Michael Schein (1898–1983)

Born into a Jewish family in Bóbrka, near Lviv (then Austria-Hungarian Empire), he immigrated to the British Mandate for Palestine in 1920.[1] After working building roads, he attended the Teacher's Seminary in Jerusalem. He published the monumental Geobotanical Foundations of the Middle East. He was responsible for introduction of the important principle of antiteleochory which adumbrated that seed germination of the desert plant is ensured by dispersal near the parent plant. His research covered a wide section of the Middle East and led to his publishing more than 100 papers and books on the flora of the area. In 1952 he was appointed professor of botany at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Shortly before his death he published the comprehensive Plants of the Bible.