WIM no. 17 Spring 2020

מכון ויצמן למדע 36–37 S P R I N G 2 0 2 0 O n the third of April 1934, a festive ceremony took place to inaugurate the Sieff Research Institute. In honor of the celebration, (as they reported it in the newspaper at the time), the British flag and the Hebrew flag flew above the building. Just imagine! Fourteen years before the establishment of the State of Israel, at the time of the British Mandate, the leaders of the Jewish settlement—which at the time numbered about 300,000 men, women and children—succeeded in founding an institute for scientific research, the third in line after the Technion in Haifa, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Among those who attended the ceremony was Professor Richard Martin Willstätter. In 1915, this Jewish-German chemist was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. In 1924, he retired from his work at the academy in Munich because of the anti-Semitism of some members of the faculty. In 1938, he escaped from the Nazi threat to Switzerland, where he died in 1942. But for one moment in time, between retiring due to anti-Semitism and his escape to Switzerland, at the height of the darkness that had overcome Europe, he stood here and very precisely defined the mission of the new Institute. And I quote: “In my vision, I see above the gates of the Institute, neither in bronze nor in writing, yet nevertheless clearly, these three inscriptions: ‘Work for the development of science! Work for the prosperity of the Land of Israel! Work for the benefit of humanity!’” This is what he wrote. Dr. Chaim Weizmann, the scientist, the statesman, and the President, pushed for the establishment of the Sieff Institute because he believed that “Torah shall go forth from Zion” with science, with research, with invention, with creativity, with innovation and with enterprise. Eight-five years later, one can say with confidence that the Weizmann Institute has realized not only Chaim Weizmann’s vision, but also the vision of Professor Willstätter. And not just the Weizmann Institute. Our little ‘start-up nation’ is acclaimed in many parts of the world; our academia is considered to be a beacon of knowledge, both theoretical and practical. Our entrepreneurial thinking, our scientific inventions, the technology that is developed here—all of these have become a focal point for pilgrimage. I meet many leaders from all over the world who want to learn from us and collaborate with us for the development of science, for the benefit of all mankind. And this is a significant part of the prosperity of Israel— of the Land of Israel and the State of Israel. Distinguished guests—science, as we are taught in school, is something that is very accurate, linear, clear, understandable, distinct. Sequential. Cause and effect. But whoever is accepted into the world of science for his or her higher education—whether it is in biology or chemistry, physics or mathematics, biochemistry, or even computer science—is aware of the fact that science is not just a linear process. The most complex discoveries, the most surprising, the most amazing, have resulted from a breaking down an accepted concept, from breaking through the standard thought process, which we think of as being a measured pace, step by step. Video: President Reuven Rivlin on Weizmann and Israeli science Weizmann MAGAZINE