Professor Israel Dostrovsky, the first general manager of Israel's Atomic Energy Commission and fifth president of the Weizmann Institute of Science, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 92.

Dostrovsky headed the Atomic Energy Commission between 1966 and 1971, a period which included the outbreak of the Six-Day War in 1967.

Open gallery view Professor Israel Dostrovsky. Credit: Haaretz

Dostrovsky was an Israel Prize Laureate for exact sciences (physics, chemistry, mathematics) and also won many prizes in the field of physical chemistry, in which he was a leading figure.

Dostrovsky began his scientific and national security career even before the establishment of the State of Israel, as a member of the Haganah.

Later, he was a leading figure in a military intelligence unit that formed the basis for scientific activity in the Defense Ministry, as well as leading Israeli institutes in the field, including the nuclear research centers in Dimona and Soreq.

Dostrovsky was appointed head of Israel's Atomic Energy Commission at a time of a scandal that rattled top nuclear intelligence officials in Israel.

He was among those who supported the continued development of Israel's nuclear program, and undertook the general manager position of the AEC after several committee members that opposed the direction of the program resigned from the commission.

After he himself eventually resigned from the post, he turned to scientific research at the Weizmann Institute of Science, but retained his expertise in atomic energy and continued to work closely with the commission. He shied away from the media spotlight and refused requests for interviews dozens of times.

Dostrovsky will be laid to rest on Tuesday. His casket will be interned at the Weizmann Institute, and from there it will begin its funeral procession to a family plot at Kibbutz Maoz Haim in the Beit She'an Valley, where he was one of the founding members.