Excelling in studies and research was second nature to Prof. Arthur Shavit, who lost his father at a young age and had to help the family get by financially. He was also known for his ability to share his vast knowledge generously, with a human touch and dedication to family and students
The life story of Prof. Arthur Shavit is intertwined with and connected to the history of the State of Israel. He was born on March 20, 1930, the eldest son of parents who had immigrated five years earlier from White Russia. The day before his birth, Arthur James Balfour died. Balfour’s famous declaration – Britain’s declaration of support for the establishment of a Jewish state in Israel – was an important achievement for the Zionist movement. Therefore, his Zionist parents, who lived in a modest neighborhood in Kiryat Haim, decided to name their son after him.
The family lived in poverty, in a small house with a backyard and a coop of turkeys. His father worked as a bookkeeper for the Miller Engineering Company, and his mother cleaned houses. “My parents, especially my mother,” Arthur said in an interview conducted on the occasion of his 50th anniversary at the Technion, “were crazy when it came to education, which affected both me and my brother. We both excelled academically, and he followed in my footsteps.”
A significant turning point in Arthur’s life was in 1938, when he was eight years old, during the Great Arab Revolt in Haifa. Despite the raging riots, his father was summoned urgently to his job in Haifa Bay. On the bus on his way, near the Paz Bridge, a bomb exploded, and a piece of shrapnel killed him instantly. “It was a terrible setback, and we went through a very difficult time,” Arthur said.
“In retrospect, I really don’t understand how I managed to get through that period and turn out fine. Apart from the fact that we had been torn away abruptly and under terrible circumstances from my beloved father, we realized that we had lost the main breadwinner of the household, and that from that moment on my brother and I had the responsibility to contribute directly to getting by financially. From then on, we started tending to the turkey coop and planted a vegetable garden so there was something to eat at home. Despite the very difficult period we went through, my mother, who was simply an angel, continued to take care of us as much as she could, and above all continued to encourage us to work hard and succeed in our studies. I studied at the Hebrew Reali School in Haifa, under its legendary principal and founder, Dr. Arthur Biram, and was very successful. The stipends I received on a regular basis during my schooling ensured that I didn’t have to pay a single cent in tuition. However, our finances still required me to contribute so our family could manage financially. And so, from the age of 13-14, I found myself working several hours every day, several times a week, in an oxygen production room at the Miller factory in Haifa Bay, where my father had worked.” It was back then that Arthur decided to study mechanical engineering at the Technion, and therefore made sure to excel at school.
From the Palmach to the Technion
After graduating from the Reali School in 1947, Arthur Shavit enlisted in the Palmach, where he was trained as a soldier in the First Battalion of the Yiftach Brigade and fought in the War of Independence. It was a bloody war, and Arthur lost most of his friends. After his discharge from the army, he joined the core group of people that established Kibbutz Netiv HaLamed-Heh and became the kibbutz’s truck driver. At that time, he took a national ‘concours’ exam for admission to the Technion, which he passed. He was one of only three in Israel to receive a full scholarship for four years, in addition to a monthly allowance of 75 Israeli liras for living expenses.
In 1951, Shavit began his undergraduate studies at the Technion, during which he says was attracted to the fields of energy and focused on thermodynamics – a subject he specialized in throughout his career. After completing his BSc, he continued for another year to receive an engineering degree. In 1956, he left for the United States with the support of a scholarship from Israel to obtain his MSc and PhD in mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 1965, he returned to Israel with his wife Leah, an American he had met during his doctoral studies, and with their first son Ari, whom they adopted in the United States. Upon his return, he became a faculty member at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Technion. Only a year later, in 1966, he founded the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Ben-Gurion University, recruited the best faculty members from the Technion, and taught there until 1970.
Beyond his professional advancement, teaching and direct contact with students were central to his work and life. He was influenced by his former educators – from the principal of the Reali School, Dr. Biram, who worked with his class hand in hand, to the dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering during his undergraduate studies, Prof. Kurrein, whose office in the basement was always open to students, to his PhD advisor at MIT, Prof. George Hatsopoulos. “Towards the end of my PhD,” Arthur said, “and after the passing of my second advisor who had taught the course in thermodynamics, Prof. Hatsopoulos suggested that I teach this course. I agreed and he came to my first lecture, sat down on one of the back seats, and stayed for the entire lecture. After the lecture, Prof. Hatsopoulos ‘attacked’ me for the tone I had used and for the way I looked at the students, emphasizing the importance of the lecturer’s role as an educator and role model, and the proper approach to working with students. I was very happy with the feedback I got that day and adopted the main points for the rest of my life. Since then, I continued the dialog with Prof. Hatsopoulos about the importance of teaching and listening to students, and the role of the lecturer as a life coach and mentor for the students.”
