quasicrystals.	A materials scientist who discovered quasicrystals in 1982, a finding that fundamentally altered chemists’ conception of solid matter. Despite initial skepticism, his discovery earned him the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry (Source: Nobel.org).
Benny Shilo	1951, Israel	Developmental Biology	Elucidated the roles of key signaling pathways (e.g., FGF, EGF) in development.	A molecular geneticist who has made fundamental contributions to developmental biology. Using the fruit fly as a model system, his lab has unraveled the mechanisms by which key signaling pathways orchestrate the formation of complex tissues and organs during embryonic development.
Yoav Shoham	1956, Israel	Computer Science	A leading authority on multi-agent systems and game theory in AI.	A computer science professor emeritus at Stanford University and a successful entrepreneur. He is a pioneer in the field of multi-agent systems, combining AI with game theory to understand and build systems of intelligent interacting agents.
Reshef Tenne	1944, Kfar Saba, Mandatory Palestine	Materials Science	Discovered inorganic fullerene-like nanoparticles and nanotubes (IF-WS₂).	A materials chemist who pioneered the field of inorganic fullerene-like structures. In 1992, his group synthesized inorganic nanotubes from tungsten disulfide, a discovery that opened up new possibilities for advanced lubricants and reinforced materials.
Amos Tversky	1937, Haifa, Mandatory Palestine	Cognitive Psychology	Pioneered cognitive science and behavioral economics with Daniel Kahneman.	A key figure in the discovery of systematic human cognitive bias and the handling of risk. His collaboration with Daniel Kahneman led to prospect theory, which would have earned him a Nobel Prize had he not passed away before it was awarded (Source: Princeton University).
Shimon Ullman	1948, Jerusalem, Israel	Computer Science	Israel Prize (2015) for groundbreaking research in computer vision and human cognition.	A computer scientist whose work lies at the intersection of computer vision and cognitive science. His research on object recognition and visual processing has provided deep insights into how both humans and machines see the world. He founded several successful AI companies.
Moshe Y. Vardi	1954, Haifa, Israel	Computer Science	Gödel Prize (2000) for seminal work on model checking.	A leading computer scientist known for his work in logic and automata theory and their application to computing, particularly in formal verification. His work on model checking is critical for verifying the reliability of hardware and software systems.
Arieh Warshel	1940, Sde Nahum, Mandatory Palestine	Chemistry	Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2013) for multiscale models for complex chemical systems.	A chemist who pioneered computational methods for studying biological molecules. His work on multiscale models has become essential for understanding chemical reactions in areas like drug development. He shared the 2013 Nobel Prize (Source: Nobel.org).
Avi Wigderson	1956, Haifa, Israel	Computer Science	Abel Prize (2021) for foundational contributions to theoretical computer science.	A prominent mathematician and computer scientist whose work has deepened the connection between the two fields. He shared the 2021 Abel Prize for his leadership in shaping our understanding of randomness in computation (Source: Abel Prize).
Itamar Willner	1947, Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine	Chemistry	Israel Prize (2002) for pioneering work in nanobiotechnology and molecular electronics.	A chemist whose research focuses on molecular electronics, nanobiotechnology, and biosensors. He has developed novel methods for constructing molecular-scale machines and devices, earning him the prestigious Israel Prize for his contributions to the field of nanotechnology.
Karina Yaniv	Israel	Cell Biology	Discovered how the lymphatic system develops from embryonic veins.	A developmental biologist who studies how blood and lymphatic vessels form. Her pioneering research using live imaging in zebrafish embryos revealed the precise cellular origins of the lymphatic system, resolving a century-old scientific debate.
Jacob Ziv	1931, Tiberias, Mandatory Palestine	Electrical Engineering	Co-invented the Lempel-Ziv (LZ) family of data compression algorithms.	An electrical engineer and a giant in information theory. Along with Abraham Lempel, he developed the Lempel-Ziv (LZ) algorithms for lossless data compression, which are the basis for ubiquitous formats like ZIP, GIF, PNG, and PDF.

