(ISRAEL, STATE OF)

cicrca 1958-1964

Collected Papers of Philip Sporn, American Consultant to Israeli Atomic Reactors Commission, including correspondence from Israeli government officials: Telegram from David Ben Gurion; Two Typed Letters Signed by Levi Eshkol; and Two Typed Letters Signed by Teddy Kollek

Philip Sporn (1896-1978), a Galician-born American electrical engineer was president of the American Electric Power Company from 1947 to 1961. Sporn served in various consultative capacities with numerous studies and projects on nuclear power production under the aegis of the U.S. Government, the Atomic Energy Commission, and the National Research Council, as well as vice-president of the American Nuclear Society. In his capacity as chairman of the Seawater Conversion Commission of the government of Israel, Sporn was instrumental in furthering Israel’s desalination program. All of the above is public knowledge. What may be implicit in these papers—and this is still a matter of interpretation—is that the American Jew, Philip Sporn, was the “brains” behind the realization of Israel’s nuclear reactor in Nahal Sorek—Dimona. See EJ, Vol XV, col. 290