The Lecturer as Life Mentor
As the years went by, Prof. Arthur Shavit became a source of knowledge for students, both at the Faculty and at the other institutions where he taught. “I found myself listening and advising students not only on questions about school, but also on career issues and decision-making at key junctures in their lives,” he said.
“I was first acquainted with Arthur through his excellent book of exercises and solutions in thermodynamics, when I was an undergraduate student in mechanical engineering in 1956,” says Prof. Jacob Lifshitz, who later became Arthur’s best friend. “He had a reputation as a ‘savior’ at the Faculty thanks to this book. What we didn’t understand in the lectures, we understood through the book. Another thing that characterized him was a broad and rich knowledge in every field, including history, the Bible and Talmud. No matter what you asked him, he knew the answer. ‘Before Google there was Arthur’ (a quote from a colleague at an event organized by the students on the one-year anniversary of Arthur’s death). His knowledge came with a phenomenal ability to instill it – he knew how to explain things simply and clearly and cared deeply about students’ success. They would come to ask him question and get explanations from him, not only about the subjects he taught but also on other subjects they studied. Even students who didn’t study with him who came to him for help he would sit with for as long as they needed him. As a patriot, he had a warm place in his heart for students who went on reserve duty. He would invite them to talk and refresh the material they had studied during their absence,” adds Prof. Lifshitz.
Arthur’s human perspective and dedication was also evident in his roles of father and family man. He met his American wife Leah while doing his PhD in the United States, where they also married. Unfortunately, their attempts to have children were unsuccessful, and they decided to adopt three – one in the United States and two more after moving back to Israel.
“Adopting children in Israel is not easy. It requires a great deal of investment and willingness to pass tests and interviews by committees. My mom and dad did it over and over again. Raising us as adopted children was not trivial. His kindness and generosity gave me my roots,” says daughter Michal. “Even though he was a very busy man, my father was very involved with and cared about everything I did and needed. I would call him at the office a lot, with any questions – even the simplest and most technical. He was a very involved father who cared a lot about my studies. More than once he invited my class on lab tours. On the other hand, he didn’t push me in any particular direction. He accepted me and my brothers with a lot of love, as we were, even if it wasn’t always easy. He supported my dreams. For him, the most important thing was for me to be happy.”
The Fable of Monkeys and Typewriters
Throughout his career, Prof. Shavit had several opportunities to work outside academia. In 1977, he was appointed to a three-year term as Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Energy. In this role, he was responsible for promoting national research and development policy with respect to energy and planning future R&D activities.
In the 1980s, he held key R&D roles in his areas of interest. He served as a development engineer at Georgia Tech University, where he developed biomass conversion systems, as a consultant to the US Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Development Program, and as a senior visiting scientist at the Florida State Solar Energy Center, where he developed solar cooling systems. Over that period, he also served as a consultant to leading companies in the US energy market, advising them issues such as solar cooling and heating systems, heat transfer and compact cooling systems. In addition, Arthur was a member of government committees promoting energy conservation, oil shale research, coal research, wind energy research, and more.
“One the one hand, he was one of the most brilliant faculty members. On the other, he didn’t publish articles,” says with surprise Prof. Chaim Gutfinger. “I first met him when I came back from Chicago and tried to find a job as a faculty member at the Technion. It was a period of recession, and the previous generation didn’t care much about appointing new faculty members. The only one who reached out was Arthur, even though he didn’t know me personally. He checked and asked about me, even talked to the dean. He was by nature generous, caring and helpful. Later, when I returned to Israel, I remembered his manner. We became colleagues who worked on similar issues and also good friends. We would travel together every week to teach in the department he established in Be’er Sheva, and conversations with him were easy. When I saw that he wasn’t publishing, I tried to pressure him. Beyond his broad and very far-reaching knowledge and all he gave to his students, his academic advancement seemed important to me. He then told me a story from a famous MIT professor who complained that his colleagues published articles just for the sake of publishing, without offering any new innovation. ‘If you take a million monkeys and put them next to a million typewriters for a million years, everything will be written: the Bible, Shakespeare’s plays – all the greatest texts. Supposedly, the obvious question would be: How will they separate the Bible from all the garbage that has been written? But the real question that needs to be asked is: How the hell do you separate the monkeys from the typewriters?'”
“It was hard to convince him,” Prof. Gutfinger continues, “I finally gave him an idea that I thought would be good for him because he was so dedicated to the students and to teaching. I suggested that we write together a book on thermodynamics for students, and he agreed. The book, Thermodynamics – from Concepts to Applications was published in 1995. All the good ideas in the book belong to Arthur.”
In the end, thanks to that book, he was appointed full professor. After his appointment, Arthur started publishing, but even then, the goal was the writing itself, not rising up in the ranks,” Prof. Gutfinger concludes.
