{{short description|Czech-Israeli food technology researcher}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Zdenka Samish | native_name = זדנקה סמיש | native_name_lang = he | image = Zdenka Samish.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date |1904|03|13}} | birth_place = Prague | death_date = {{death date and age |2008|03|08|1904|03|13}} | death_place = Rehovot, Israel | death_cause = | resting_place = Rehovot Old Cemetery | resting_place_coordinates = <!--{{coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline,title}}--> | fields = Food technology | workplaces = Agricultural Research Station (Volcani Center) | education = B.S., UC Davis, 1931<br>M.A., household sciences, UC Berkeley, 1933 | thesis_title = The Effect of Excess Viosterol and of Parathyroid Extract upon the Tissues of Rats | thesis_url = | thesis_year = 1933 | known_for = | spouse = Moshe Rudolf Samish, PhD | children = 2 }} '''Zdenka Samish''' ({{langx|he|זדנקה סמיש}}, also spelled '''Samisch''') (March 13, 1904 – March 8, 2008)<ref name=grave>{{cite web |url= https://billiongraves.com/grave/%D7%96%D7%93%D7%A0%D7%A7%D7%94-%D7%A1%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%A9/20622508#/ |title= Grave Site of Zdenka Samisch (1904–2008) |publisher= billiongraves.com |year=2017}}</ref> was a Czech-Israeli food technology researcher. One of the first agricultural researchers in Mandatory Palestine and then Israel, she studied methods for industrial processing of fruits and vegetables, canning, and food infestation. Her research was published in numerous peer-reviewed journals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Samish |first1=Zdenka |last2=Etinger-Tulczynska |first2=R. |last3=Bick |first3= Miriam |date= 1961-01-01 |title= Microflora within Healthy Tomatoes |journal= Applied Microbiology |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=20–25 |doi=10.1128/AEM.9.1.20-25.1961 |issn= 0003-6919 |pmc=1057663 |pmid=13745913}}</ref> She was director of the Department of Food Technology at the Agricultural Research Station (Volcani Center) in Rehovot from the early 1950s to 1969.
==Early life and education== Zdenka (Devorah) Kohn was born in Prague to Otto and Vilma Kohn.<ref name=grave/><ref name=agri/> Active in the Zionist youth movement, she immigrated to Palestine in 1924.<ref name=agri/> In 1926 she and her husband, Moshe Rudolf Samish, also a Czech native, went to California to complete their degrees at UC Davis and UC Berkeley.<ref name=agri>{{cite web |url= http://www.agri.gov.il/he/pages/468.aspx |title= Zdenka Samish |language= he |publisher= Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development |date= 21 January 2010 |access-date= 15 January 2017 |archive-date= 22 March 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180322010746/http://www.agri.gov.il/he/pages/468.aspx |url-status= dead }}</ref>{{efn|In 1927 she was listed as a first-year degree student, and her husband as a fourth-year degree student, in the College of Agriculture at UC Davis.<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=sgQ5AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA3-PA324 |title= Register – University of California |volume=2 |page= 324 |publisher= University of California Press |year=1927}}</ref>}} She received her B.S. in 1931 at UC Davis<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=bR4MAQAAIAAJ&q=Zdenka+Samisch |type= Register |volume=2 |publisher= University of California Press |year=1933 |page=170 |title = Intercession}}</ref> and her M.A. in household science in 1933 at UC Berkeley; her masters thesis was on "The Effect of Excess Viosterol and of Parathyroid Extract upon the Tissues of Rats".<ref name=thesis>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=_NMBokQBxuwC&q=Zdenka+Samisch |title= Commencement Programs |publisher= University of California, Berkeley |year=1933 |page= 56}}</ref>
==Career== In 1934 the couple returned to Palestine and she began working as a chemist at a fruit canning factory in Rehovot. In 1937 she joined the experimental research station in that city, and in 1946 was named director of the laboratory for canned fruits and vegetables. In 1949 she became an instructor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Faculty of Agriculture in Rehovot on the subject of food technology. After 1951 she became director of food technology at the Agricultural Research Station in Rehovot.<ref name=agri/><ref name=haaretz/>
