Meier Schwarz

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Meier Schwarz (Hebrew: מאיר שוורץ; 28 January 1926 – 12 January 2022) was an Israeli plant physiologist who helped develop hydroponics, the practice of growing plants without soil using minimal water. He was born in Nuremberg, Germany, and escaped the Nazi regime on a Kindertransport to Jerusalem.

In Israel, Schwarz became a teacher, farmer, and scientist. He was one of the early kibbutz Hafetz Hayim pioneers and joined the Jewish underground Haganah. At 22, he commanded one of the three Exodus ships, the Ocean Vigour. After Israel’s founding, he lived on Hafetz Hayim for 20 years, then 14 years in Petah Tikva before moving to Jerusalem in 1973. He lived with his wife Mirjam, a Auschwitz survivor, in Jerusalem’s Old City. They had seven children.

Schwarz earned a PhD in plant physiology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and became a leading expert in hydroponics. He served as head of the Department for Soilless Cultures at the Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research in Beersheba and worked as a researcher and advisor in Germany, Singapore, Chile, and the United States (including NASA).

He held many roles in education and science: inspector of biology teaching in Israeli high schools, taught at Bar-Ilan University, led the Jerusalem College for Women’s science teacher training for 12 years, and served on the board of trustees of the University of Haifa. He founded the Natural Sciences Department at the Jerusalem College and at the Jerusalem College of Technology and was president of the International Society for Soilless Cultures (ISOSC). He also led the International Society of Religious Researchers.

Since 1988, Schwarz directed the Synagogue Memorial and Beit Ashkenaz projects in Jerusalem, publishing eight memorial books about former German and Austrian synagogues and Jewish communities. He represented CENTRA and survivor organizations at Yad Vashem. He published more than 70 scientific reports and 12 books.

Meier Schwarz died in Jerusalem on 12 January 2022 at the age of 95.