born Nov. 27, 1874, Motol, Pol., Russian Empire
died Nov. 9, 1952, Re 1E25; ovot, Israel
Russian-born Israeli chemist and first president of Israel (194952).
After studying in Germany and Switzerland, he earned a doctorate in chemistry and patented several dyestuffs before moving to England to teach in 1904. His 1912 discovery of a bacterium that could convert carbohydrate to acetone proved of great value to the British armaments industry in World War I (191418), and in return the government aided his negotiations for the Balfour Declaration (1917). In 1919 he obtained an agreement on Jewish-Arab coexistence in Palestine from Faysal I , and in 1920 he became president of the World Zionist Organization, a post from which he was ousted in 1931. He settled in Re 1E25; ovot, Palestine, in 1937. Despite conflicts with more extreme Zionists, he was sent to the U.S. to secure support for Israel in 1948, and in 1949 he was elected president.