Wilchek, Meir

views updated

WILCHEK, MEIR

WILCHEK, MEIR (1935– ), biophysicist. Born in Warsaw, Wilchek saw his youth disrupted by World War ii, which he spent in Russia, mostly in Siberia. His family came to Israel in 1949 and eventually settled in Reḥovot where he finished high school. He received his doctorate from the Weizmann Institute and joined the department of biophysics, becoming professor in 1974 and later chairman. He was awarded numerous prizes, including the Rothschild prize for chemistry in 1987, the Wolf Prize for medicine in 1987, and the Israel Prize in life sciences (1990) for his discovery and development of the technology of chromotographic linkage. He was a foreign associate of the U.S. Institute of Medicine and National Academy of Science and a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences.

More From encyclopedia.com