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THE WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE
REHOVOT 76100 • ISRAEL
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OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
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November, 1989.
Message from the President of the Weizmann Institute of Science
The Weizmann Institute of Science as we know it today owes its success to the energies, skills, and
wisdom of many men and women - scientists, statesmen and businessmen. Of these, few have played
as salient a role in the Institute's growth and development as have the members of the American
Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science.
It is difficult to pinpoint exactly when the American involvement began. It was many years ago,
before the War of Independence, before there was even a State of Israel. World War II still raged, and
in Rehovot, the Daniel Sieff Institute - established in 1934 thanks to the generosity of Weizmann's
British friends Israel and Rebecca Sieff - was beginning to play a significant role in the war effort and in
developing the land and the economy.
Why the American involvement began is perhaps even more difficult to define. The motivations no
doubt range from the utopian to the practical. The late Dewey D. Stone, who together with Harry
Levine and Meyer Weisgal was one of the prime movers in the campaign to enlarge the Daniel Sieff
Institute and rename it in honor of Dr. Chaim Weizmann, liked to tell the following story about what
moved him to begin working on behalf of the Institute.
"It all began with a speech I heard Dr. Weizmann give in Boston back in 1940," wrote Dewey Stone
of that fateful evening.. "I can only paraphrase in my own, infinitely less potent words, the thoughts
which served so strikingly as inspiration. Dr. Weizmann exhorted us, saying:
'I cannot understand smart businessmen like yourselves. You gamble tens of thousands, even
millions of dollars on monumental business risks. But why are most of you so reluctant to spend even
a small part of these great sums on the worthiest risk of all - the human mind?...Only one of millions
possesses the spark of genius which alters the course of human history. Who knows where - or when -
another Ehrlich, Pasteur, or Einstein may be found? Or lost to us forever because men like yourselves
did not provide the tools needed to work, or the laboratories in which he had to be housed... —
For Dewey Stone, those words triggered a response that led to an intense commitment to Israel and
the Weizmann Institute, one that would last the rest of his life. Over the years hundreds - eventually
thousands - of other Americans have been moved to respond to the needs of the burgeoning
Weizmann Institute.
For almost fifty years these men and women of the American Committee for the Weizmann
Institute have demonstrated an ever-growing commitment to promoting the Institute and helping us to
develop and maintain our standards of excellence. Their faith in our abilities and their support of our
talents have earned them a rightful share in our accomplishments. It therefore gives me particular
pleasure on this occasion to salute the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science as
true partners in the progress of the Weizmann Institute Of Science.
Schaefer Solar Furnace
Feinberg Graduate School
K. B. Weissman
Institute of Physical Sciences
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Prof. Haim Harari
Ulmann Institute of Life Sciences
CABLE ADDRESS: WEIZINS: (Iiroel) :0'pin13 :7
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PHONE: 108)483278, 482852
[HINE( .RPZAVI@ WEIZMANN
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TELEX: 381300 WIX IL :17,7'7U
FAX: 972 - 8471667 : CpD
For further information, please contact
American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science
Detroit
Robert Sosnick, Chairman
Ira Mondry, President, Weizmann League
Edie Slotkin, Executive Director
(313) 855-4112
Charles and Tillie K. Lubin Building