In its reasoning, the committee stated that: "Prof. Yakir studies the interrelationships between the biosphere and the atmosphere, and especially the ways in which vegetation affects the environment and the climate"
The Minister of Education, Naftali Bennett, announced today (Sunday) the winner of the Israel Prize in the field of earth science research, geology and atmospheric sciences - Prof. Dan Yakir, and congratulated him on winning the prize.
The award committee met under the chairmanship of Prof. Gideon Dagan, chairman of the committee, with the members - Dr. Rivka Amit, Prof. Yanon Rodich. This year, the composition of the committee includes female representatives, in accordance with the new policy established by Minister of Education Bennett.
In its reasoning, the committee stated that: "Prof. Yakir studies the interrelationships between the biosphere and the atmosphere, and especially the ways in which vegetation affects the environment and the climate. His research enabled the development of innovative methods for the use of stable isotopes to assess the contribution of terrestrial photosynthesis to the Earth's climate and to identify chemical and biological processes in the soil-plant-atmosphere system that affect it. Prof. Yakir established the research station in Yatir Forest on the border of the desert in the semi-arid region. The station is integrated into a global network of stations in different climate zones and provides unique data on the impact of the semi-desert ecosystem on the Earth's climate under climate change. Dear Professor Yakir has a great public contribution to the advancement of science and the connections between science and society in Israel and around the world."
Professor Dan Yakir received his degrees in "BSC" (1978) "MSc" (1980) "PhD" (1987) in agricultural biochemistry and photosynthesis research from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He continued his post-doctoral studies at "UCLA" and as a researcher at "Duke" University in the USA. Dan Yakir returned to Israel in 1991 and joined the faculty of the Department of Environmental Sciences at the Weizmann Institute (now the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences) as a senior researcher and later as an associate professor and full professor. In 2003-2009 he served as head of the department and head of the Sussman Center for Environmental Sciences. He also served as a senior fellow of the "National Research Council" at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Institute in Colorado (NOAA) and in 1997, a visiting professor at Columbia University (2001-2003, three months a year) and a senior fellow of the Earth Institute there (2005), and a visiting professor at the University Innsbruck in 2017.
Dear Professor, he won many awards and recognition: at the beginning of his work at the Weizmann Institute with the Alon Fellowship in 1991, and the Roland Schaffer Award for young researchers, and later a fellow of the British Council in 1994 in the annual Margrita Ravelo Award from the KKL-Junk in 2004, a senior fellow at the Collaborative Research Institute in Environmental Sciences in Colorado (CIRES) in 2012, Landau Award for his research in environmental sciences in 2006. In 2014, the European Organization for Geochemistry awarded him the "Eminent Speaker Award".
Dear Professor who invests in extensive activities for the promotion of science and the connections between science and society including: service as associate editor in scientific journals: Oecologia, Springer (2002-2013),
Plant Cell & Environment, Wiley Blackwell), (2002-2005),
Israel Journal of Chemistry (2002),
And now in the prestigious journal Biogeoscience of the European Geophysical Union
Prof. Yakir is an active member of the executive board of several organizations, including the Inter-University Marine Laboratory in Eilat (2009-2015), the Araba Institute for Environmental Studies (2013 to date), the Davidson Institute for Science Education (2010 to date), the Israeli Association for Ecology and Environmental Sciences, and deputy The chairman (2010-2016), the organizer (2014). In 2005 and 2018, Prof. Yakir organized two international conferences in environmental sciences with over 500 participants and dozens of lecturers from abroad who were among the major events in the field in Israel.
Prof. Yakir also served on the scientific steering committee on 'isotopes in the hydrological system' of the Atomic Energy Commission (IAEA-GNIP, Vienna, 1999, 2003, 2005), the International Geosphere-Atmosphere Program (IGBP, 2008-2011), and the Integrated Research Program Land-Atmosphere Interactions (iLEAPS, 2011-2016), and as an external reviewer of the activities of organizations and scientific departments such as the Zuckerberg Institute for Hydrological Research at Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva (2008), of the Helmholtz Society's geochemical research (2017), and of the Nuclear Energy Institute in France (CEA, Paris) in 2010. and in Israel in the Academy of Sciences Committee for the Advancement of Research in Environmental Sciences (1998-1999), and currently in the Committee for Natural Sciences of the MLA for Digital Israel.
