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Giulio Racah

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Giulio Racah
BornFebruary 9, 1909
Florence,Italy
DiedAugust 28, 1965(1965-08-29)(aged 56)
Florence, Italy
AwardsWeizmann Prize(1953)
Giulio Racah
The Racah Institute of Physicsat theHebrew UniversityGivat Ramcampus inJerusalem

Giulio(Yoel)Racah(Hebrew:ג'וליו (יואל) רקח;February 9, 1909 – August 28, 1965) was an Italian–Israeliphysicistandmathematician.[1]He was Acting President of theHebrew University of Jerusalemfrom 1961 to 1962.[2]

The craterRacahon the Moon is named after him.[3]

Biography

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Giulio (Yoel) Racah was born inFlorence,Italy.[4]On his mother's side, Racah's family claimed to trace its ancestry in Italy back to the destruction of the Second Temple.[5]He earned his Doctorate from theUniversity of Florencein 1930, and continued his studies atRomewithEnrico Fermi.[6]

In 1939, due to application ofAnti-Jewish laws in Italy,Racahemigratedto theBritish Mandate of Palestine.In the1948 Arab–Israeli War,Racah served as deputy commander of the Israeli forces defendingMount Scopus.[7]

Racah died at the age of 56, apparently asphyxiated by gas from a faulty heater while visiting Florence.[1]

Academic and scientific career

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In 1937 Racah was appointed Professor of Physics at theUniversity of Pisa.In 1939, after his move to Palestine, he was appointed Professor of Theoretical Physics at theHebrew University of Jerusalem,He later became Dean of the Faculty of Sciences and finallyRectorand acting president from 1961 to 1962, followingBenjamin Mazarand succeeded byEliahu Eilat.[8]The physics institute at the Hebrew University is named "The Racah Institute of Physics".

Racah's research was mainly in the fields ofquantum physicsand atomicspectroscopy.He first devised a systematic general procedure for classifying theenergy levelsof open shell atoms, which remains to this day the accepted technique for practical calculations ofatomic structure.This formalism was described in a monograph coauthored by his cousinUgo Fano(Irreducible Tensorial Sets,1959).

Awards and recognition

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In 1958, Racah was awarded theIsrael Prizein exact sciences.[9]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ab"Giulio Racah".Physics Today.18(10): 118. 1965.Bibcode:1965PhT....18j.118..doi:10.1063/1.3046917.[permanent dead link]
  2. ^"Office of the President | האוניברסיטה העברית בירושלים | The Hebrew University of Jerusalem".New.huji.ac.il. 2017-09-01.Retrieved2020-01-22.
  3. ^Zeldes, Nissan (2009)."Giulio Racah and theoretical physics in Jerusalem".Archive for History of Exact Sciences.63(3): 289–323.arXiv:physics/0703032.doi:10.1007/s00407-008-0040-z.JSTOR41134314.S2CID119479062.
  4. ^"Giulio Racah".Archived fromthe originalon 2012-10-12.Retrieved2011-01-18.
  5. ^"Racah, Giulio".www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org.Retrieved2024-04-06.
  6. ^"Giulio Racah"(PDF).
  7. ^"Jewish Virtual Library, sourced from Encyclopaedia Judaica".
  8. ^"Office of the President | האוניברסיטה העברית בירושלים | The Hebrew University of Jerusalem".New.huji.ac.il. 2017-09-01.Retrieved2020-02-18.
  9. ^"Israel Prize recipients in 1958 (in Hebrew)".Israel Prize Official Site. Archived fromthe originalon February 8, 2012.
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