Felix Dothan

Felix Dothan (Deutsch) (1924-2005) was a full professor of physics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He initiated the Talpiot program together with Professor Shaul Yatziv. Dothan received his B.A. from the Technion and his PhD from the Hebrew University. His research centered on plasma and the technology of high voltage electricity. He won the award of the Israeli Chief of Staff for a lifetime contribution to technology in 2001, especially for founding the Talpiot program. Felix Dothan was born in 1924 in Zagreb, Croatia. He was the first-born son to Sandor Deutsch, a merchant of building materials, and Lilli, the daughter of Marcus Steiner. He was born in a bilingual environment that used both Serbo-Croatian and German. Until the summer of 1942, the family was protected from the prosecution of Jews by their business partners that had connections with the heads of government. In August 1942, all the protections were abolished and the remaining Jews of Zagreb, including the family, were arrested. Within a few days, the Croatian Nazis, the Ustaše, arranged a transport to Auschwitz. Fortunately, Deutsch was saved by a Croat and instead of going on the train he was put in three weeks home arrest and was later released. Until the liberation of Croatia in May 1945, Jews were sometimes hunted down, but Deutsch managed to survive by hiding among non-Jews. After the war, four years in which he was not permitted to study, Deutsch was allowed by the Yugoslavian ministry of education to finish high-school and the matriculation exams, which he passed summa cum laude. The same year he started to study electrical engineering at the University of Zagreb, where he studied for three years. In the fourth year, December 1948, he immigrated to Israel. In Israel, he worked for half a year in construction and as a fisherman. In Summer 1949, when the studies at the Technion were resumed after the end of the War of Independence, Deutsch was admitted to the third year of studies in the electricity faculty.