Naomi Feinbrun-Dothan

Feinbrun-Dothan was born in 1900 in Moscow into a Zionist family.[1] She began studying natural sciences at Moscow University in 1918, then continued her studies in Cluj, Transylvania, where she received a botany degree in 1923.[1] She joined her family in Palestine in 1924, a move that set the course for a career dedicated to documenting the plant life of the Land of Israel.[1]

By 1926 she had joined the Institute of Agriculture and Natural History in Tel Aviv.[1] Working alongside botanist Alexander Eig, she helped collect the plant specimens that formed the basis of the Hebrew University's herbarium, a foundational resource for botanical research in the region.[2]

Feinbrun-Dothan was part of the Hebrew University from its establishment and became a full professor of botany in 1966.[2] In 1929 she joined the university as an untenured assistant and later taught genetics, remaining its only genetics instructor until the 1950s.[1] She earned her PhD in 1938 and became an associate professor in 1960.[1]

In 1931, Feinbrun-Dothan, Alexander Eig, and Michael Zohary jointly published the first full analytical flora book in Hebrew.[1] Her bibliography also includes Schedae ad floram exsiccatam Palaestinae, with Centuria III appearing in 1934 and Centuria IV issued with Eig and Zohary in 1938.[1]

Her fieldwork was as notable as her scholarship. In 1945 she rode a camel to Egypt to research local flora, one of many expeditions she undertook across the Land of Israel and the Middle East.[3] She continued as an active researcher, teacher, and prolific author into her early 90s.[1]

Flora Palaestina, published in Jerusalem by the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities between 1966 and 1986, was a central scholarly contribution.[4] The complete work consists of four volumes issued in eight parts, with each text volume accompanied by plates and supplemented by indexes.[4] Feinbrun-Dothan authored part 3, covering Ericaceae to Compositae, and part 4, covering the monocotyledons; the Jewish Women's Archive lists them as published in 1978 and 1986, respectively.[1] The systematic studies underlying the work were based largely on plants deposited in the Hebrew University herbarium.[5]

Feinbrun-Dothan also co-authored the illustrated Flora of the Land of Israel with Michael Zohary, with plates by artist Ruth Koppel.[1] The bibliography records three installments covering plates 1–50 in 1949, 51–100 in 1952, and 101–151 in 1959, in Hebrew and English editions.[1]

In helping to prepare the first Israeli flora book, Feinbrun-Dothan also participated in determining the Hebrew names of the plants included in it, giving the scientific catalogue a Hebrew linguistic identity as well as a taxonomic one.[6]

Feinbrun-Dothan received the Israel Prize in 1991 in the category of Land of Israel studies.[7] She died on March 8, 1995, shortly before her 95th birthday, after continuing her research into her early 90s.[1] Several plant species were named in her honor, including Astragalus feinbruniae, Bellevalia feinbruniae, and Colchicum feinbruniae.[1]

The National Library of Israel holds a joint archive belonging to Feinbrun-Dothan and her colleague Ruth Koppel, the artist who illustrated her botanical publications.[3] Her early collecting with Alexander Eig helped form the Hebrew University herbarium, and her later systematic work with Michael Zohary relied largely on specimens held there.[2][5]