Ladislaus Farkas (Hungarian: Farkas László, Hebrew: לדיסלאוס פרקש) (May 10, 1904, in

Dunajská Streda Dunajská Streda (; hu, Dunaszerdahely; german: Niedermarkt; he, דונהסרדהיי) is a town located in southern Slovakia ( Trnavský kraj). Dunajská Streda is the most culturally significant town in the Žitný ostrov area. The town has a ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

– December 31, 1948, in

Monte Argentario Monte Argentario is a ''comune'' (municipality) and a peninsula belonging to the Province of Grosseto in the Italian region Tuscany, located about south of Florence and about south of Grosseto. The peninsula is connected with the mainland by thre ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

) is an Israeli chemist, of Austro-Hungarian origin, was the founder of the Department of Physical Chemistry 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 ...

Education and career

Farkas was born in

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

as the son of a pharmacist. In 1908, the family moved to

Nagyvárad ) , blank2_name_sec1 = Patron saint , blank2_info_sec1 = Saint LadislausTransylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

(today Oradea in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

), where his father ran a pharmacy. The family attends a synagogue affiliated with

Neolog Judaism Neologs ( hu, neológ irányzat, "Neolog faction") are one of the two large communal organizations among Hungarian Jews, Hungarian Jewry. Socially, the liberal and modernist Neologs had been more inclined toward integration into Hungarian society ...

. Farkas studied at the Gymnasium in Oradea, then spent two years at the

Technical University of Vienna TU Wien (TUW; german: Technische Universität Wien; still known in English as the Vienna University of Technology from 1975–2014) is one of the major universities in Vienna, Austria. The university finds high international and domestic recogn ...

. He continued his studies in Berlin where he entered the

Kaiser Wilhelm Institute The Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science (German: ''Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften'') was a German scientific institution established in the German Empire in 1911. Its functions were taken over by ...

of Chemistry in 1924. His thesis supervisor was

Karl Friedrich Bonhoeffer Karl-Friedrich Bonhoeffer (13 January 1899 – 15 May 1957) was a German chemist. Education and career Born in Breslau, he was an older brother of martyred theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. His father was neurologist Karl Bonhoeffer and his moth ...

, with whom he established strong friendships. He obtained his doctorate in 1928 and was appointed personal assistant to the German chemist

Fritz Haber Fritz Haber (; 9 December 186829 January 1934) was a German chemist who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918 for his invention of the Haber–Bosch process, a method used in industry to synthesize ammonia from nitrogen gas and hydroge ...

that same year. Pursuant to the German law on the restoration of the civil service of April 7, 1933, aimed at dismissing Jewish civil servants, Farkas was dismissed by the director of the chemical institute,

on April 29, 1933. of Jewish origin, sends his own letter of resignation the following day. Farkas then benefited from the financial support of Haber who helped his Jewish collaborators affected by the law to settle abroad. In 1935, he made Aliyah to Palestine and in 1936 founded a department of physical chemistry at the

which he directed until his death. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the group, led by Farkas, contributed to the British war effort. Farkas was secretary of the scientific advisory committee of the War Supply Council established by the British in 1942, coordinating all scientific research and development carried out in the country in the service of the British and the Allies in general during the war.

Personal life

In 1940, Farkas married Hannah Aharoni (Aharonovich), a Moscow native and trained microbiologist. He is the father of two daughters, Liora and Ruth. His parents and his little niece were murdered during the Holocaust. On December 31, 1948, Farkas went on a mission to the United States to buy equipment for the Israeli university and army. The special flight, which takes off from Haifa, crashes at

in Tuscany. All the passengers and crew members, including Farkas, are killed. In Italy, a memorial service was held in their memory, and then Farkas was buried on the

Har HaMenuchot Har HaMenuchot ( he, הר המנוחות, Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi pronunciation, Har HaMenuchos, lit. "Mount of Those who are Resting", also known as Givat Shaul Cemetery) is the largest cemetery in Jerusalem. The hilltop burial ground lies at ...

cemetery in the Mount of Respites in Jerusalem. His personal archives are kept at the

National Library of Israel The National Library of Israel (NLI; he, הספרייה הלאומית, translit=HaSifria HaLeumit; ar, المكتبة الوطنية في إسرائيل), formerly Jewish National and University Library (JNUL; he, בית הספרים הלא� ...

External links

Ladislaus Farkas
photos at the

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust. Adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the USHMM provides for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust hi ...

Dismissal letter to Ladislas Farkas by Fritz Haber

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farkas, Ladislaus Hungarian chemists 1904 births 1948 deaths Max Planck Society alumni TU Wien alumni Hungarian physical chemists People from Dunajská Streda Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Technical University of Berlin alumni