Felix Dothan (Deutsch) (1924-2005) was a full professor of physics 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 ...
. He initiated the
Talpiot program
Talpiot program ( he, תוכנית תלפיות) is an elite Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) training program for recruits who have demonstrated outstanding academic ability in the sciences and leadership potential. Graduates pursue double higher edu ...
together with Professor Shaul Yatziv.
Dothan received his
B.A.
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
from the
Technion and his
PhD PHD or PhD may refer to:
* Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification
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* '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series
* ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic
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** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...
from the Hebrew University. His research centered on
plasma
Plasma or plasm may refer to:
Science
* Plasma (physics), one of the four fundamental states of matter
* Plasma (mineral), a green translucent silica mineral
* Quark–gluon plasma, a state of matter in quantum chromodynamics
Biology
* Blood pla ...
and the technology of high voltage electricity. He won the award of the
Israeli Chief of Staff for a lifetime contribution to technology in 2001, especially for founding the Talpiot program.
Biography
Childhood
Felix Dothan was born in 1924 in
Zagreb
Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...
,
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
. He was the first-born son to Sandor Deutsch, a merchant of building materials, and Lilli, the daughter of
Marcus Steiner. He was born in a bilingual environment that used both
Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and ...
and
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
.
Until the summer of 1942, the family was protected from the prosecution of Jews by their business partners that had connections with the heads of government. In August 1942, all the protections were abolished and the remaining Jews of Zagreb, including the family, were arrested. Within a few days, the Croatian Nazis, the
Ustaše
The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian Fascism, fascist and ultranationalism, ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaš ...
, arranged a transport to
Auschwitz
Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
. Fortunately, Deutsch was saved by a Croat and instead of going on the train he was put in three weeks home arrest and was later released. Until the liberation of Croatia in May 1945, Jews were sometimes hunted down, but Deutsch managed to survive by hiding among non-Jews.
Education
After the war, four years in which he was not permitted to study, Deutsch was allowed by the Yugoslavian ministry of education to finish high-school and the matriculation exams, which he passed ''summa cum laude''. The same year he started to study electrical engineering at the
University of Zagreb
The University of Zagreb ( hr, Sveučilište u Zagrebu, ; la, Universitas Studiorum Zagrabiensis) is the largest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of ...
, where he studied for three years. In the fourth year, December 1948, he immigrated to Israel.
In Israel, he worked for half a year in construction and as a fisherman. In Summer 1949, when the studies at the Technion were resumed after the end of the
War of Independence
This is a list of wars of independence (also called liberation wars). These wars may or may not have been successful in achieving a goal of independence.
List
See also
* Lists of active separatist movements
* List of civil wars
* List of o ...
, Deutsch was admitted to the third year of studies in the electricity faculty. He finished his studies in the Technion at the beginning of 1951 after facing the challenge of not knowing the Hebrew language and became an engineer.
Scientific work
In February 1951 he started to work as a designer of scientific machinery in Hemed (later
Rafael
Rafael may refer to:
* Rafael (given name) or Raphael, a name of Hebrew origin
* Rafael, California
* Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Israeli manufacturer of weapons and military technology
* Hurricane Rafael, a 2012 hurricane
Fiction
* ''R ...
) in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
. Among other things, he designed an experimental device for the production of Ether, a
centrifuge
A centrifuge is a device that uses centrifugal force to separate various components of a fluid. This is achieved by spinning the fluid at high speed within a container, thereby separating fluids of different densities (e.g. cream from milk) or ...
for the separation of heavy water and vacuum pumps. In July 1954 the Hemed institute in Jerusalem was closed and Dothan started to work at the Hebrew University. In July 1951, he married Olga Balog and the couple had two children,
Yoav
Joab (Hebrew Modern: ''Yōʼav'', Tiberian: ''Yōʼāḇ'') the son of Zeruiah, was the nephew of King David and the commander of his army, according to the Hebrew Bible.
Name
The name Joab is, like many other Hebrew names, theophoric - deri ...
who is an International chess Grand Master and was also the Israeli champion in
Correspondence Chess
Correspondence chess is chess played by various forms of long-distance correspondence, traditionally through the postal system. Today it is usually played through a correspondence chess server, a public internet chess forum, or email. Less common ...
, and Ruth, a family doctor.
In Spring 1957, Deutsch left with his family to Switzerland where he worked for two and a half years as a research engineer in the high voltage laboratory. Among other things, he studied electro-negative gases, built an innovative measuring device (Deutsch bridge) and calculated using advanced mathematical methods the electric field of complicated constructions.
