American Friends of the Hebrew University

Four HU Professors awarded 2007 Israel Prize
Jerusalem, March 04, 2007

The Israel Prize, Israel’s most prestigious prize is awarded annually to individuals, groups or organizations who have shown outstanding achievement, excellence and breakthroughs in their fields, or who have made special contributions to Israeli society.

Four Hebrew University researchers are being awarded the Israel Prize for 2007, including Prof. Shalom Schwartz of the Department of Psychology; Prof. Zvi Selinger of the Department of Biochemistry; Prof. Amnon Cohen of the Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies; and Prof. Nissan Levitan of the of Economics.

Prof. Shalom Schwartz has been awarded the 2007 Israel Prize in psychology. The announcement was made by Minister of Education, Yuli Tamir, on February 20.

''Prof. Shalom Schwartz from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem is one of the leading social psychologists in Israel and is one of the most prominent and valued researchers in the world,'' said the panel of judges who selected him for the award. The judges added, ''For 40 years, Prof. Schwartz has conducted in depth research on the subject of personal and cultural values. He developed a theory on the universal structure of human value systems and researched the theory in a wider inter-cultural context. His research has influenced many fields, including organizational behavior, marketing, political psychology and developmental psychology.''

After completing his master's degree in social psychology and group development at Columbia University and completing his rabbinical studies, Schwartz went on to study for his doctorate in social psychology and sociology. On completion of his studies in 1967, he joined the department of sociology at the University of Wisconsin, and in 1973 became a professor. From 1971-73, Schwartz was a visiting lecturer in the department of psychology at the Hebrew University, where he has maintained his connection until today.

In 1979, when many of Israel's leading researchers were going to work at universities in the United States, Schwartz realized the Zionist dream and made aliya to Israel with his wife and three children. He joined the department of psychology at the Hebrew University, were he now holds the post of Leon and Clara Sznajderman Professor Emeritus of Psychology.

In his research studies, Schwartz has argued that individual norms can lead individuals to act altruistically in situations where such behavior contradicts the narrow interests of the individual. Schwartz also attempts to explain individual acts of heroism in extreme situations, such as the behavior of certain individuals during the Holocaust.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Schwartz was one of the prominent researchers in the development of pioneering research on pro-social and altruistic behavior. His research has since provided insight into the development and consequences of a diverse range of behavioral attitudes and orientations, such as religious belief, political orientation and voting, social group relations, consumer behavior, as well as the conceptualization of human values across cultures.

Prof. Zvi Selinger has been named the winner of the 2007 Israel Prize in biology. The award was announced by Minister of Education and Culture Yuli Tamir.

Winners of the Israel Prize, the nation’s highest civilian honor, are chosen in a variety of fields each year by special panels under the auspices of the Ministry of Education and Culture. The prizes are presented in a festive ceremony on Israel Independence Day.

''The Israel Prize in biology was awarded to Prof. Zvi Selinger of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for his groundbreaking achievements in transmembrane signaling and his discovery of the consequences of the signaling process which he deciphered on various levels of biological activity,'' said the panel which selected Prof. Selinger for the award. The judges added, ''Prof. Selinger is highly regarded in the professional-academic sphere in Israel and the world.''

Prof. Selinger received degrees in medicine and biochemistry at the Hebrew University, later doing advanced work in the field of membranes at the University of Minnesota in the United States.

In 1965, Prof. Selinger accepted a teaching position at the Department of Biochemistry at the Hebrew University. His scientific achievements soon propelled him to the position of senior lecturer, associate professor and then professor. He served as head of the Biochemistry Department and also of the Department of Biological Chemistry. In addition, he was in charge of life sciences at the National Council for Research and Development and was a member of the Israel-Germany Steering Committee for Biotechnology. He is the Matilda Marks-Kennedy Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry at the Hebrew University.

For many years, he served as a combat physician in the IDF reserves. The experience that he acquired in the field and in the laboratory led him to write a seminal publication on medicinal treatment in chemical warfare attacks. From 1989-1990, Selinger was a visiting professor at Harvard Medical School.

Over the years, Selinger has educated a generation of students who are now based in the leading universities, medical centers and research institutions in Israel and the world.

Prof. Amnon Cohen has been awarded the 2007 Israel Prize for Land of Israel Studies. The announcement was made by Minister of Education, Yuli Tamir, on February 19.

''Prof. Amnon Cohen from the Hebrew University is a great researcher who has made a unique contribution to the research of the land of Israel in modern times in general and in the Ottoman period in particular,'' explained a member of the panel of judges who selected Cohen for the prize. The judges added, ''His research in the archives of the Shaari'a courts in Jerusalem was a breakthrough in the historiography of the land of Israel and the Ottoman Empire. His presentation of research in this field has gained him exceptional recognition and respect in the international academic community. Prof. Cohen is a generous and devoted teacher who educated a generation of researchers and teachers.''

Prof. Cohen was born in Tel Aviv in 1936. He embarked on his higher education at the Hebrew University, where he dedicated most of his life to research and teaching. Over the years, he taught as a visiting professor of Oriental Studies at a number of universities overseas, including Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania.

In 1990, he established the James Shasha Institute for International Seminars at the Hebrew University of which he was the director until 1997. In his last post at the Hebrew University, he served as the director of the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace (1998-2003). There he established new research units for Central Asia and the Caucasus, and the republics and autonomous provinces of the former Yugoslavia. He also developed the research and activities of the unit for contemporary Middle Eastern Studies, placing particular emphasis on joint research projects with Palestinians, Jordanians and Egyptians.

After 1967, he published a book on political parties in the West Bank during Jordanian rule. His most important research, however, exposed for the first time to the public and academic world the sealed treasures of the archives of the Ottoman Muslim courts of Jerusalem during the Ottoman rule (1517-1918). Cohen also researches political and social developments in the post-Saddam era in Iraq and the impact of the country's ethnic and communal fault-lines.

He currently holds the post of Eliahu Elath Professor Emeritus of the History of the Muslim Peoples in the Hebrew University's Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies.

Prof. Nissan Levitan has been awarded the 2007 Israel Prize in economics. The announcement was made by Minister of Education, Yuli Tamir, on Sunday January 21.

''Prof. Levitan is one of the most important researchers in economics in Israel,'' said a member of the judging panel who nominated him for the award. ''Prof. Levitan has contributed not only to economic research, but also to the strengthening of economic policy in Israel, both at times when Israel was undergoing economic difficulties in 1985, and also for many years as consultant to the Bank of Israel, where he influenced many generations of researchers and policy-makers.''

Prof. Levitan is an expert in a number of fields, including econometrics of demand, organizational influence of linking, macro-economics of the open market, inflation and monetary policy.

Prof. Levitan, now 80, was one of the first researchers of modern economics in Israel. He began his studies in the economics department at the Hebrew University in 1949 and then went on to study his master's at Oxford University. After returning to the Hebrew University to complete his Ph.D., he joined the Department of Economics as a lecturer.

For further information:
Rebecca Zeffert, Dept. of Media Relations, the Hebrew University, Tel: 02-588-1641, or Orit Sulitzeanu, Hebrew University spokesperson, Tel: 02-5882910 or 052-260-8016. Internet site: http://media.huji.ac.il.