A gift of a Jewish-Dutch philanthropist, who perished in the Holocaust. Designed by the renowned modernist architect Erich Mendelsohn (1887-1953), it was initially used for applied research. Today it houses the Ilse and Maurice Katz Magnetic Resonance Laboratory for Biomedical Research.
The Jacob Ziskind Building is home to the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, which consists of the Department of Mathematics and the Department of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics. Its lobby houses WEIZAC, the first computer built in Israel (1954) and one of the first in the world, which has been designated by the IEEE as a landmark in computing history.
The building is named for a Jewish-American philanthropist from Fall River, Massachusetts, who benefited many other organizations through the trust established after his death. Mr. Ziskind met Dr. Weizmann at one of the annual dinners in the US (probably in 1949) and expressed his keen interest in the work of the Institute. In 1952, the executors and trustees of his estate informed Dr. Weizmann that it had been Mr. Ziskind’s desire to have his name associated with the Institute. The naming of the building, therefore, occurred after its dedication in 1949, and assumed Mr. Ziskind’s name some years after his death.
Following an outline by architect Erich Mendelssohn, this building was designed by Arie Elhanani (1898-1985), one of Israel’s leading designers of graphics, theater sets, and architecture before the establishment of the State and in its early years. The building transmits, alongside its simple functionalism, a monumentality and formality as befits its original purpose: to house most of the functions of the newly named Weizmann Institute of Science. The wide stairs and stone-framed entrance served as the setting for the dais of dignitaries, including Chaim Weizmann, David Ben-Gurion, and Golda Meir, at the 1949 ceremony at which the building was dedicated and the Daniel Sieff Research Institute was renamed the Weizmann Institute of Science.
Philanthropic gifts have added two annexes to the Ziskind Building: an east wing, which, since 1997, houses the Moross Laboratory for Vision Research and Robotics, and a mathematics library, added in 1989, thanks to a gift of William and Lynne Frankel of Philadelphia, PA. Inside, the Ziskind Building contains a lovely reading room for periodicals in mathematics and computer science, named for Jacob E. Goldenberg of Minnesota, a supporter and admirer of Dr. Weizmann. Finally, the building also houses the Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science.
