(LAND OF ISRAEL)

The Israeli botanist and agricultural scientist, Israel Reichert was born in Ozorkow, Russian Poland, into a well-to-do Orthodox family. In 1921, after studying biology and plant pathology in Europe, he returned to the land of Israel to direct the plant pathology department at the newly formed Agricultural Experiment Station. Under his directorship, the department became a renowned research center in plant pathology, vegetable storage problems, disease control, mycology, bacteriology, virology, and lichenology. In 1942 Reichert joined the Hebrew University's new School of Agriculture at Rehovot. From 1949 to 1959 he was professor of mycology and plant pathology. In 1955 he received the Israel Prize for natural sciences. His work focused on the diseases of vegetables and plantation crops indigenous to Eretz Israel such as grapevines, citrus fruits, and bananas. His is the earliest pioneering work on the mushrooms of Eretz Israel. Agricultural self-sufficiency was one of the momentous achievements of the Zionist pioneers and the work of Reichert in this area was fundamental to their successes.