Jacob Bar-Touv
| Jacob Bar-Touv | |
|---|---|
 Jacob Bar-Touv at BGU office c1970s.jpg At his office at Ben-Gurion University (c. 1970s) | |
| Native name | יעקב בר-טוב |
| Born | Yaakov Bahbut (יעקב בחבוט)[1] 13 March 1933 |
| 💀Died | April 22, 2020 (aged 87)[1] Jerusalem, Israel[1]April 22, 2020 (aged 87)[1] |
| Resting place | Har HaMenuchot, Jerusalem[1] |
| 🏳️ Nationality | Israeli |
| 🎓 Alma mater | Technion – Israel Institute of Technology (BSc, 1960; MSc, 1962); Weizmann Institute of Science (PhD, 1966) |
| 💼 Occupation | |
Jacob (Yaakov) Bar-Touv (Hebrew: יעקב בר-טוב; born Yaakov Bahbut (יעקב בחבוט); 13 March 1933 – 22 April 2020) was an Israeli theoretical nuclear physicist. He served in the IDF Air Force from 1950 to 1952. He was known for early applications of self-consistent mean-field methods to light, deformed nuclei in the s–d shell. Later in his career, he also contributed to mesoscopic physics, studying conductance fluctuations in disordered systems. He founded the Department of Physics at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), serving as its first chairman, and later served as Dean of its Faculty of Natural Sciences. [2] [1]
Personal life
Bar-Touv was born Yaakov Bahbut in Haifa to a Sephardic family originally from Oran, Algeria.[3] The family had 11 children.
He married Tova (Gita) Aufleger, a Holocaust survivor who was deported from Chernovzi (צ'רנוביץ), Bukovina to the Căriera de Piatră forced labor camp in Transnistria (Romania), who immigrated to Israel with her mother and grandparents in 1950.
They had two children: daughter Hedva Ber, who served as Supervisor of Banks in the Bank of Israel, and son Yair Bar-Touv, an Information Technology and Cybersecurity expert who held senior management positions in the high-tech industry.
Early life and education
Bar-Touv earned a BSc (1960) and MSc (1962) in physics from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and a PhD in nuclear physics from the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1966. His dissertation was titled Self-Consistent Field Calculations in the s–d Shell.
Academic career
United States (1966–1970)
- University of California, Los Angeles – Research Physicist, Department of Physics (1966–1967)
- Case Western Reserve University – NSF Research Fellow, Department of Physics (1967–1969)
- The Ohio State University – Assistant Professor, Department of Physics (effective 1 October 1969–1970)
During his time in the United States, Bar-Touv made significant contributions to the development of Hartree-Fock methods for light nuclei and generalized pairing theory.[4]
Ben-Gurion University (1970–)
Bar-Touv joined Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in 1970, where he was the founding head of the Department of Physics (1970–1973).[2] He later served as Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences (1974–1976).[5]
Bar-Touv held several visiting professor positions throughout his career:[4]
- University of Oxford (1976–1977) – Visiting Professor, Department of Physics (sabbatical) (Department of Theoretical Physics).[6]
- University of Mexico (July–August 1979) – Visiting Professor, Department of Physics, Mexico City
- Tübingen University (July–September 1985) – Visiting Professor, Department of Physics, Germany (partial sabbatical)
- Oslo University (September 1985) – Visiting Professor, Department of Physics, Norway
- University of California, Los Angeles (August–September 1991) – Visiting Professor, Department of Physics (partial sabbatical)
He also worked as a research physicist at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory (LRL) at UC Berkeley during summers in 1968 and 1969.
He was promoted to Professor (Full) at BGU effective 1 October 1998 and became Professor Emeritus in January 2001.
Administrative roles
Bar-Touv held several key administrative positions at Ben-Gurion University:[4]
- First Chairman of the Physics Department (1970–1973) – He founded and led the newly established Department of Physics at BGU.
- Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences (1974–1976) – He served as the dean of the faculty.
