Leslie Leiserowitz ( he, לסלי ליזרוביץ, born 1934 in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

) is an Israeli chemist and crystallographer. Leiserowitz studied electrical engineering at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

with a bachelor's degree, and then worked briefly as an electrical engineer and received a master's degree in physics (X-ray crystallography, under Reginald William James). In 1959 he joined the X-ray crystallography department at the

Weizmann Institute The Weizmann Institute of Science ( he, מכון ויצמן למדע ''Machon Vaitzman LeMada'') is a public research university in Rehovot, Israel, established in 1934, 14 years before the State of Israel. It differs from other Israeli univ ...

under Gerhard Schmidt, a student of Dorothy Crowfoot-Hodgkin. The group at the Weizmann Institute has an international reputation in solid-state chemistry. From 1966 to 1968 he set up the organic chemistry X-ray crystallography department at the University of Heidelberg at the invitation of Heinz Staab. There he developed and installed computer programs using the direct method of Nobel Laureates

Herbert Hauptman Herbert Aaron Hauptman (February 14, 1917 – October 23, 2011) was an American mathematician and Nobel laureate. He pioneered and developed a mathematical method that has changed the whole field of chemistry and opened a new era in research in d ...

and

Jerome Karle Jerome Karle (born Jerome Karfunkle; June 18, 1918 – June 6, 2013) was an American physical chemist. Jointly with Herbert A. Hauptman, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1985, for the direct analysis of crystal structures using X-ra ...

. Back at the Weizmann Institute, Leiserowitz worked on the synthesis of molecules for the investigation of various molecular interactions using X-ray crystallography (crystal engineering). In collaboration with Danish scientists, he also used X-ray diffraction to investigate thin molecular films with synchrotron radiation at DESY in Hamburg. He and

Meir Lahav Meir Lahav ( he, מאיר להב, born 1936 in Sofia, Bulgaria) is an Israeli chemist and materials scientist and emeritus professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science. Lahav emigrated to Israel in 1948. He studied at the Hebrew University of J ...

have been working together for many years on the stereochemical control of crystal formation and growth with targeted impurities. He is also active in malaria research, studying malaria pathogens using X-ray microscopy (fluorescence images of iron after X-ray exposure in infected red blood cells) and studying antimalarial drugs such as quinoline compounds. The malaria pathogen breaks down hemoglobin, producing a poisonous heme that docks in hemozoin crystals. Quinolines hinder the growth of the hemozoin crystals. Leiserowitz and Ronit Buller modeled the growth of the hemozoin crystals using computer simulation and found that their crystal surfaces were ideal for the docking of the quinolines. This explained the action of certain antimalarial agents and gave direction for improved drug design. In 1987 he received the Prelog Medal and lecture, in 2002 the

Gregori Aminoff Prize The Gregori Aminoff Prize is an international prize awarded since 1979 by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in the field of crystallography, rewarding "a documented, individual contribution in the field of crystallography, including areas conce ...

together with

, the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize ( he, פרס ישראל; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History The Israel Prize is awarded annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state cer ...

in 2016, the

EMET Prize The EMET Prize for Art, Science and Culture is an Israeli prize awarded annually for excellence in academic and professional achievements that have far-reaching influence and make a significant contribution to society. Prizes are awarded in the fol ...

in 2018 and the

Wolf Prize in Chemistry The Wolf Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Wolf Foundation in Israel. It is one of the six Wolf Prizes established by the Foundation and awarded since 1978; the others are in Agriculture, Mathematics, Medicine, Physics and Arts. Laure ...

in 2021 jointly with

. In 1997 Leiserowitz was elected to the Leopoldina.

Publications

* * * * * *

Literature

• Oral History Interview with Ute Deichmann, Jacques Loeb Centre for History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion Universität, 2013

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leiserowitz, Leslie Israeli chemists Crystallographers 1934 births Living people University of Cape Town alumni Scientists from Johannesburg Members of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina Israeli people of South African-Jewish descent Weizmann Institute of Science faculty