Retired Researcher Extends Legacy at Weizmann

Michael Solarz’s life journey is, in a word, vibrant. He grew up in the Soviet Union during World War II with his Polish parents. After the war ended, the family resettled in a Swedish village where “the population of cows far exceeded those of folks,” before setting sail across the Atlantic to New York City.

After completing his primary education, Michael enrolled at the City College of New York, then studied astronomy at the University of Maryland.

A few years later, Michael’s journey took him to Israel, where he met his wife. Later, the newlyweds moved back to the United States and settled in Berkeley, California, where they still reside. Michael had a long, storied career with the physics department at the University of California, Berkeley, first as a lab technician, then as a researcher.

“Part of my participation was to set up experiments in far-flung places, as in Japan and the South Pole,” he said.

In fact, it was in studying the southernmost part of the Earth, that Michael learned about the Weizmann Institute of Science. During a project preparation meeting at UC Berkeley, he was introduced to Weizmann scientist Hagar Landsman. The two later wound up at the South Pole together for an annual construction session of the AMANDA neutrino telescope, on which they were collaborators.

“Back to Berkeley some months later and savings accumulated because all of my needs at the Pole were paid for by the National Science Foundation — thank you, NSF — I set out to accumulate some more funds for my Weizmann charitable gift annuity,” Michael said.

For Michael, a CGA is a smart gift vehicle. It is also a wonderful way to fulfill one’s legacy at the Weizmann Institute of Science. To learn more about how you, like Michael, can support science for the benefit of humanity, contact Sandra Mizrahi at 212.895.7941 or legacy@acwis.org.