Raphael Falk

Raphael "Rafi" Falk (; July 14, 1929 – September 15, 2019) was a German-born Israeli geneticist and historian of science. He was professor emeritus of genetics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His early research was on the genetics of Drosophila; from 1983 he was active in researching the history and philosophy of science, with a particular focus on genetics.

Early life Falk was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. When he was aged 5, amid the rise of Nazism in Germany, his family left for Palestine.

Education and career He was educated at the Stockholm University, where he worked with Gert Bonnier, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He subsequently completed his postdoc with H. J. Muller and Curt Stern.

Books Falk's books include: The Concept of the Gene in Development and Evolution: Historical and Epistemological (edited with Peter J. Beurton and Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, Cambridge, University Press, 2000) Genetic Analysis: A History of Genetic Thinking (Cambridge University Press, 2011) Zionism and the Biology of Jews (Springer, 2017), English translation from the (Ressling, 2006)