On The
Cutting
Edge
The Weizmann Institute in
Rehovot, Israel, has a staff of
1,800 researchers who are
conducting 640 projects on
the frontiers of science
and technology.
SIMON GRIVER
Special to The Jewish News
T
he Weizmann Institute
of Science in Rehovot
epitomizes the Zionist
pioneering values that
brought the Jewish people
back to its ancestral
homeland.
Some 250 acres of
shrubland and sand dunes
have been transformed into
the lush lawns of today's cam-
pus. More importantly, many
of the world's finest scientists
are exploring the frontiers of
science and making exciting
steps forward in cancer
research, immunology, solar
energy and dozens of other
areas.
The Weizmann Institute
comprises 21 units which are
currently conducting 640
research projects. The
number of scientific staff now
totals 1,800, including 500
graduate students pursuing
their master's and doctorate
degrees within the Feinberg
Graduate School.
The Institute's president,
Professor Arye Dvoretzky,
formerly a professor of
mathematics at the Hebrew
University, has a simple but
demanding philosophy. "We
must be at the cutting edge
of science," he asserts. "The
only justification for our ex-
istence is the quality of our
research."
This phrase "justification
of our existence," played an
important role in the In-
stitute's history. Chaim Weiz-
mann, like all Israel's foun-
ding fathers, knew that a
Jewish State could only
justify its existence through
its achievements. Exploiting
Jewish scientific brainpower,
he foresaw, offered Israel the
chance to make its mark on
the international scene and
develop profitable
enterprises.
Thus it was that in 1934,
Weizmann, with a staff of 10
accomplished scientists,
founded the Daniel Sieff
Research Institute (named for
Daniel Sieff, the late brother
of the current chancellor Lord
Sieff of Brimpton, who was
set on a scientific career but
died tragically in 1933). Weiz-
mann by then had already
made significant contribu-
tions to organic chemistry
and industrial fermentation.
His colleagues started work
on projects related to the
citrus industry, dairy farm-
ing, silk and tobacco, and the
manufacture of chemical pro-
ducts for medicine.
The Institute was able to
accept a small number of the
German professorial refugees
then fleeing Nazi Germany.
Under the dynamic guidance
of Meyer Weisgal, the In-
stitute rapidly expanded and
in 1944 it was named after
Weizmann himself. When the
A solar furnace at the Weizmann Institute of Science is shown, consisting of 63 mirrors, designed by scientists at
the Institute, which concentrates the light of the sun, making it 10,000 times as bright. The aim of this research is
to find ways in which solar energy can be substituted for imported fuels like oil.
Weizmann Institute of
Science was formally
dedicated in 1949, it contain-
ed eight buildings and 60
laboratories.
Weizmann lent additional
prestige to the Institute by
refusing to move to the
capital Jerusalem after 1948,
though he was nominated as
the Jewish State's first presi-
dent and ceremonial head of
state. He continued living,
together with his wife Vera, in
Rehovot. lbday that house,
on the grounds of the In-
stitute, has been bequeathed
to the nation and is open to
visitors. Chaim and Vera
Weizmann are buried in the
house's garden.
But Weizmann would never
have wanted the Institute to
be known for its shrines. He
would have been the first to
recount the achievements of
the Institute. Even as early
as 1954 it had become the
world's only commercial
source of heavy oxygen. And
in the following year
WEIZAC, the Institute-
designed computer, became
the world's third largest.
Moreover, the talent that
the Institute has produced
has been prolific. Professor
Ephraim Katzir, a former
president of Israel, was one of
the first two recipients of the
Japan Prize in Biotechnology
for his work in biophysics.
Benjamin Geiger, professor of
chemical immunology, won
the triennial prize of the
Federation of European
Biochemical Societies.
In the field of cancer
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
117