Ivan Moscovich 1926

occupation:
Artist, inventor, mathematician, curator
Nationality:
Hungarian
born in:
Serbia and Montenegro

Moscovich (born 1926) is a designer and commercial developer of puzzles, games, toys, and educational aids. He has written many books and is internationally recognized in the toys industry as an innovative inventor. He is known for his kinetic art, particularly the harmonographs, and was the founder, and later director, of the Museum of Science and Technology in Tel Aviv.

Moscovich has lived an extraordinary life. Born to Hungarian Jewish parents in the former Yugoslavia, he survived the Novi Sad Razzia massacre of World War Two followed by four Nazi concentration camps and two work camps. After liberation and recovery, he worked as a railway engineer in Yugoslavia, ending up high-ranking in Tito’s Ministry of Transport, before emigrating to Israel. There he was in high demand for his training in science and mathematics and worked in the Ministry of Defence, also becoming well-known for his work inventing puzzles. This led to his work founding the Museum of Science and Technology in Tel Aviv in 1959. This was the first science museum to emphasise hands-on interactive exhibitions and became the inspiration for Frank Oppenheimer’s Exploratorium in San Francisco.