In the beginning of 1960, he came back to the Hebrew University. This time, to the new laboratory for physics of electrically ionized gases (plasma) as an expert for high voltage. Then he started his Ph.D. studies, which he finished in 1965. During his studies, he registered several patents.
After finishing his PhD, he was accepted as a visiting scientist at the
European Organization for Nuclear Research
The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in a northwestern suburb of Gene ...
(CERN) in Geneva, where he stayed for two years. His research dealt primarily with the calculation of the proper magnetic fields for super-conductor magnets. He also designed, built, and explored a switch that is turned on in a nanosecond using a laser pulse.
In 1968 he was appointed as a senior lecturer at
the Racah Institute of Physics
The Racah Institute of Physics () is an institute at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, part of the faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences on the Edmund J. Safra Campus in the Givat Ram neighborhood of Jerusalem.
The institute is the cent ...
. In 1980 he was appointed a full professor. In 1968, he changed his family name from Deutsch to Dothan.
Throughout the years 1968 to 1973, he studied various lasers together with professor Shaul Yatziv and professor Pinchas Avivi and built a laser inside a metal pipe instead of a glass tube, which allowed for the creation of more durable lasers. He also studied the dynamics of excitation in molecules of . In 1973–1974 he was a visiting professor at the
University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and pr ...
where he built and studied a plasma gun and measures for the rapid circulation of the plasma created in the cannon.
Founding the Talpiot program
During his stay in California, the
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egy ...
broke. Dothan feared for the fate of Israel and thought about a way to help the country sustain similar challenges in the future. He had an idea: to create a unit of the most talented soldiers drafted in every term. These youngsters will first study intensively to reach the cutting edge of current science and technology and later will invent, design, and build advanced weapons.
When he got back to Israel he wrote, together with his colleague Professor Shaul Yatziv a proposal for the creation of an institute for developing new weapons that listed the core of the idea. In Summer 1974, he submitted the proposal to the minister of defense but the committee that was appointed to discuss the issue did not reach a decision.
In 1975, a group of lecturers at the Hebrew University was organized following the initiative of professor Shaul Patay to help the
IDF
IDF or idf may refer to:
Defence forces
* Irish Defence Forces
* Israel Defense Forces
*Iceland Defense Force, of the US Armed Forces, 1951-2006
* Indian Defence Force, a part-time force, 1917
Organizations
* Israeli Diving Federation
* Interac ...
by various inventions and improving procedures. The group suggested and built several constructions. Dothan contributed a laser gun that was used for training of gunmen in tanks.
In 1978, he met with professor Patay the Chief of Staff
Rafael Eitan
Rafael "Raful" Eitan ( he, רפאל "רפול" איתן, born 11 January 1929 – 23 November 2004) was an Israeli general, former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (Ramatkal) and later a politician, a Knesset member, and government m ...
. Dothan presented his proposal to create a unit of talented youth. Eitan ordered to initiate the program which he called the Talpiot program. The first term was drafted in the Spring of 1979 and operated, as all later terms, as a military unit within the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The cadets studied three years of extended studies of physics and mathematics and during the study breaks joined courses in various units of the IDF. Dothan served as a volunteer as the primary educator of Talpiot between 1979 and 1994. The graduates of the Talpiot program contributed much to the IDF and some of them won the Israel Defense Prize.
Later years
In the years 1974–1981, he worked especially on the dynamics of electric glow discharge. In the years 1981–1982, he was a visiting research fellow at Yale University. In 1986 and in 1991, he was a visiting researcher in CERN in Geneva. In 1992, he retired.
In 1986 he won the President decoration for an important contribution to the defense of Israel and in 2001 he won the Chief of Staff prize for a lifetime contribution in the field of technology.
In the last years of his life, he published four books designed to encourage within the educated public, especially young readers, a greater interest in science. On his last day, he gave an interview on the radio station Kol Israel about science and research. At the end of the interview, he expressed a clear warning about the danger to Israel posed by an Iranian armament with nuclear weapons. Minutes after the interview ended, he lost consciousness.
Patents
Phonocardioscope with a liquid crystal displayre
Patents by Inventor Felix Dothan/ref>
References
External links
Felix Dothan (in Croatian)Physics Tree - The Academic Genealogy of PhysicsInside the IDF’s Super-Secret Elite Brain TrustReview: ‘Israel’s Edge’ Not the Sharpest
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dothan, Felix
20th-century Israeli physicists
Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
People associated with CERN
1924 births
2005 deaths
Israeli electrical engineers
Yugoslav emigrants to Israel
Technion – Israel Institute of Technology alumni
Croatian Jews
Israeli people of Croatian-Jewish descent
Engineers from Zagreb