==Research== {{Quote box |width=225px |align=right |quoted=true |bgcolor= |salign=right |quote= It's possible to make jam from every fruit and vegetable. The only question is how much sugar is needed. |source=–Zdenka Samish<ref name=haaretz/> }} In 1946 Samish received a grant from the Mandatory government to develop methods for producing juices and concentrates from citrus fruits.<ref name=agri/><ref name=haaretz>{{cite web |url=https://www.haaretz.co.il/news/science/.premium-1.2842554|title=דוקטור קרטופל וגברת שימורים|language=he|trans-title=Doctor Potato and Mrs. Canning|first=Ofer|last=Aderet|date=4 February 2016|access-date=17 January 2017|work=Haaretz}}</ref> In 1947 she received a U.S. patent for the manufacture of dried citrus fruit paste (fruit leather).<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_NMBokQBxuwC&q=Zdenka+Samisch|title=2,422,588 – Manufacture of Dried Citrus Fruit Paste|journal= Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office|volume=599|year=1947|page=513}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TtoPAAAAIAAJ&q=Zdenka+Samisch|title=Science News Letter|date=5 July 1947|page=6|journal=Science News|volume=51}}</ref>
Other research projects included a joint U.S.-Israeli study of microorganisms found in fruit and vegetable pulp; techniques for squeezing olives and producing olive oil; tomato paste production; industrial processing of potatoes and peaches; and freezing and dehydrating vegetables.<ref name=agri/><ref name=haaretz/><ref name=who>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gCdbAAAAIAAJ&q=Zdenka+Samish |title= Who's Who in Israel and in the Work for Israel abroad |publisher=Bronfman & Cohen Publications|year=1973|page=336}}</ref> Her research on "bloaters" – cucumbers that float to the surface instead of staying in the brine during the pickling process – was reported in the U.S. publications ''Science News''<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fcUPAAAAIAAJ&q=Zdenka+Samish |journal=Science News|title=Science News Letter|date=14 March 1959|page=164}}</ref> and ''Organic Gardening and Farming''.<ref>{{cite journal |editor-first=Jerome Irving | editor-last=Rodale | editor-link=J. I. Rodale |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LA5PAAAAIAAJ&q=Zdenka+Samish |title=Organic Gardening and Farming | publisher=Rodale Press |volume=6 |issue=3|date=March 1959|page=117}}</ref>
Samish served as a consultant on planning committees for food production and helped draw up standards for food products in institutions in Israel and abroad. She also introduced the subject of canning to agricultural schools in Israel.<ref name=agri/>
Although she retired in 1969, she continued her research at the Volcani Center for several more years.<ref name=agri/> She was appointed as an official representative of the Ministry of Agriculture's Fruit Council in 1979.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nevo.co.il/law_word/Law10/YALKUT-2519.pdf|title= רשומות ילקוט הפרסומים |language=he|trans-title=Gazette Record|publisher=State of Israel|year=1979|access-date=18 January 2017|page=1090}}</ref>
==Awards and honors== In 1992 she was honored as a Worthy Agricultural Researcher ({{langx|he| יקיר המחקר החקלאי}}) for being one of the first agricultural researchers in Mandatory Palestine.<ref name=agri/> In 1996 she was honored as a Worthy Citizen of the City of Rehovot.<ref name=agri/>
==Personal life== She and her husband, Moshe Rudolf Samish, PhD (1904–1975),<ref name=grave/> had two sons.<ref name=mamut/> He worked in the experimental research station in Rehovot in the area of plantations, as director of the Division of Pomology and Viticulture at the Agricultural Research Station (Volcani Center), and as a professor in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Faculty of Agriculture in Rehovot.<ref name=agri/><ref name=mamut>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F2tAAQAAIAAJ&q=Samish|title=Who's Who in Israel|year=1965|publisher=P. Mamut|page=458}}</ref>
