Hagai Netzer is a renowned Israeli scientist, most famous for his work on super-massive black holes in the centers of galaxies, galaxies in the early universe, and other topics of modern astronomy. Netzer has been a professor and faculty member at Tel Aviv University in the School of Physics and Astronomy since 1977 and professor emeritus since 2009. Over the years, he has served as the chair of the Astrophysics Department, director of the Wise Observatory, and member of the Tel Aviv University board of trustees and numerous international committees. He also held central positions in Israel’s national education system and is a member of the board of the Wolf Foundation, which awards the prestigious Wolf Prize. Netzer has received various scientific awards, is a fellow of the Israel Physics Society, and is an associate of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Netzer has published close to 300 scientific papers and several advanced textbooks. He has also written (with collaborators) three astronomy high school and undergraduate textbooks in Hebrew. Alongside his academic work, Netzer is active in science education for the public, delivering numerous popular science lectures for children and adults and writing popular science articles. His book Journey to Intelligence, with Ami Ben Bassat, was published in Hebrew in 1999. The book The Crowded Cosmos (originally Rendezvous in the Milky Way), also with Ami Ben Bassat, was published in Hebrew in 2020.