Avishag Kadman-Zahavi ( he, אבישג זהבי; 1922 − 31 October 2021) was an Israeli professor emeritus of

Plant Physiology Plant physiology is a subdiscipline of botany concerned with the functioning, or physiology, of plants. Closely related fields include plant morphology (structure of plants), plant ecology (interactions with the environment), phytochemistry (bi ...

at '' The Volcani Center for Agricultural Research'', Bet-Dagan, Israel. She is best known for her close collaboration with her husband

Amotz Zahavi Amotz Zahavi ( he, אמוץ זהבי) (August 14, 1928 – May 12, 2017) was an Israeli evolutionary biologist, a Professor in the Department of Zoology at Tel Aviv University, and one of the founders of the Society for the Protection of Nature in ...

, who developed together with her the so-called Handicap principle, a

sociobiological Sociobiology is a field of biology that aims to examine and explain social behavior in terms of evolution. It draws from disciplines including psychology, ethology, anthropology, evolution, zoology, archaeology, and population genetics. Within t ...

approach to the theory of

natural selection Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the heritable traits characteristic of a population over generations. Charle ...

. She was born in

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

in 1922. A lifelong naturalist, Avishag Kadman met Amotz Zahavi at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

during their studies in the field of

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

and married him in 1954. Since then, besides following her own field of research, she has collaborated with Amotz in the study of the babblers and in the development of his ideas, often serving as the "devil's advocate". Her research interests are basic and applied aspects of the effects of light on plant development ( photoperiodism, phytochrome,

photomorphogenesis In developmental biology, photomorphogenesis is light-mediated development, where plant growth patterns respond to the light spectrum. This is a completely separate process from photosynthesis where light is used as a source of energy. Phytochromes ...

). After her retirement, Kadman-Zahavi continued her research at the ''Yair center for agricultural research'' at Hatzeva. She died on 31 October 2021. Avishag and Amotz Zahavi had two daughters and two grandchildren.

Sources

* The biographical details were learned from the German edition of: Amotz Zahavi & Avishag Zahavi: ''The Handicap Principle: A Missing Piece of Darwin's Puzzle.'' Oxford University Press, 1997, ; additional source
Naama Zahavi-Ely, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA, USA

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zahavi, Avishag 1922 births 2021 deaths Evolutionary biologists Israeli botanists Scientists from Haifa Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni Israeli women scientists Women botanists Women physiologists Israeli physiologists