Brewer is the winner of the Israel Prize and the founder of the Department of Geography at Tel Aviv University
The winner of the Israel Prize, Prof. Moshe Brewer, founder of the Department of Geography and former dean of the Faculty of Humanities at Tel Aviv University, passed away this morning (Sunday) at the age of 101. Prof. Brewer's life's work was writing and editing the atlases that were used by Israeli students for generations in geography classes in schools ( and which are sometimes called "Atlas Brewer").
Prof. Brewer was born in Vienna in 1919 and he immigrated with his family to Jerusalem when he was one year old, where he grew up and was educated. In 1938 he began his studies at the University of London. At the end of the War of Independence he returned to London and completed his doctorate in science. In 1966 he founded the Department of Geography at Tel Aviv University, and in 1969 he helped establish the Department of Geography at Bar Ilan University. In 2002 he received the Israel Prize.
Among other things, Prof. Brewer served as a consultant to the Israeli governments for determining the borders in the peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan, and also participated in the discussions to determine the border with Syria in the last year of Yitzhak Rabin's life. In the years 2006-2014, he served as the chairman of the Governmental Names Committee (which gives names to localities, intersections, national parks, etc.), and after completing his position, he was awarded the title of honorary chairman. In addition, Prof. Brewer served as the president of the Geographical Society and for his work he received the Geographical Society's award.
As mentioned, Prof. Brewer's life's work was writing and editing atlases for Israeli students. Beginning in 1950 and for 70 years, Prof. Brewer published and edited 19 books, including the High School Atlas, a Physical, Political and Economic Atlas, and the New University Atlas. A few weeks ago, the 47th edition of his atlas ("Atlas Brewer") was published. Prof. Gideon Bigar from the Department of Geography at Tel Aviv University, who assisted Prof. Brewer in publishing the atlases in the last editions, said: "Until his last day, Moshe devoted his life to promoting the study of geography. His mastery of the map of the Land of Israel and the world was absolute and in every meeting with him you could learn something new and especially admire his love for the field and his great talent for teaching, even at the age of 80 he would still enter the classroom every week and lecture to his students."
Prof. Yitzhak Omer, Head of the Department of Geography at the Porter School of Environment and Earth Sciences at Tel Aviv University, adds that Prof. Brewer was an accomplished geographer, a prominent figure in the geographic and scientific community, who worked extensively to promote the field of geography studies in Israel and who raised and educated Over the years, thousands of students, many of whom run governmental and municipal institutions and services, serve as geography teachers in schools across the country or have integrated as faculty members and senior researchers at universities.
Prof. Eyal Zisser, the vice chancellor of Tel Aviv University, excitedly said that Prof. Brewer was the first lecturer who taught him on campus as part of the "Geography of the Maze" course. "We were all blessed by his wisdom and great knowledge. He was a role model as a scientist and researcher involved and a contributor, who worked to impart geographical knowledge to every home and every class. I helped him until his last day."
At a celebratory event on the occasion of his 100th birthday held last year at Tel Aviv University, Prof. Brewer said: "After for several years I taught courses on geography within the Faculty of Humanities, in 1966, Prof. Elisha Efrat and Anochi approached the university's management and asked to establish the geography department - and I was appointed head of the first department. In a few years, the department grew a lot, in teaching staff and in the number of its students, and became one of the largest and most active departments in the faculty. The space granted to us in the Gilman building was too narrow to meet our needs, and in 1973 we received Beit Avner; A building in the Afka neighborhood, which is attached to the university and is used by the department to this day."
