Dr. Victoria & Prof. Sergey Gredeskul, 81: Acclaimed BGU scientists

Dr. Victoria Gredeskul, 81, and her husband, Prof. Sergey Gredeskul, 81, were murdered by Hamas terrorists in their home in Ofakim on October 7.

They are survived by their daughter, Tatyana, and several grandchildren.

Victoria was a retired mathematics lecturer at Ben Gurion University in Beersheba, while Sergey was a retired physics lecturer at the same university.

Sergey specialized in studying disordered metals, and had received many accolades in the field of theoretical physics over the years, including the state prize from the Ukrainian State Committee on Science in 1985

The couple moved to Israel in 1991 from Kharkiv, Ukraine. Their daughter, who lived in Israel for a period, later returned to live in Ukraine. They both retired from the university in 2012.

According to the Russian-language Meduza website, the couple met while both studying in the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at Kharkiv University and married a year later.

Their nephew, Konstantin Gredeskul, told the news site, “I often spent the summer with Sergey and Vika. My aunt was a very warm, friendly and hospitable person.”

Friends and family noted that Sergey had a love of music and was a talented piano player.

“I remember I came to see him in Israel, he was already over 70,” Konstantin told Meduza. “He played me Rachmaninov’s Second Concerto from memory, without music.”

BGU mathematics Prof. Michael Lin, wrote online that “Sergey was a teacher beloved by the students, and also made many friendly connections in the math department. All of the past and present members of the math department are mourning the murder of Sergey and Victoria.”

Fellow BGU physics professor Yishai Avishai wrote on the department website that “I was deeply impressed by his broad knowledge and his thoroughness… Aside from his scientific contributions, Sergey was a modest man, pleasant and kind to others. He never raised his voice, when he put out his hand it was always to give and never to take.”

The chair of the BGU physics department, Oleg Krichevsky, also a friend of the family, told the Nature publication that “apart from being a great physicist, Sergey was also a musician, a storyteller and a historian of the famed Kharkiv school of physics.”

“Sergey and Victoria have been among the nicest, gentlest, most intelligent people I have ever met,” Krichevsky wrote on the BGU physics department website. “They have been dear friends and they will be greatly missed.”

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