Yitzhak Apeloig (; 1 September 1944 – 28 May 2026) was an Israeli scholar who was a pioneer in the computational chemistry field of the Ab initio quantum chemistry methods for predicting and preparing the physical and chemical properties of materials. He was the president of the Technion from 2001 until 2009 where the position was handed off to Peretz Lavie. Apeloig held the Joseph Israel Freund Chair in Chemistry and was the co-director of the Lise Meitner Minerva Center for Computational Quantum Chemistry at the Technion. He served as dean of the Faculty of Chemistry from 1995 to 1999, where he was named Teacher of the Year at three occasions.
During his Technion presidency, Apeloig recruited more than 150 elite scholars and scientists worldwide to the Technion. He also established a number of interdisciplinary research centers such as the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute. He also established the Lorry I. Lokey Interdisciplinary Center for Life Sciences and Engineering. In 2010 was inducted to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The same year he also became a recipient of the Frederic Stanley Kipping Award in Silicon Chemistry.
Life and career Apeloig was born in Bukhara, Uzbek SSR on 1 September 1944, after his family fled from the Nazis following the invasion of Poland in September 1939. In 1947, when he was three years old, the family immigrated to Israel. He served in the Nahal Brigade and the paratroopers between 1962 and 1964. He studied chemistry and physics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and completed his undergraduate (receiving his BA in physics and chemistry in 1967, and his masters in 1969) and graduate education there, including a Ph.D. in chemistry in 1974. He conducted postdoctoral research at Princeton University with Paul v. R. Schleyer and collaborated with Nobel Laureate John A. Pople. Apeloig joined the faculty of the Technion in 1976 and in 1983 he was appointed a professor. He became the dean of the Faculty of Chemistry in 1995 until 2001 when he became the president of the Technion, replacing Amos Lapidot. In 2009 he was followed as president by Peretz Lavie.
Yitzhak Apeloig died in Haifa in 28 May 2026, at the age of 81.
Awards 2011 – Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany from Bundespräsident Christian Wulff 2010 – Honorary Foreign Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 2010 – American Chemical Society Fredric Stanely Kipping Award in Silicon Chemistry 2010 – Alexander von Humboldt – Lise Meitner Senior Research Award 2009 – Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science 2008 – Honorary Member, Mexican Academy of Sciences 2007 – Wacker Silicone Award 2006 – Honorary Doctorate of Science from the Technische Universität Berlin, Germany 2002 – C. A Coulson Lecturer, University of Georgia, Athens, USA 2002 – The Israel Chemical Society Prize 1997 – Distinguished Teacher Award by the Technion Student Association 1996 – Granted a Minerva Center in Computational Quantum Chemistry 1994–1999 – Alexander von Humboldt – Lise Meitner Senior Research Award 1993 – Distinguished Teacher Award by the Technion Student Association 1993 – Senior Scientist Exchange Fellow, Israel-Italy National Council for Research and Development 1991, 1993 – Henri Gutwirth Prize for Excellence in Research by the Technion 1991, 1999, 2010 – Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), Senior Visiting Professor Award 1988 – Technion Award for Academic Excellence, Technion (The New England Prize) 1986 – Distinguished Teacher Award by the Technion Student Association 1986 – Louis Klein Visiting Professorship in Australian Universities 1985, 1991 – Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) Visiting Professor 1979 – Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) Fellowship 1977–1978 – Bat-Sheba de Rothschild Fellow 1974 – Yashinski Prize for Distinguished Ph.D. Thesis 1971 – Prize for Distinguished Student of the Dean of the Faculty of Sciences, Hebrew University 1965–1967 – Annual Prize for Distinction in Chemistry Studies, Hebrew University
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