Lifson, Shneior
LIFSON, SHNEIOR
LIFSON, SHNEIOR (1914–2001), Israeli biophysicist. He was born in Tel Aviv and was a member of kibbutz Nir David (1932–42), where he joined the Palmaḥ. He studied physics, mathematics, and chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, receiving his Ph.D. (1954) followed by further studies in the U.S. and the Netherlands. He joined the Weizmann Institute as a research assistant (1949) and became professor (1961). He was chairman of its scientific council (1958–59 and 1961–63) and scientific director (1963–67). He was head of the department of chemical physics from 1963. Lifson's research concerned the fine details of protein structure and their functional significance. He was particularly involved in the biological implications of protein geometry and packing. Later in his career he was increasingly interested in the origins of life dependent on the transformation of inanimate to animate matter. He postulated that a changing environment acted on elementary "autocatalytic" matter to produce a self-sustaining process of replication, random variation, and natural selection. His publications attracted universal interest. He was awarded the Israel Prize for science (1969).
[Michael Denman (2nd ed.)]