Tomorrow Lab:Advancing Technology

Weizmann scientists have created a formula to predict how cracks will advance in specific materials. Such a formula has been sought for years to help scientists and engineers predict how materials such as the metal in airplane wings or the concrete in dams will hold up under stress.

In 2001, Weizmann's Prof. Ehud Shapiro created the world's smallest computer. Built from DNA, about a trillion can fit in a drop of water. In 2004, it successfully identified signs of cancer and even released an appropriate drug.

A Weizmann computer scientist created a computer language that facilitates the development of sophisticated, complex systems such as those used in aircraft, space shuttles, and nuclear power stations.

Beginning in the 1970s, a Weizmann mathematician and two international colleagues developed several methods of encrypting and decrypting information. In addition to laying the foundation of Internet security, this technology led to “smart cards” and is used in global financial and governmental communications.

Weizmann scientists developed a method of laser-cutting diamonds that reduces the loss of material and cuts stones into virtually any shape.

Sunglasses and vehicle windshields that darken when bright light falls on them are familiar consumer goods that were developed following the discovery of photochromism in a Weizmann lab.

Lasers that control chemical reactions were developed by Weizmann scientists with colleagues overseas. This finding may lead to a new way of isolating molecules for novel drug development.

For the past five consecutive years, the Institute’s technology transfer arm, Yeda Research and Development Company, Ltd., has been ranked among the top five university license income earners in the world and has the largest portfolio of patents in Israel.

In 1954, the Weizmann Institute designed and built WEIZAC – the first computer in Israel and one of the first in the world.

Weizmann’s Prof. Dan Tawfik developed a super-fast method for identifying novel genes and proteins for biological and medical research. His system employs an emulsion of tiny water droplets suspended within oil drops, enabling review of samples that is exponentially faster than existing methods.

Scientists at the Weizmann Institute are using brain research to create advanced robotic visual systems.

The A.M. Turing Award, widely regarded as the “Nobel Prize of computer science,” was awarded to Weizmann Institute Prof. Adi Shamir in 2003 in recognition of his contributions to the field of cryptography.

In 2008, a group of Weizmann physicists demonstrated, for the first time, the existence of “quasiparticles” that have one-quarter the charge of an electron. This finding could be a first step towards creating exotic types of quantum computers that might be powerful, yet highly stable.

The Weizmann Institute is home to Israel’s first and only submicron research facility for sophisticated electronic component development.