Biography
Yeshayahu Leibowitz was born in Riga in 1903, to a religious and zionist family. His father was a lumber trader, and his cousin was future chess grandmaster Aron Nimzowitsch. In 1919, he studied chemistry and philosophy at the University of Berlin. After completing his doctorate in 1924, he went on to study biochemistry and medicine, receiving an MD in 1934 from the University of Basel.
He immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1935 and settled in Jerusalem. Leibowitz was married to Greta, with whom he had six children. His son, Elia, was chairman of the Tel Aviv University astrophysics department and the longest-serving director of the Wise Observatory. Another son, Uri, was a professor of medicine at Hadassah University Medical Center. His daughter, Yiska, is a district prosecutor. His sister, Nechama Leibowitz, was a world famous biblical scholar.
Leibowitz was active until his last day. He died in his sleep on August 18, 1994.
In 2005, he was voted the 20th-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.
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