Zdenka Samish died on March 8, 2008, less than a week shy of her 104th birthday, and was buried beside her husband in the Rehovot Old Cemetery.<ref name=grave/>
==Selected bibliography== *{{cite journal|title=Concentration of solutions by vertical-gradient freezing|first1=I.|last1=Shomer|first2=Solange|last2=Flavian|first3=Zdenka|last3=Samish|first4=I.|last4=Ben-Gera|journal= International Journal of Food Science & Technology|volume=8|issue=2|date=June 1973|pages=157–162|doi= 10.1111/j.1365-2621.1973.tb01701.x}} *{{cite journal|title=Studies on the quality characteristics of canned grapefruit segments|first1=A. |last1=Ludin|first2=Zdenka|last2=Samish|first3=A. |last3=Levi|first4=Ester |last4=Hershkowitz|volume=4|issue=2|date=June 1969|pages=171–177|journal=International Journal of Food Science & Technology|doi=10.1111/j.1365-2621.1969.tb01511.x}} *{{cite journal|title= Mechanism of Enhancement of Lactic Acid Fermentation of Green Olives by Alkali and Heat Treatments|first1=B.|last1=Juven|first2=Zdenka|last2=Samish|first3=Y.|last3=Henis|first4=B.|last4=Jacoby|date=June 1968|volume=31|issue=2|journal=Journal of Applied Bacteriology|pages=200–207|doi= 10.1111/j.1365-2672.1968.tb00358.x}} *{{cite journal|title=The free amino acids of Israeli orange juice|first1=B. R.|last1=Coussin|first2=Zdenka|last2=Samish|date=March 1968|volume=33|issue=2|pages=196–199|journal=Journal of Food Science|doi= 10.1111/j.1365-2621.1968.tb01349.x}} *{{cite journal|last1=Samish|first1=Zdenka|first2=B. R. |last2=Conssin|year=1965|title=The production of dehydrated flakes as a means of utilizing surplus bananas|journal=Israel Journal of Agricultural Research|volume=15|issue=1|pages=49–51}} *{{cite journal |title=The Microflora Within the Tissue of Fruits and Vegetables|first1=Zdenka|last1=Samish|first2=R.|last2=Etinger-Tulczynska|first3=Miriam|last3=Bick|date=May 1963|journal=Journal of Food Science|volume=28|issue=3|pages=259–266|doi=10.1111/j.1365-2621.1963.tb00194.x}} *{{cite journal|url= http://aem.asm.org/content/11/1/7.full.pdf |title=Distribution of Bacteria Within the Tissue of Healthy Tomatoes|first1=Zdenka|last1=Samish|first2=R.|last2=Etinger-Tulczynska|date=28 June 1962|journal=Applied Microbiology|volume=11|issue=1 |pages=7–10|doi=10.1128/am.11.1.7-10.1963|pmid=13991315|pmc=1057926}} *{{cite journal|title=Microflora Within Healthy Tomatoes|first1=Zdenka|last1=Samish|first2=R.|last2=Etinger-Tulczynska|first3=Miriam|last3=Bick|year=1961|journal=Applied Microbiology|pages=20–25|pmc = 1057663|pmid=13745913|volume=9|issue=1 |doi=10.1128/AEM.9.1.20-25.1961}} *{{cite journal| last1=Samish|first1=Z.|last2=Dimant|first2=D.|year=1959|title=Bacterial population in fresh, healthy cucumbers|journal=Food Manufacturing|volume=34|pages=17–20}} *{{cite journal|last1=Samish|first1=Z.|last2=Dimant|first2=D.|last3=Marani|first3=T.|year=1957 |title=Hollowness in cucumber pickles|journal=Food Manufacturing|volume=32|pages=501–505}} *{{cite book|title= הרכב תפוח-הזהב בישראל|trans-title=The Golden Apple Car in Israel|first1=Zdenka|last1=Samish|first2=Aryeh|last2=Cohen|year=1949|publisher=Jewish Agency for Israel}} *{{cite journal|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=-zxrAAAAMAAJ&q=Zdenka+Samisch|title=The Sequence and Extent of Tissue Changes Produced by Viosterol and Parathyroid Extract|first1=Agnes Fay|last1=Morgan|author-link1=Agnes Fay Morgan|first2=Zdenka|last2=Samisch|page=lxiv |journal=Proceedings of the American Society of Biological Chemists|year=1934}}
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{reflist|30em}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Samish, Zdenka}} Category:1904 births Category:2007 deaths Category:Food scientists Category:Women food scientists Category:University of California, Davis alumni Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni Category:Israeli women centenarians Category:Israeli scientists Category:Czech Jews Category:Czechoslovak emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Category:People from Rehovot Category:Jewish centenarians Category:Israeli women scientists Category:Immigrants of the Fourth Aliyah Category:Israeli people of Czechoslovak-Jewish descent Category:Israeli people of Czech-Jewish descent Category:Ashkenazi Jews in Mandatory Palestine Category:People from Prague