Zvi Ben-Avraham is a Chief Scientist onboard the E/V Nautilus.

Zvi is a Professor of Geophysics at the Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, Tel Aviv University (Israel). He is also the Founding Director of the Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa (Israel).

Zvi has been involved in terrestrial and marine geophysics of the eastern Mediterranean in the past 40 years. He has constantly initiated and participated in geophysical research of the Mediterranean Sea and the water bodies of the Dead Sea Fault (Gulf of Elat/Aqaba, Dead Sea, Sea of Galilee), from the pioneering studies of the bathymetry and crustal structure of the eastern Mediterranean during the 1970's and 1980's until the current research campaigns in this area. His expertise covers vast areas of geophysical research: seismics, magnetics, gravity, heat flow and bathymetry.

Zvi earned his PhD in geophysics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 1973. Since then, he has taken professional positions as an associate and visiting professor in several research institutes and universities worldwide (Weizmann Institute of Science, Tel Aviv University, Stanford University, University of Cape Town, Free University Amsterdam, University of California Los Angeles), and served in editorial positions in several scientific journals of geosciences (Tectonics, Tectonophysics, Annales Tectonicae).

Zvi was honored as a member of several Academies of science (Academia Europaea, Heidelberg Academy of Sciences, Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences), and holds the Max Sonnenberg Chair of Marine Geoscience, University of Cape Town. He was awarded the Israel Prize in Science in 2003, and serves as the Scientific Advisor to the President of the State of Israel since 2008.