Chaim L. Pekeris joined the Weizmann Institute as head of its Department of Applied Mathematics in 1949. He died in Rehovot, Israel on February 24, 1993. Chaim L. Pekeris Chaim Leib Pekeris (June 15, 1908 – February 24, 1993) was an Israeli-American physicist and mathematician. He made notable contributions to geophysics and the spectral theory of many-electron atoms, in particular the Helium atom. He was also one of the designers of the first computer in Israel, WEIZAC. Pekeris was born in Alytus, Vilna Governorate. With the assistance of his uncle, Pekeris and his two brothers emigrated to the United States around 1925. He
Chaim Weizmann he displayed a talent for science, especially chemistry. While in Pinsk, he also became active in the Hovevei Zion groups there. He graduated with honors in 1892, and decided to pursue chemistry as a profession. In 1892, Weizmann left for Germany to study chemistry. He began his studies at the Polytechnic Institute of Darmstadt. To earn a living while studying, he worked as a Hebrew teacher at an Orthodox Jewish boarding school. In 1894, he moved to Berlin to study at the Technische Hochschule Berlin. While in Berlin, he joined a circle of Zionist intellectuals. In 1897, he moved to