Joseph was the initiator of the MEIDEX experiment carried out during flight STS-107, the last flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia. Prof. Yoav Yair, the experimental center, said in an interview with the Hidaan website that Yosef was one of the world's leaders in the field of the transition of radiation in the atmosphere and raised generations of scientists * The former director of the Space Agency, Avi Har-Evan tells about their friendship
On Wednesday of this week, Professor Yehoyachin Yosef, from the Department of Geophysics at Tel Aviv University, and the initiator of the MEIDEX experiment that was carried out on the last flight of the Columbia shuttle under the responsibility of the late Ilan Ramon, passed away after a serious illness. He was 77 years old when he died.
Prof. Yoav Yair from the Open University, who was the center of the experiment, says that Yehoichin, nicknamed Yoya by his friends, died as a result of a system collapse following a bacterial infection after his condition had weakened back in May. So he lectured publicly for the last time at a seminar he held at Tel Aviv University in memory of his student Dr. Yoram Kaufman who was killed a year earlier in an accident while doing research at NASA.
"He continued to work and I had continuous contact with him, all the time we were thinking about what other results could be analyzed and what articles could still be written based on the data transmitted from space in the Medex experiment, in collaboration with his doctoral student, Ofer Yaron. From time to time he was absent and would not return emails, and when he returned he explained that he had been hospitalized. About a month and a half ago he was attacked by an acute infection and since then he has not recovered. Me and Dr. Ilan Koren from the Weizmann Institute still had time to visit him on the first holiday of Rosh Hashanah, his last day it turns out.. He recognized us, smiled at us but he was too weak to speak. I had no idea it was that dangerous. He has gotten out of difficult things in the past, but apparently this time he no longer had the strength."
What kind of person was he?
"Yoya was an amazing person, teacher and guide and friend and professor, a world-renowned researcher but always humble and above all gentle. I talked about it with two of the experiment participants, Dr. Adam Dvir and Lt. Col. Meir Moalem, who was the representative of the Air Force in the experiment, and we reminisced about Madex. For ten years we worked together on the project. Five years until the launch and five years after the mission for the analysis of the results. I don't remember a single time that Yuya got angry about something, he always spoke softly, showed inner honesty, gave each of the staff members their space, and trusted us to do the job. The people at NASA who knew him also felt great respect for him both because of his advanced age and the enormous scientific authority he had and also because of his character."
"When a meeting was held in which only the scientists of the experiment and the NASA engineers (without the astronauts) were present. One of the engineers asked for an explanation, then Yuya got up and gave an hour long lecture without slides. You should see the sense of honor. Meir Moalem told me the other day that for these engineers, it is rare for a senior scientist to give private lessons like Shivia Natan on radiation transition and climate." Yair points out.
"During his productive years, he was considered one of the experts in the world for the passage of radiation in the atmosphere, especially through clouds and dust. He invented the approach to deciphering satellite images by treating cloud fields as having a fractal dimension for radiation transfer calculations and climate models, and not only did he leave behind dozens if not hundreds of articles, he left behind students who continue to research. His contribution to human knowledge in the field of the Earth's radiation balance, climatic phenomena and global warming, which he and through his academic students and grandchildren are also already making scientific contributions, was enormous. There is no doubt that he had a great impact on the community of remote sensing and the passage of radiation in the atmosphere, both in Israel and abroad. In the Climate Research Division at the Goddard Space Center he was highly regarded.
A quote from Yosef Yosef from a conference in 2005 that dealt with the experiment
Yosef was a Holocaust survivor. In the film "Flight 107" broadcast on Channel 2 on the eve of the launch of the Columbia ferry, the story of Yosef as a teenager in the Bergen-Belsen camp was revealed. He met the rabbi of Amsterdam in the camp who performed the bar mitzvah ceremony for him From a small Torah book. Ramon took this Torah book with him and presented it to the whole world from space At a press conference held at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem which took place in the middle of Columbia's journey.
