The David Ben-Gurion Prize was awarded to Dr. Eileen Solvay and Professor David Feiman

Prof. Feynman is one of the founders of the Desert Research Institutes in Sde Boker, Dr. Solvay is researching medicinal plants from the Middle East in collaboration with Hadassah Hospital

At the ceremony that took place this week, the David Ben-Gurion Award for the year XNUMX was awarded to Dr. Eileen Solvay and Professor David Feiman.

The prize, which is being awarded for the 30th year, is given to researchers, writers, intellectuals and people of action, who in their works and actions perpetuate the vision of David Ben-Gurion and uphold his legacy. , Teddy Kolek, the writer S. Yizhar and more. Behind the award stands the Yad David Ben-Gurion association, which was established on Ben-Gurion's initiative for the development of the Negev. This year, two were chosen, Dr. Eileen Solvay and Professor David Peiman to receive the prestigious title.

Professor David Fayman, born in Great Britain, immigrated to Israel in 1976. He holds a bachelor's degree in physics with honors from the University of London, and a second and third degree in physics from the University of Illinois. After serving as a researcher in physics departments in Britain and Switzerland, he joined the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot and the physics department at Ben-Gurion University. In 1976 Peyman founded the desert research institutes in Sde Boker, where he also built his house, and began to engage in alternative energy, with an emphasis on solar energy.

In 1980, he was appointed full professor and chairman of the Department of Solar Energy and Environmental Physics at Ben-Gurion University and later initiated the establishment of the international symposia on the subject of electricity generation using solar energy. In 1991 he established the National Center for Solar Energy in Sde Boker, where he built the largest solar parabolic dish in the world - an essential tool in the development of innovative photovoltaic energy technologies. In 2012 he won the Lifetime Achievement Award for Alternative Energies. Currently serves as an emeritus professor at Ben Gurion University, and focuses on electricity supply research on a national scale.

Dr. Elaine Solvay, born in Oakland California, has 3 degrees in agriculture and soil restoration from Columbia University. Solvay is a world-renowned farmer in sustainable agriculture, desert agriculture, soil training and endangered plants, the first to grow a two thousand year old palm kernel that was discovered in archaeological excavations in Masada. She came to Israel in 1972 as a volunteer at Kibbutz Boror Ha'il. Solvay is one of the founders of Kibbutz Ketura in the Southern Arava, initiated and planted the first date plantation and established an orchard to save rare and special trees of the Land of Israel that are in the desert on the verge of extinction. In 1975, she received a grant from the chief scientist to work on a collection of plants from deserts around the world, with the aim of growing them in the future in the Negev, from which she was able to domesticate and maintain commercial varieties. In 1996, she joined the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies (AIES) as a lecturer and researcher, where she still manages the Center for Sustainable Agriculture. Since 2008, she has served as chief scientist at the Rare Trees Association, and since 2011, she has been the head of the plant department at the Araba Pharma project. Currently researching medicinal plants from the Middle East in collaboration with Hadassah Hospital.

The committee of judges, which rotates every year, was chaired by Professor Rivka Karmi, president of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, professor of medicine and genetics. Also members of the committee are Haim Baer, ​​Israeli writer and poet, professor emeritus of Hebrew literature at Ben-Gurion University, and Major General (Res.) Uzi Dayan - Chairman of the Lottery, former Major General in the IDF and Deputy Chief of Staff and Head of the National Security Council.