Higher Education in Israel:
Weizmann Institute of Science

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One of the top multidisciplinary research institutions in the world, the Weizmann Institute grew out of the Daniel Sieff Research Institute, which was founded in 1934 with just ten scientists and ten technicians by Israel and Rebecca Sieff in memory of their son. The driving force behind its establishment was the Institute’s first president, Dr. Chaim Weizmann, a noted chemist who later became the first president of Israel. On November 2, 1949, with the agreement of the Sieff family, the Institute was renamed and formally dedicated as the Weizmann Institute of Science.

In 2005, the Weizmann Institute was voted the best university in the world for life scientists to conduct research. The poll was conducted by The Scientist magazine as part of its third annual 'Best Places to Work in Academia' survey. The survey found that scientists at the Institute had good relationships with their peers, satisfaction with their work, and ample resources for conductng research.

Coming in behind the Weizmann Institute were the University of Toronto and the University of Alberta. Clemson University, located in Clemson, South Carolina, was the top institution in the United States, followed by the Trudeau Institute in Saranac Lake, NY and the J. David Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco, CA.

Chaim Weizmann believed that scientific development in Israel would help shape the future of the state, and would also provide economic benefits. Yeda Research and Development, the commercial arm of Weizmann Institute, shows that revenues generated from the Institute and science in Israel continues to grow every year. It has become a world leader in the commercialization of patents. In 1988, revenues from royalties were $1 million; in 1998, $16 million; in 2003, $93 million. However, generating revenue is not the main reason why the Weizmann Institute exists. Professor Haim Garty stated to the Israeli press, “It would be inconceivable that we would develop a scientific field because it is a source of revenue. I would prefer that a researcher from the Institute win a Nobel Prize rather than register another patent.”

New drugs at the Institute are being developed to help cure serious diseases such as multiple sclerosis and ostereoporosis. Since 1997, American doctors have been prescribing Copaxone to MS patients, which was created and developed at the Institute. The manufacturing company Teva recently signed an agreement with Israeli company Proneuron to explore the use of Copaxone for glaucoma and other neuro-degenerative diseases. A vaccine for Hepatitis B s another product developed by scientists at the Institute. Innovative developments in medicine and life sciences at the Weizmann Institute will only continue because of the determination of its staff to serve Israel and the world.

 

As of 2013, the Weizmann Institute had five faculties - mathematics & computer science; physics; chemistry; biochemistry; and, biology - as well as seventeen departments, a graduate school and 50 mutlidisciplinary centers.

Sources: Bard, Mitchell G. and Moshe Schwartz. 1001 Facts Everyone Should Know About Israel. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005; Sharon Kanon and ISRAEL21c staff, "Weizmann Institute chosen world's top university for life scientists," Israel21c, (November 8, 2005). Photos courtesy of the Publications and Media Relations Department, Weizmann Institute of Science, Photo credits: Dr Mitchell Bard. 

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