- Dean of Computing Networks Department (1985–1986) – He oversaw the development of computing infrastructure at the university.
His role as founding chairman of the Physics Department was particularly significant in establishing BGU as a research university in the Negev region.
Research
Bar-Touv's research focused on theoretical nuclear physics and mesoscopic physics. His primary research areas included:
- Self-consistent mean field calculations in nuclei
- Generalized isovector and isoscalar pairing correlations in nuclei
- Dynamics of collective states in nuclei
- Linear response theory in open-shell nuclei
- Double giant resonances (DGR) in nuclei using the RPA model
- Temperature dependence of collective states in hot nuclei
- Conductance fluctuations in mesoscopic disordered systems
- Statistical analysis of nuclear reactions
His early work made significant contributions to the application of self-consistent mean-field methods (Hartree-Fock and Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov) to light, deformed nuclei in the s–d shell. He developed methods for treating generalized pairing interactions and studied the coexistence of spherical and deformed states in light nuclei.
Bar-Touv published extensively throughout his career, with over 30 peer-reviewed articles in leading physics journals including Physical Review, Nuclear Physics, and Physics Letters.[4]
- J. Bar-Touv, I. Kelson, "Axially Asymmetric Regions in the s–d Shell," Physical Review 138 (1965): B1035–B1046. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.138.B1035
- J. Bar-Touv, I. Kelson, "Asymmetric Rotator Model," Physical Review 143 (1966): 599–602.
- J. Bar-Touv, "Nuclear Vibrations as a Constrained HF Problem," Physical Review 146 (1966): 1241–1246.
- J. Bar-Touv, C.A. Levinson, "Self-Consistent Field in Light Nuclei," Proceedings of International Conference on Nuclear Physics, Gatlinburg, 1966, Academic Press, New York (1967): 849–854.
- J. Bar-Touv, C. A. Levinson, "Nature of Hartree–Fock Calculations in Light Nuclei," Physical Review 153 (1967): 1099–1109. doi:10.1103/PhysRev.153.1099
- J. Bar-Touv, "Application of HF Method to the sd Shell," Course XXXVI, Enrico Fermi International School, Varena, 1965, Academic Press, New York (1969): 453–463. (Invited Paper)
- J. Bar-Touv, A. Goswami, "Inverted Coexistence of Spherical and Deformed States in Light Nuclei," Physics Letters B 28B (1969): 391–393.
- A. L. Goodman; G. L. Struble; J. Bar-Touv; A. Goswami, "Generalized Pairing in Light Nuclei. I," Physical Review 178 (1969): 1670–1682.
- A.L. Goodman, G.L. Struble, J. Bar-Touv, A. Goswami, "Generalized Pairing in Light Nuclei - Complete Solution of HFB Equations and the Validity of Various Approximations," Physical Review C 2 (1970): 380–395.
- W.F. Ford, R.C. Braley, J. Bar-Touv, "Study of HF Predictions for Static and Dynamic Properties of Light Nuclei," Physical Review C 1 (1971): 2099–2122.
- J. Bar-Touv; G. L. Struble, "Effect of T=1 Pairing Correlations on the Nuclear Deformation of Even-Mass Sn Isotopes," Physical Review C 5 (1972): 773–779. doi:10.1103/PhysRevC.5.773
- J. Bar-Touv, A. Moalem, S. Shlomo, "Isotopic Dependence of Giant Multipole Resonances," Nuclear Physics A 339 (1980): 303–315.
- A. Moalem, J. Bar-Touv, "Extension of Linear Response Method to Open-Shell Multipole Giant Resonances," Physical Review C 23 (1981): 1810–1814.
- J. Bar-Touv, A. Moalem, "Low Multipole States in O18 from the Open-Shell Linear Response Model," Nuclear Physics A 351 (1981): 285–294.
