Michael Zohary ( he, מיכאל זהרי) (born 9 April 1898 in Bóbrka, Galicia (

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 ...

); died 16 April 1983 in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

) was a pioneering Israeli

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

Biography

Michael Schein (later Zohary) was born into a Jewish family in Bóbrka, near

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...

(then

Austria-Hungarian Empire 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 ...

). He

immigrated Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

to the

British Mandate for Palestine The Mandate for Palestine was a League of Nations mandate for British administration of the territories of Palestine and Transjordan, both of which had been conceded by the Ottoman Empire following the end of World War I in 1918. The manda ...

in 1920. After working building roads, he attended the Teacher's Seminary in Jerusalem. He published the monumental ''Geobotanical Foundations of the Middle East''. He was responsible for introduction of the important principle of antiteleochory which adumbrated that seed germination of the desert plant is ensured by dispersal near the parent plant. His son,

Daniel Zohary Daniel (Dani) Zohary (24 April 1926 - 16 December 2016) was an Israeli plant geneticist, agronomist and an influential professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Hebrew University. He was the coauthor of a major synthesis, the ''Domestication ...

(1926–2006) was also a highly published botanist specializing in prehistoric plant domestication. In 1931,

Alexander Eig Alexander Eig ( he, אלכסנדר איג be, Аляксандр Эйг; 1894, near Minsk, Belarus – 30 July 1938, Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine) was a botanist, one of the first plant researchers in Israel, head of the department of Botany a ...

founded the

National Botanic Garden of Israel National Botanic Garden of Israel (officially Montague Lamport Botanical Garden for the Native Plants of Israel) Hebrew: הגן הבוטני לצמחי ארץ ישראל ע"ש מונטג'יו למפורט), is a botanical garden located on the ...

on Mount Scopus, together with Michael Zohary and

Naomi Feinbrun-Dothan Naomi Feinbrun-Dothan (17 April 1900 – 8 March 1995) was a Russian-born Israeli botanist, who became part of the academic staff at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She studied the flora of Israel and published dozens of articles and several a ...

. In 1952 he was appointed professor of botany 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 ...

. As well as his interest in the plant geography and vegetation of Israel and Jordan, from 1950–1965 Zohary's research paid special attention to Turkey and Iran. He published ''The Plant Life of Israel'' in 1962 and a major article on the vegetation of Iran in the Israel Journal of Botany in 1964. His work on the Flora Palaestina resulted in the publication of the first two volumes, ''Pteridophyta'' (1966), and ''Dialypetalae'' (1972), meanwhile his major two-volume work, ''Geobotanical Foundations of the Middle East'', appeared in 1973. Zohary's best known work, however, is ''A New Analytical Flora of Israel'' (1976, in Hebrew). Zohary officially retired in 1967, but as Professor Emeritus continued his research, his final book being ''Plants of the Bible'' (1982). He died on 15 April 1983 in Jerusalem. The plants ''Anthemis zoharyana'' (1938), ''Bellevalia zoharyi'' (1939), and ''Stachys zoharyana'' (1948), are all named after him.

Awards

* In 1954, Zohary was awarded 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 ...

, for

life sciences This list of life sciences comprises the branches of science that involve the scientific study of life – such as microorganisms, plants, and animals including human beings. This science is one of the two major branches of natural science, the ...

Works

* (published posthumously) * "The Segetal Plants Communities of Palestine", in: ''Vegetatio'' 2 (1950), pp. 387–411 * ''Flora Palaestina'', I–II, Jerusalem 1966–1971 * ''Plants of the Bible'', Cambridge 1982 * ''Domestication of Plants in the Old World'' (3rd edition), Oxford 2000 * "The diffusion of South and East Asian and of African crops into the belt of Mediterranean agriculture", in: ''Plants for Food and Medicine'' (H.D.V. Prendergast, et al. editors), Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 1998, pp. 123–134

References

* Avishai Shmida and David Heller, ''Michael Zohary - Giant of Israel Botany'', in "Israel - Land and Nature" Fall 1983, ppg. 33-35. ISSN 0333-6867 {{DEFAULTSORT:Zohary, Michael 1898 births 1983 deaths Hebrew University of Jerusalem faculty Israeli botanists Israeli Jews Israel Prize in life sciences recipients Israel Prize in life sciences recipients who were botanists Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe) Jews in Mandatory Palestine Members of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities Natural history of Israel Polish emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Ukrainian Jews

Biography

Awards

Works

See also

References

Further reading

in memorandum