“To you I owe thanks for… instilling in me a love for the natural sciences” – handwritten letter with signature by Ephraim Katzir, fourth President of the State of Israel. Sent to Prof. Shmuel Sambursky, physicist, on July 25, 1977.
In the letter, Ephraim Katzir thanks Sambursky for his congratulations upon Katzir’s election as a foreign member of the British Royal Academy, and adds several personal lines: “Your kind wishes brought me special joy, as they came from a distinguished teacher and outstanding scholar whom I have esteemed and respected since my days as a student on Mount Scopus. To you I owe thanks for broadening my horizons and, in your time, for instilling in me a love for the natural sciences in general and the exact sciences in particular. With friendship and esteem, Ephraim Katzir.”
The recipient, Shmuel Sambursky (1900–1990), was a professor of physics and natural sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 1928, he joined the university’s faculty as a senior research assistant in physics and the natural sciences. His work at the university continued until his retirement, and he was among the founders of the Department of Physics (1931). In the 1930s, Katzir was Sambursky’s student in the sciences, and it is to that period that Katzir refers in this letter.
[1] leaf. Written on official “President of the State of Israel” letterhead. Very good condition.
