Prof. Avivi Yavin - Obituary

Professor Avivi Yavin was born on 1928 in Zichron Yaakov, Israel and passed away on February 5th, 2016 in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Avivi Yavin fought in the Israel war of independence within the elite Palmach unit and studied physics at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He continued his studies at the University of Washington in Seattle, USA, and obtained his PhD degree in 1958. The same year he moved to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign first as a post-doctoral fellow and later as a faculty member rising to the rank of full professor. During this period he was nominated Fellow of the American Physical Society for his original method for studying nuclear Analog States, important for studies of nuclear structure.

During the years 1960-1962 he was in Israel working for the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission at the Soreq nuclear center. During this period he coordinated the work of a committee, chaired by Prof. Soli Cohen from the Hebrew University, to recommend the construction of a national accelerator in Israel. In 1967 Avivi was invited by Prof. Yuval Neeman to Tel Aviv University  to set up a research group in Nuclear Physics. The group was established within two years and included four experimentalist and two theoreticians. Later on two more experimentalists and three theoreticians joined what became the Department of Nuclear Physics. Members of the group focused on studies of interactions of pions and electrons with nuclei and were considered among the leading groups in these subjects.

During the years 1971-1976 Avivi was Dean of the Faculty of Exact Sciences and contributed much to its development. He was member of the University Board of Governors and was very active in the University life both formally and informally.

In 1977 Avivi established the University Project for studies of Peace. Within this framework many studies were conducted and Avivi made contacts with Egyptian universities. The subject of peace was very close to his heart, he wrote and was involved in it to his last days.

Danny Ashery

Tel Aviv University