LOW (Lev), WILLIAM ZE'EV

LOW (Lev), WILLIAM ZE'EV (1922–2004), Israeli physicist. Low was born in Vienna and studied in Canada and the U.S., receiving his doctorate from Columbia University in 1950. In the same year he immigrated to Israel, and was appointed professor of experimental physics at the Hebrew University in 1961. In 1960 he was elected president of the Physical Society of Israel. He has published nearly 200 papers in the field of solid state physics, laser physics, shockwaves, and microwaves, and is the author of Paramagnetic Resonance in Solids (1960). He was awarded the Israel Prize for exact sciences in 1962 and the Rothschild Prize for physical sciences in 1965.

A strictly observant Jew and profound talmudist, Low founded, and was first president of, the Institute of Science and Halakhah, the main purpose of which is to find scientific halakhic solutions to various problems connected with modern society and the Jewish religion, mainly in regard to observance of the Sabbath in an industrial society. The institute is also engaged in the collection of various rabbinical responsa connected with modern technological and agricultural problems. Low was also instrumental in establishing the Jerusalem College of Technology and was the first president and rector of this accredited college, whose purpose is to train yeshivah students as engineers for Israel industry, and thus bring them into direct contact with the economic and industrial life of the country. The staff consists of professors in the field of technology as well as yeshivah teachers. He has published two books of *responsa.