Guest of the section: Prof. Israel Pecht, Department of Immunology, Weizmann Institute of Science "I was fascinated by the atmosphere and the beauty of the institute, by the sophisticated means, by the wealth of reagents, by the advanced equipment"
Prof. Israel Pecht. Bridges between scientists and countries
One circle of life is closed for Prof. Yisrael Pecht, who after the annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany came up as a baby
with his family to the Land of Israel, and was, later, the first Israeli student to go for post-doctoral training at a German research institute. In a certain sense, this personal circle embodies within it the story of the institutionalization of the relationship between Israel and Germany, 20 years after the end of World War II. The first bridges built by Israeli and German scientists, including Prof. Pecht, contributed to the rapprochement between the peoples and the countries.
Israel Pecht came to the Weizmann Institute of Science in the late 50s as a summer student in the Isotope Research Department. "I was fascinated by the atmosphere and the beauty of the institute, the sophisticated facilities, the wealth of reagents and the advanced equipment." Following this impression, he sought the consent of the Hebrew University, where he studied physical chemistry, to carry out his research work at the Weizmann Institute of Science (at that time, the midrash had not yet been established and there were no graduate studies at the institute).
He then went on to doctoral studies in the same laboratory in the Department of Isotope Research, and was one of the first graduates of the Feinberg Seminary. His research work dealt with the role of transition metal ions in biological redox processes. These metal ions play a central role in basic and essential processes related to energy conversion in biological systems, such as photosynthesis and respiration. Copper and iron ions function as a bridge through which they are transported
The electrons in oxidation-reduction processes. Various aspects of these processes are at the center of his research even today. He met his wife, Marit Landau, who still works at the Weizmann Institute, when they were both summer students at the institute in the late 50s.
At the same time as his research work, Israel was an active member of the institute's student committee. At that time, many foreign students studied at the seminary, including the first students who came to Israel from Germany. The atmosphere at the institute was lively, thanks to a diverse group of students who were well-known figures in Israeli science, such as Prof. Alexander Levitsky, later winner of the Israel Prize and the Wolf Prize. Prof. Pecht remembers quite a few "pranks" and jokes, which became part of the Institute's folklore.
He completed his doctoral thesis during the waiting period before the Six Day War. He even managed to finish his duties for a PhD and submit his thesis shortly before he was drafted into the reserves. Towards the end of his doctorate, he made all the necessary arrangements and preparations for his departure for post-doctoral research at the National Research Laboratory in Brookhaven, USA.
But his plans changed following an encounter that dramatically influenced the continuation of his professional and personal path: Prof. Manfred Eigen from the Max Planck Institute for Physical Chemistry in Göttingen, in what was then West Germany, came to the Weizmann Institute and delivered an impressive and fascinating series of lectures. Following several conversations with the lecturer, he changed his plans and decided to conduct his post-doctoral training in the laboratories of Prof. Eigen (who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1967, about half a year after his visit to Israel). "It was a complex and difficult decision," he recalled. "Germany in the mid-60s was an absolute taboo for many Israelis." Cracks began to appear in this taboo in the late 50s, at least in the academic field. This, first and foremost as a result of connections that developed between scientists from the Weizmann Institute of Science, and German scientists who did not cooperate with the Nazi extermination machine. These ties, which contributed to the political rapprochement between Israel and Germany, were also manifested in the hosting of German scientists and students at the Weizmann Institute, but progress in the opposite direction, i.e. the departure of Israeli researchers to Germany, was naturally more problematic and difficult. Prof. Pecht: "My friends said I was crazy, and my parents weren't exactly happy either."
Of course, the family's opposition also had personal reasons. Israel and his parents, as well as his wife Marit's parents, immigrated to Israel at the end of 1938 when they fled the Nazi regime in Austria. Many of their family members perished in the Holocaust. But precisely because of this family background, young Pecht decided that traveling to Germany as a student and as a Jewish and Israeli researcher was meaningful,
And that this will be an opportunity to close a circle. Looking back, from a distance of 40 years, he finds that this decision was correct. "The main motivation was of course scientific. Indeed, the stay in Göttingen was an amazing scientific experience." The group of scientists
Who stayed in Eigen's laboratory during those days was impressive: students, post-doctoral students and visiting scientists from Germany, USA, Canada, Argentina and other countries from Europe. The Pecht family received extraordinary hospitality, and in Göttingen many went out of their way to receive and host the Israelis.
Israel Pecht, who expected a formal and rigid atmosphere, was surprised by the informal interpersonal relationships that developed in the laboratories of Prof. Eigen, who was, according to him, an uncharacteristic German professor who insisted that the students and researchers
The others will call him by his first name. One of the regular "rituals" of the lab members was the traditional "tea time" on Wednesday afternoons, a gathering of the whole group in a small, crowded room for tea and cookies. after a lecture
Scientifically one of the members of the group held a "musical break", when Prof. Eigen plays the piano, and a physicist, who also holds a doctorate in music, accompanies him by playing the cello. Another tradition of the laboratory members was the "winter seminar" in the Tyrolean mountains: the lectures and scientific discussions that took place in the afternoons were an accompaniment to skiing in the morning, and drinking hot spiced wine into the night.
Israel's close friends from that time, scientists from Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and the USA, maintain professional and social ties to this day. In Göttingen there were quite a few meetings and conversations with Syrian, Moroccan, Algerian, Pakistani, Iraqi and Palestinian scientists and students from the Gaza Strip. One of Prof. Pecht's friends in Göttingen was a student of economics, Syrian-Circassian, whose family originated in Ein Zivan in the Golan Heights, and who served in the Syrian army.
After about two years at the Max Planck Institute, Israel accepted Prof. Michael Sela's invitation, and joined the team of the Department of Chemical Immunology at the Weizmann Institute of Science. He brought with him instrumentation systems developed in Göttingen, and in his research at the institute he applied the research methods that enable the measurement of fast chemical processes that he studied in Germany. This, in order to understand basic processes in the functioning of the immune system. His close ties with the Max Planck Institute and with Germany have accompanied Israel for four decades, in his scientific activity that won him quite a few awards. His election to key positions in European super-organizations is proof of his status in the academic world on this continent. He served as President of the European Federation of Immunological Societies (EFIS), and was recently elected Secretary General of the Union of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS). His contribution to establishing ties between Israel and Germany, and between Israelis and Germans, earned him an honorary award from the German government.
