Aviezri Fraenkel: A Brief Biography

Aviezri was born in 1929 in Munich, Germany, to Joel (Eugen) and Esther (Estella) Fraenkel. Foreseeing dark clouds forming over Germany, the family—parents, two sisters, and 3 year old Aviezri—left Germany. They lived in Basel, Switzerland, for a few years. There Aviezri had his first two and a half years of schooling. In early 1939 the family came to live in Jerusalem, Israel. When Aviezri graduated from 8th grade in Horev elementary school, he decided he had had his fill of schooling and teachers, and chose to acquire a profession. He became an electrician’s apprentice, and eventually an electrician proper. After working three years as an electrician, he realized he had mastered the trade and it didn’t challenge him any more. So he decided to obtain higher education and study at the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, in Haifa. As he had never attended high school, he had to pass difficult entrance exams to enter the Technion. In preparation for these exams he went to night school for half a year, attended a yeshiva during the day, and in between volunteered and trained in the Haganah underground in preparation for the day when the British Mandate would expire and Jews would renew their own state in their ancient homeland. Aviezri entered the Technion to study electrical engineering, but in his first year the War of Independence broke out, the Technion closed its doors, and the students became soldiers who had to defend their newborn state from enemy invasion and fight for our lives. When the war ended, Aviezri continued his studies at the Technion, graduated, received his electrical engineering diploma and B.Sc. degrees, then finished his army service as an officer in the signal corps. One day, he saw a newspaper advertisement addressed to engineers who might be interested in participating in the design and construction of the first computer in Israel, at the Weizmann Institute of Science. Aviezri decided to apply. During the job interview, conducted at Weizmann in English, Aviezri was asked to design a multivibrator. Though his English at the time was quite poor, he passed the “exam” with flying colors and was accepted. Thus Aviezri became part of the original group that built the WEIZAC in 1953. The group was headed by Prof. Gerald Estrin from UCLA, who at the time was a member of the group that had built the so-called JOHNNIAC, the prototype of the John von-Neumann designed computers, constructed at IAS, Princeton. In-between he did his M.Sc. degree. In 1956 Aviezri married Shaula Babad. They resided in Rehovot and Aviezri worked at the Weizmann Institute. In 1957 he was invited by Prof. Estrin to study at UCLA for a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering. Aviezri was one of the first Israeli Fulbright students. His eldest son Yedidya was born in Israel, and the young family moved, temporarily, to Los Angeles. Three years of intensive studies led to the final doctoral exams, but