Images and Descriptions

Ada Yonath

A pioneering crystallographer at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Yonath’s groundbreaking work on the ribosome has revolutionized our understanding of protein synthesis. She shared the 2009 Nobel Prize for her decades-long research (Source: Nobel.org).

Yakir Aharonov

A theoretical physicist specializing in quantum mechanics, he is best known for the Aharonov–Bohm effect, where a particle is affected by an electromagnetic potential in a region with zero magnetic field. He won the 1998 Wolf Prize in Physics for this discovery.

Noga Alon

A renowned mathematician and computer scientist known for his work in combinatorics and graph theory. He has solved long-standing problems and introduced new methods, significantly influencing both pure mathematics and theoretical computer science. He is a recipient of the Gödel Prize.

Uri Alon

A physicist and systems biologist at the Weizmann Institute of Science. He is renowned for discovering network motifs, the basic building blocks of genetic and other complex networks. His book “An Introduction to Systems Biology” is a standard text in the field.

Ido Amit

A leading immunologist at the Weizmann Institute who uses cutting-edge single-cell sequencing to create high-resolution maps of the immune system. His work is transforming our understanding of immune function in health and diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s.

Efi Arazi

An inventor and high-tech entrepreneur often called one of the fathers of Israel’s tech industry. He founded Scitex, which developed groundbreaking digital pre-press systems that revolutionized the global publishing and printing industries.

Hagai Bergman

A neuroscientist at the Hebrew University, his research on the basal ganglia has been fundamental to understanding movement disorders. His work provided the scientific basis for using deep brain stimulation to alleviate the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, a widely used therapy.

Orna Berry

A respected computer scientist and venture capitalist. After a successful career in the US tech industry, she returned to Israel and became the nation’s first female Chief Scientist, promoting technological innovation and fostering the country’s “start-up nation” ecosystem.

Rafi Bistritzer

A theoretical physicist whose 2011 paper predicted that twisting two layers of graphene to a specific “magic angle” would create unique electronic properties. This prediction was experimentally confirmed in 2018, opening up the new field of “twistronics.”

Aaron Ciechanover

A biologist who, with Avram Hershko and Irwin Rose, discovered a crucial cellular process for degrading proteins. This finding is vital for understanding and treating diseases like cancer and neurodegenerative disorders (Source: Nobel.org).

Tal Dvir

A pioneering bioengineer at Tel Aviv University working on engineering complex tissues. His lab achieved a major breakthrough by 3D printing a complete, vascularized heart using human patient tissue, a significant step toward creating personalized organs for transplant.

Yosef Garfinkel

An archaeologist specializing in the Proto-historic era of the Ancient Near East. His excavation of Khirbet Qeiyafa provided important insights into the early Kingdom of Judah and the historicity of the biblical narrative of King David.

Oded Goldreich

A professor at the Weizmann Institute, he is a leading figure in the foundations of cryptography and computational complexity theory. His work on zero-knowledge proofs and pseudo-randomness has shaped the theoretical underpinnings of modern computer science.

Naama Goren-Inbar

A paleoarchaeologist whose work at the 790,000-year-old site of Gesher Benot Ya’aqov has been transformative. The site provides some of the earliest definitive evidence for controlled fire use, sophisticated tool-making, and organized living space by early humans.

Amiram Grinvald

A neuroscientist who pioneered optical imaging techniques for visualizing brain activity. His invention of voltage-sensitive dye imaging allows researchers to see neuronal activity in real-time, revolutionizing our understanding of brain function and cortical columns.

Yoram Groner

A molecular biologist at the Weizmann Institute whose research has focused on understanding the molecular basis of Down syndrome. He cloned several genes located on chromosome 21 and studied their function, providing crucial insights into the pathology of the condition.

Haim Harari

A theoretical physicist known for the Harari-Zweig rule and the Rishon Model. He also served as the President of the Weizmann Institute of Science for 12 years, significantly shaping Israeli science policy and education.

Shlomo Havlin

A statistical physicist renowned for his contributions to the study of complex systems. His work on percolation theory and the resilience of networks to attacks has had wide-ranging applications, from infrastructure systems to biological networks.