Prof. Yakir studies the interrelationships between the biosphere and the atmosphere, and especially the ways in which vegetation affects the environment and the global climate. In his research there are several notable periods of about 5-10 years: during the first research period, Prof. Yakir was engaged in research on the effect of biological processes in plants on the isotopic composition of water, oxygen and carbon dioxide (CO2, O2, H2O) in the atmosphere, by measuring tiny changes in the isotope concentrations of carbon and water oxygen, in addition to measuring the changes in the concentrations of these gases. These studies led to the identification of the critical role of the carbonic anhydrase enzyme in its effect on the isotopic composition of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, as well as to the identification of the isotopic relationship between water in the hydrological system, and carbon dioxide in the carbon system, based on the isotopic composition of oxygen in these systems. This research enabled the development of innovative methods for the use of stable isotopes for the assessment of terrestrial photosynthesis and the identification of chemical and biological processes in the soil-plant-atmosphere system that affect it.
In the next research period, Prof. Yakir focused on adding a new tool for monitoring photosynthesis on a large scale (ecosystem, regional, and global) by measuring the gas carbonyl sulfide (COS) that exists in the atmosphere in tiny concentrations. This research began with understanding processes at the level of the cell and the organism, and continued with field work, atmospheric measurements, and finally using global models.
In the next research period, a focus was added on measuring the fluxes of radiation, heat, and evaporation exchanged between the Earth's surface, the atmosphere, and space. This study enabled the identification of biophysical processes (such as albedo, aerodynamic conductivity, thermal radiation emission, and capsule heat convection) linking different types of vegetation cover and local environmental conditions and their contribution to the climate system. A significant part of Prof. Yakir's research was based on a greenhouse gas measurement station that he established in 1995 and operates to this day as part of the global network of "NOAA", and a unique research station on a global scale in the Yatir Forest on Safar-Hamidbar that was established by him in 2000 and has been operating continuously ever since Today it is part of the global network "FLUXNET" and includes an intensive concentration of advanced measuring equipment that allows students and researchers from Israel and the world to carry out different studies at the same time. This activity was expanded in 2012 by developing a mobile laboratory that enabled the expansion of research beyond the boundaries of the fixed station, and all over the country.
In all of the above stages, Prof. Dan Yakir's research combines laboratory measurements to understand basic processes and the development of measurement approaches and methods, fieldwork in Israel while utilizing the special conditions in Israel as a "laboratory" for quantifying processes under natural conditions and on the scale of ecosystems, and participation in international research for the integration of processes and phenomena Regionalism for understanding the global system, and providing tools for decision makers on environmental and climate issues. This is groundbreaking research that has developed unique and innovative tools for understanding the Earth's climate system and the relationship between vegetation and the climate system.
As part of his research, Prof. Yakir collected many research grants from most of the research funds available to us, in Israel, the USA, and Germany. These grants also enabled fruitful collaborations between Prof. Yakir's research group and leading research groups in the world, such as at the Max-Planck Institutes in Vienna and Mainz, the German Meteorological Institute KIT, the University of Innsbruck in Austria, the French National Institute for Agricultural Research in Bordeaux, the Carnegie Institute of Science in Washington, Columbia University in New York, the University of Colorado, the University of Arizona, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Boulder, Colorado, and with scientists in Israel from the Technion, the Hebrew University, the University of Haifa, and Ben-Gurion University, as well as with scientists from the Hydrological Service, the Geological Survey, the Volcanic Institute, and Israel the water.
Prof. Yakir has a dynamic and international research group in which 13 students completed the master's thesis, 15 students completed the doctorate, and 15 colleagues completed the post-doctorate period, and he appeared in invited lectures and as a keynote speaker at conferences, workshops, and seminars around the world. Prof. Yakir published about 170 articles in the leading scientific press and chapters in science books.
Dan Yakir currently serves as a professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, and leads a research group of about 15 members. Prof. Yakir is also a member of the executive committee of the educational arm of the Weizmann Institute (Davidson Institute for Science Education), and serves as the chairman of the Weizmann Institute's Council of Professors.
