Professor David Treves was one of the earliest members of the Weizmann Institute Science Electronics Department (precursor of the Department of Physics of Complex Systems), which he headed from 1977 to 1987.
Treves was born in Milan, Italy in 1930, the youngest of three sons, all immigrating to Israel in 1939. The three brothers fought in the Israel War of Independence. His two brothers were killed in battle and he was gravely wounded. After the war, he received his BSc degree in 1953, a MSc in 1956, and a DSc degree in 1958, all in electrical engineering from the Technion- Israel Institute of Technology. He joined the Weizmann Institute in 1953.
During the period that Treves worked at the Weizmann Institute, he carried out seminal work in magnetic materials, magnetic reversal processes, micro-magnetic analysis, magnetic tapes and magneto-optic memories for which he gained world-renown. In addition, he contributed significantly to the areas of lasers, micro-strip antennas, and communication systems that were important to Israel industry and defense forces, and for which he received the Israel Defense Prize. He served on many local, national and international committees and mentored many students who became professors in academia and leaders in industry.
In the late 1980’s Treves moved to California, USA to join Komag Inc. where he headed a team that developed magneto-optic materials, compact disks, as well as automatic optical inspection tools for evaluating thin films that were far superior to anything available at the time.
Treves was a brilliant scientist, excelling in a broad range of topics. He was a phenomenal experimentalist with a great intuition. He co-authored over 100 scientific articles and had over 100 patents.
He was survived by three sons, Yoram, Daniel and Ron, and eight grandchildren.