Margalith Galun

Margalith Galun (born February 21, 1927 in Vienna as Melitta Katz; † April 16, 2012 ) was an Israeli botanist , in particular a lichenologist and researcher at the botany department of Tel Aviv University . Her official botanical author abbreviation for botanists and mycologists is " Galun ".

life and work

Galun was born as Melitta Katz in Vienna and, after an unsuccessful attempt to emigrate, was accepted into a Swiss-Jewish family in Switzerland in 1939 as an adopted child . Here she changed her name to Margalith Galun. In 1939 she moved to Palestine with her parents . After finishing school in Tel Aviv , she worked for a few months in the kibbutz of Kfar Giladi and in 1947 enrolled at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem . She interrupted her studies from 1947 to 1949 to join the Israeli armed forces in the Palestine War. In 1952 she finished her undergraduate studies and in 1953 married the biologist Esra Amiel Galun . In 1954 she received a Master of Science degree in botany, her son Eithan Galun was born, she began her doctorate at the Hebrew University and at the same time worked as a research assistant at the Volcani Agriculture Institute in Rehovot . In 1959 their second son Ehud Galun was born, and in 1960 she did her doctorate with Israel Reichart . From 1961 to 1962 she did research at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and in 1963 she was a scientific advisor to the National Council of Research and Development. After receiving a research grant from the Israel National Academy of Science and Humanities and teaching, she became a professor in the Department of Botany at Tel Aviv University in 1977. Their work contributed significantly to the identification and determination of the lichen flora in Israel. She researched u. a. the possibility of using lichens as bio-indicators for air pollution. She presented her research results at international conferences and published them in more than 90 articles. She was a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and founded the Israeli Lichen Collection at Tel Aviv University. From 1985 to 2006 she was editor-in-chief of the specialist journal Symbiosis, which she founded . Since 2012, the International Association for Lichenology has awarded a prize to outstanding student lecturers at the organization's symposia in her honor.

Books (selection)

Galun, Margalith: CRC Handbook of Lichenology, Volume I. CRC, Boca Raton 1988, ISBN 0-8493-3581-7
Galun, Margalith: The Lichens of Israel [SERIES]: Publications of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities: Section of Sciences, 1970

Awards

1994: Acharius Medal
1996: Meitner Humboldt Prize

literature

Werner Röder, Herbert A. Strauss : Biographical Handbook of German-Speaking Emigration after 1933–1945 , Institute for Contemporary History, Research Foundation for Jewish Immigration, New York
Margalith Galun. In: Ilse Korotin (ed.): BiografıA. Lexicon of Austrian Women. Volume 1: A-H. Böhlau, Vienna / Cologne / Weimar 2016, ISBN 978-3-205-79590-2 , pp. 971–972 ( PDF ).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Galun, Margalith
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Katz, Melitta (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Israeli botanist, lichenologist and researcher
DATE OF BIRTH	February 21, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH	Vienna
DATE OF DEATH	April 16, 2012