And Yair adds to this: "We in the project knew about the special chemistry that Yoya had with Ilan Ramon also against the background of Yoya's special story as a Holocaust survivor and Ramon's background that his mother was a Holocaust survivor. Of course we knew about the story of the Torah book with which Yoya did a Bar Mitzvah in Bergen-Belsen in 1944. One of the professors Aharon Avitar, an old man of the geophysics department, and Yoya's age, said that it was impossible to know about Yoya that he was a camp survivor because in Israel he was such an optimistic and happy man, who built a family and was an officer in the Air Force. From his behavior it was impossible to know the horrific history he had in the Holocaust because he rebuilt himself. Yuya's story is the story of Zionism, he said. The people of Israel who, with the help of Zionism, recreated themselves. "
Avitar told a funeral anecdote. It turns out that because he lost all his years of high school due to his stay in the camps, and immigrated to Israel at the age of 17-18. To cover the gap, he completed all four years of high school in one year and then went to study at the Hebrew University in the Atmospheric Research Laboratory with Prof. Ashbal. He later completed his doctorate at UCLA, returned to Israel and was one of the founders of the Department of Geophysics at Tel Aviv University."
And where did your relationship start?
Yoav Yair: "Yoya was my teacher in my bachelor's degree. When I started my master's I was his practitioner, and after I finished my doctorate when they were looking for someone to coordinate Madex, then Yoya and Prof. Zev Levin who was my supervisor chose me, and that's how we started working closely together for ten years. He always had a story, an advice, something new, a new scientific idea. We lost a great man."
Yair says that the work on the results of the Madex experiment has not yet been completed and that the results of the research are still being analyzed in scientific articles. "The last article he wrote is now in the process of being printed in the Journal of Geophysical research. We started writing an article about an observation we made on a forest fire in Brazil in Madex. We have a new article. Yuya won't get to finish him off. I spoke with his doctoral student Ofer Yaron, and we agreed that we would finish the work in his place."
Avi Har-Evan: I chose the experiment suggested by Levin and Yosef and since then we became friends
The former director of the Space Agency, Avi Har-Evan, who chose the experiment and accompanied him from the first day, says in a conversation to the website: "I got to know Yuya when we chose the experiment to accompany the Israeli astronaut, following a joint decision that the Israeli astronaut would not be just a passenger, like the Saudi before him, but that he would promote the science We received many proposals for experiments from a number of researchers, ranging from medical experiments to test effects on the brain during flight, balance mechanisms in the ear. For example, we rejected all the experiments that involved the use of animals, even though Ilan Ramon was ready to implant electrodes, but I was afraid of getting into trouble with the animal cruelty organizations."
"Then, among other things, we also received a proposal from Tel Aviv University for the subject of the dust experiment, the proposal was submitted by Ze'ev Levin and Yosef Yehoyachin, and then I got to know them. We submitted this proposal to NASA after I received the approval of the Air Force and the other funding bodies. From that moment I started working with Levin and Yosef. A very good system was created. At this point, we also recruited Yoav Yair because I needed someone to manage my day-to-day life, because you can't put that on professors. Yair, whom Levin recommended, had just finished his degree."
"Between me and all the participants, very good working relationships were created, including friendships, we met at people's homes, including Yuya's home. In the first meeting that took place at Yoya's house with the participation of Ilan Ramon, Ilan discovered the Torah book Shiyoya. At Ilan Yoya's request, he gave him the book so that he could take it into space."
"Yoya was a good scientist, and also a pleasant person, he was very familiar with what was happening in the field in the world and at NASA, including personal acquaintances with scientists at NASA, something that undoubtedly contributed to the success of the experiment. After the experiment and the disaster that happened, the relationship with Yuya, acquaintances and meetings continued. Yuya participated in all the memorials and ceremonies held in Ilan Ramon's memory, and is sorry for the loss. I met him a few months ago, he looked bad and said he wasn't feeling well, but was full of hope. He was a good man, a good friend, and there is no doubt that his contribution to the experiment was very, very significant."
