Shmaryahu Hoz was born in Jerusalem in 1945.  He received a B.Sc. in Chemistry and Physics and an M.Sc. in Chemistry from the Hebrew University. He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Bar Ilan University and did post-doctoral studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz with Prof. Joseph F. Bunnett.
He joined the Chemistry Department at Bar Ilan University in 1975. His major research areas are: physical organic chemistry, the chemistry of SmI, computational nanotechnology and the effects of electric fields on structure and reactivity.