Jacob Klein

Weizmann Institute of Science

Born in Tel Aviv, Jacob Klein received his secondary education in England. After

completing his national service in Israel in 1970, Klein gained his B.A.

degree in physics from the University of Cambridge, where in 1977 he also

received his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees at the Cavendish Laboratory. He did his

postdoc at the Weizmann Institute, and from 1980 to 1984 was a senior

scientist at the Weizmann Institute and University Demonstrator at the

Cavendish Laboratory. In 1984, he was appointed professor at the Weizmann

Institute, named a full professor in 1987, then subsequently headed its

polymer research department and was named chairman of its scientific council.

From 2000 to 2007, Klein was concomitantly the Dr. Lee's Professor of

Chemistry at the University of Oxford and head of its physical and

theoretical chemistry department. His interests in soft matter have ranged

from the dynamics and interfacial properties of polymers to the behavior of

confined fluids, biological lubrication and tissue engineering, published in

over 250 papers. His honors include the High Polymer Physics Prize of the

American Physical Society (1995), the 2010 Prize of the Israel Chemical

Society, the 2011 Soft Matter and Biophysical Chemistry Award and Medal of

the UK Royal Society of Chemistry and the 2012 Tribology Gold Medal. In 2013,

he was elected to the European Academy. Of some 70 students and postdocs he

mentored, 26 are currently academic faculty in Israel, Europe, North America

and China.


Appearances