Michal Irani

A professor at the Weizmann Institute, she is a leading researcher in computer vision. Her work on “internal statistics” showed that small image patches contain enough information for complex tasks like super-resolution, significantly influencing computational photography.

Daniel Kahneman

A psychologist renowned for his work on the psychology of judgment and decision-making, as well as behavioral economics. His work with Amos Tversky challenged rational models of human judgment and led to the bestselling book “Thinking, Fast and Slow”.

Eli Keshet

A molecular biologist whose research on angiogenesis (the formation of new blood vessels) has had a major clinical impact. His discoveries regarding the VEGF signaling pathway have been crucial for developing anti-cancer therapies.

Daphne Koller

A computer scientist and a leading figure in machine learning. A former Stanford professor and MacArthur Fellow, she co-founded the massive open online course (MOOC) platform Coursera, revolutionizing access to higher education globally.

Elon Lindenstrauss

A mathematician who was awarded the Fields Medal, often called the “Nobel Prize of Mathematics,” for his groundbreaking work in ergodic theory and its applications to number theory. He is the first and only Israeli recipient of this prestigious award.

Ron Milo

A systems biologist whose research focuses on quantitatively understanding biological systems. He is known for creating bio-atlases of cellular data, such as BioNumbers, a database of key numbers in molecular biology that bridges theoretical and experimental biology.

Moni Naor

A computer scientist specializing in cryptography and complexity theory. His research has had a major impact on internet security, with inventions like visual cryptography and contributions to differential privacy, for which he received the Gödel Prize.

Yuval Ne’eman

A physicist and politician famous for his 1961 “Eightfold Way” classification of hadrons, a major step towards the quark model. He also founded the Israel Space Agency and served in the Knesset, blending a career in science with public service.

Uzi Ornan

A linguist who pioneered computational linguistics for Hebrew at the Technion. He developed tools for morphological analysis and was a member of the Academy of the Hebrew Language. He was also a prominent activist for separation of religion and state.

Yoram Palti

A professor of physiology who invented Tumor Treating Fields, a fourth modality of cancer treatment that uses alternating electric fields to disrupt tumor cell division. His company, Novocure, commercialized this FDA-approved therapy.

Judea Pearl

A computer scientist and philosopher known for developing Bayesian networks and championing the probabilistic approach to AI. His work on causal inference has influenced statistics, psychology, and social sciences.

Dan Peer

A pioneer in nanomedicine at Tel Aviv University, he engineers nanoparticles to deliver therapeutic payloads like RNA directly to diseased cells. His work focuses on creating precision medicines and establishing Israel as a leader in drug delivery.

Amir Pnueli

An influential computer scientist who introduced temporal logic for the formal verification of computer programs. This work laid the foundation for modern methods of ensuring software and hardware reliability, especially for safety-critical systems.

Ilan Ramon

Israel’s first astronaut, he was the payload specialist on the fatal STS-107 mission of Space Shuttle Columbia. He conducted several scientific experiments in space before tragically perishing with his six crewmates when the orbiter disintegrated upon re-entry in 2003.

Oded Rechavi

A biologist studying unconventional forms of inheritance. His work on C. elegans worms demonstrated that learned behaviors and stress responses can be passed down for multiple generations via RNA molecules, challenging traditional views of genetics.

Yair Reisner

An immunologist whose research has revolutionized bone marrow transplantation. He developed techniques to overcome the need for perfectly matched donors, making life-saving transplants accessible to many more patients with leukemia and other blood disorders.

Ariel Rubinstein

A prominent economist known for the Rubinstein bargaining model, which describes how two players negotiate. His work has profoundly influenced economic theory, particularly in the fields of bargaining, bounded rationality, and language in economics. He is an Israel Prize laureate.

Uriel Safriel

An ecologist specializing in desertification and biodiversity. He has played a major role in global environmental policy, serving as a key figure in the UN’s efforts to combat land degradation and promote sustainable land management in drylands worldwide.

Irit Sagi

A structural biologist at the Weizmann Institute who studies the enzymes involved in tissue remodeling. Her research on matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) has led to a better understanding of their role in disease, paving the way for new therapeutic strategies.