- A. Moalem, J. Bar-Touv, "Linear Response RPA Calculations to Spherical Open-Shell Nuclei," in Contemporary Research Topics in Nuclear Physics (1982): 341–348, edited by D.H. Feng et al., Plenum Press, New York and London. (Invited Paper)
- J. Bar-Touv, S. Mordechai, "Open-Shell Linear Response Model and the Systematics of Octupole States in Ge and Se Isotopes," Journal of Physics G: Nuclear Physics 10 (1984): 785–789.
- J. Bar-Touv, "Temperature Dependence of Collective States in Hot Nuclei," Physical Review C 32 (1985): 1369–1375.
- R. Moreh, W.C. Selly, D.C. Sutton, R. Vodhanel, J. Bar-Touv, "Strong Photon Strength in 40Ar between 8 and 11 MeV," Institute of Physics Conference Series (1987): S670–S672.
- J. Bar-Touv, S. Mordechai, "A Unified Approach to Statistical Analysis of Nuclear Reactions," Physics Letters B 207 (1988): 227–232.
- R. Moreh, W.C. Selly, D.C. Sutton, R. Vodhanel, J. Bar-Touv, "Strong Photon Strength in Ar40 between 8 and 11 MeV," Physical Review C 37 (1988): 2418–2427.
- S.A. Moszkowski, J. Bar-Touv, "Hot Nuclei: Skyrme Interaction and Single Particle Level Densities," in Condensed Matter Theories, Vol. 4 (1989): 191–201, edited by J. Keller and R.F. Bishop, Plenum Press, New York.
- Y. Avishai, J. Bar-Touv, Y.B. Band, M. Kaveh, "Universal Conductance Fluctuations in Ballistic Transport," Physica A 168 (1990): 433–438.
- J. Bar-Touv, S.A. Moszkowski, "Shell Effects and the Momentum Dependence of the Skyrme Interaction," Physics Letters B 244 (1990): 143–148.
- J. Bar-Touv, Y. Avishai, "Quantum Mechanical Propagation of Electrons Through a Kink and the Anderson Localization Problem," Physical Review B 42 (1990): 11496–11504.
- J. Bar-Touv, S. Mordechai, "Systematics of Double Giant Resonances in Nuclei," Physical Review C 45 (1992): 197–204.
- Y. Avishai, J. Bar-Touv, "The Interplay Between Potential and Magnetic Disorder in a Quasi One-Dimensional System," Physical Review B 51 (1995): 8069–8075.
Later life and death
Bar-Touv retired from Ben-Gurion University in 2001, becoming Professor Emeritus.[4] He died on April 22, 2020, in Jerusalem, Israel, at the age of 87. He was buried at Har HaMenuchot cemetery in Jerusalem.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Gravestone of Jacob (Yaakov) Bar-Touv". Wikimedia Commons (Photograph) (in עברית). Retrieved 7 October 2025.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "היסטוריה של המחלקה לפיזיקה". Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (in עברית). Retrieved 7 October 2025.
- ↑ 1839 Haifa municipal census lists his grandfather Moshe Bahbut as born in Oran, Algeria; 1929 census shows his father Mordechai Bahbut residing in Haifa.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Bar-Touv, Jacob (August 2003). "Curriculum Vitae". Personal document.
- ↑ "Past Faculty Deans - Faculty of Natural Sciences". Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Retrieved 7 October 2025.
- ↑ "Correspondence regarding Oxford sabbatical (Dec 1975)". Wikimedia Commons (Primary source). December 1975. Retrieved 7 October 2025.
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Further reading
- Bar-Touv, Jacob (March 2010). זכרונות מייסוד המחלקה לפיזיקה [Reminiscences of the Department of Physics] (PDF) (Report) (in עברית). Ben-Gurion University of the Negev – via Internet Archive.
External links
- History of the Department of Physics – English (BGU)
- היסטוריה של המחלקה לפיזיקה – אתר אוניברסיטת בן-גוריון
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- ↑ "Gravestone of Jacob (Yaakov) Bar-Touv". Wikimedia Commons (Photograph) (in עברית). Retrieved 7 October 2025.
