David Faiman

David Faiman in March 2009

David Faiman(born 1944 in theUnited Kingdom) is a British andIsraeliphysicist.

Background

Faiman was educated atWillesdenCounty Grammar School and theUniversity of London,and received his Ph.D from theUniversity of Illinoisin 1969. After post-doctoral appointments in Oxford andCERNhe arrived in Israel in September 1973, to take up an appointment in theoretical physics at theWeizmann Institute of Science.However, as a result of the energy crisis that followed theYom Kippur War,he re-directed his research interests from elementary particles intosolar energy.In 1976 he was recruited by Amos Richmond to assist in founding theJacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Researchat theSede Boqercampus ofBen-Gurion University of the Negev. Faiman created the Institutes’ Department of Solar Energy & Environmental Physics, which he headed concurrently with the Ben-Gurion National Solar Energy Center until his retirement in 2013 at the rank of Professor Emeritus. Faiman lives in Sede Boqer, Israel, in apassive solar housewhere almost all of the heating and cooling needs are taken care of by the sun. His hobbies include biblical geography, and the music ofGiacomo Meyerbeer.

Career

Faiman’s theoretical physics research focused onhadron spectroscopyusing thequarkmodel and various associated symmetries. His solar energy research spanned studies ofsolar radiation,energy conversiondevices, and power-producing systems. His most celebrated work was the development, in collaboration with theZenith SolarCompany, of a 10 m2 mirrored, sun-tracking dish, which concentrated the sun’s rays 1,000 times onto a water-cooled solar array of dimensions 100 cm2.Under full sunshine, this system generated 2kWof electric power and 5 kW of thermal power, the latter in the form of hot water at 80oC. Faiman was Israel’s representative on solar energy toUNESCO,theFAOand Tasks 2 and 8 of theInternational Energy Agency.Within the latter framework he co-authored the series of booksEnergy from the Desert.

See also

• Solar power in Israel

External links

• Faculty biographyArchived2013-10-26 at theWayback Machine