Eran Segal

A computational biologist who uses machine learning to understand human health. His research on the gut microbiome and its effect on blood sugar led to personalized nutrition models that can predict individual responses to food, challenging one-size-fits-all dietary advice.

Nathan Seiberg

A leading theoretical physicist at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. His work on string theory and quantum field theory, particularly on duality, has had a profound impact on the field. He is a recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship and the Dirac Medal.

Adi Shamir

A world-renowned cryptographer who co-invented the RSA algorithm, for which he received the 2002 Turing Award, the highest honor in computer science. His work is fundamental to modern internet security and e-commerce.

Micha Sharir

A mathematician and computer scientist at Tel Aviv University, he is one of the world’s foremost authorities in computational and combinatorial geometry. His work has solved numerous fundamental problems with broad applications in robotics and computer graphics.

Amnon Shashua

A computer science professor and a major figure in AI and computer vision. He co-founded Mobileye, whose vision-based driver-assistance systems became an industry standard, leading to its $15.3 billion acquisition by Intel.

Nir Shavit

A computer science professor known for his research in concurrent and distributed computing. He co-authored “The Art of Multiprocessor Programming” and won the Gödel Prize for his foundational work on the topological structure of distributed computation models.

Dan Shechtman

A materials scientist who discovered quasicrystals in 1982, a finding that fundamentally altered chemists’ conception of solid matter. Despite initial skepticism, his discovery earned him the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry (Source: Nobel.org).

Benny Shilo

A molecular geneticist who has made fundamental contributions to developmental biology. Using the fruit fly as a model system, his lab has unraveled the mechanisms by which key signaling pathways orchestrate the formation of complex tissues and organs during embryonic development.

Yoav Shoham

A computer science professor emeritus at Stanford University and a successful entrepreneur. He is a pioneer in the field of multi-agent systems, combining AI with game theory to understand and build systems of intelligent interacting agents.

Reshef Tenne

A materials chemist who pioneered the field of inorganic fullerene-like structures. In 1992, his group synthesized inorganic nanotubes from tungsten disulfide, a discovery that opened up new possibilities for advanced lubricants and reinforced materials.

Amos Tversky

A key figure in the discovery of systematic human cognitive bias and the handling of risk. His collaboration with Daniel Kahneman led to prospect theory, which would have earned him a Nobel Prize had he not passed away before it was awarded (Source: Princeton University).

Shimon Ullman

A computer scientist whose work lies at the intersection of computer vision and cognitive science. His research on object recognition and visual processing has provided deep insights into how both humans and machines see the world. He founded several successful AI companies.

Moshe Y. Vardi

A leading computer scientist known for his work in logic and automata theory and their application to computing, particularly in formal verification. His work on model checking is critical for verifying the reliability of hardware and software systems.

Arieh Warshel

A chemist who pioneered computational methods for studying biological molecules. His work on multiscale models has become essential for understanding chemical reactions in areas like drug development. He shared the 2013 Nobel Prize (Source: Nobel.org).

Avi Wigderson

A prominent mathematician and computer scientist whose work has deepened the connection between the two fields. He shared the 2021 Abel Prize for his leadership in shaping our understanding of randomness in computation (Source: Abel Prize).

Itamar Willner

A chemist whose research focuses on molecular electronics, nanobiotechnology, and biosensors. He has developed novel methods for constructing molecular-scale machines and devices, earning him the prestigious Israel Prize for his contributions to the field of nanotechnology.

Karina Yaniv

A developmental biologist who studies how blood and lymphatic vessels form. Her pioneering research using live imaging in zebrafish embryos revealed the precise cellular origins of the lymphatic system, resolving a century-old scientific debate.

Jacob Ziv

An electrical engineer and a giant in information theory. Along with Abraham Lempel, he developed the Lempel-Ziv (LZ) algorithms for lossless data compression, which are the basis for ubiquitous formats like ZIP, GIF, PNG, and PDF.

Scientists Born in Other Countries

Luxembourg Malawi