About Us
Founded in 1944, the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science develops philanthropic support for the Weizmann Institute in Israel, and advances its mission of science for the future of humanity.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/science-and-peace/
Feb 01, 2010...
Daniel Zajfman is the president of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel
History—not to mention different languages, cultures, and values—can make peace difficult to achieve. Science is a common ground upon which nations can collaborate to improve our world.
Since the first humans began experimenting with new designs for spears, scientific research has held the potential to change not only the way we live, but also how long we live. Human and animal labor has been replaced by the work of levers and machines. Distances have shrunk as new means of travel have been invented, and communication across these distances has become instantaneous. Modern drugs now cure many lethal diseases. In short, the quality of life and its span have improved for most, unfortunately not all, people on this planet.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/boycott-of-israeli-academics-misguided/
Aug 04, 2006...
The recent motion by the U.K.’s largest university union (NAFTHE) recommending a boycott of all Israeli academics who “do not publicly dissociate themselves” from Israeli policies has reignited the debate around this issue (“Over protests, U.K. union endorses boycott of Israeli academics,” E. Marshall, News of the Week, 2 June, p. 1289).
Despite the fact that the NAFTHE decision is only “advisory,” it is likely that many will view it as an inducement to act along the lines of the motion. As an Israeli academic, I find myself wondering just which Israeli policies these anonymous potential boycotters would like me to publicly dissociate myself from? Should I dissociate myself from the policy to encourage joint Palestinian-Israeli science projects, the policy to admit students and faculty to our universities regardless of their race or religion, or the policy to continue withdrawals from occupied territory if the Palestinians will only stop using such territory as launching pads for further attacks on us? Or perhaps the boycotters would like me to dissociate myself from the security barrier that has markedly reduced the number of deaths of Israeli civilians from homicide bombers? If the latter, unfortunately, it seems the boycotters would like to see us choose between death and damnation.
Jul 02, 2015...
Prof. Emeritus Jonathan Gressel
Professor Emeritus Jonathan Gressel of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, said during a visit to St. Louis last week that he sees merit in the recently released papal encyclical by Pope Francis, which said man-made climate change is a major issue that must be addressed worldwide.
Gressel, a native of Cleveland who was born in 1936, earned his doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1962. He immigrated to Israel in 1950 and joined what is now the Department of Plant and Environmental Science at the Weizmann Institute of Science.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/new-grant-to-fuel-solar-energy-research/
Oct 24, 2012...
The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust announced a gift of $15 million over three years to fund joint research in solar energy and biofuels between the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Technion — Israel Institute of Technology.
The Helmsley program, which will involve dozens of researchers from the two institutions, is unique in several ways. For one, scientists in fields ranging from genetics and plant sciences to chemistry, physics and engineering will be working together toward the common goal of providing renewable energy options to Israel and the world. For another, the researchers anticipate that wedding the basic research approach of the Weizmann Institute to the advanced technical-engineering emphasis of the Technion teams will provide the synergy needed to accelerate discovery and development of innovative energy options that can be the basis for future technologies.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/feature-stories/past-perfect/
Sep 21, 2009... The present can supply us with intriguing glimpses into the past. In geology, for example, long-term processes that continue to this day can shed light on those belonging to the distant past. The same principle guides ethno-archaeologists, who study today’s traditional societies to learn about the lifestyles of ancient cultures. Dr. Ruth Shahack-Gross, who began her research career as a geologist, became captivated by this approach when she turned to archaeology: “I was immediately fascinated by the idea of learning about the past from contemporary traditional lifestyles,” she says.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/feature-stories/2017-a-year-of-life-changing-science/
Dec 19, 2017...
We are always rushing around, in a hurry to get to the next goal or errand. Forward momentum is natural, but the end of one year and the start of another is the perfect time to pause and reflect. When it comes to the Weizmann Institute of Science, this is always an uplifting and rewarding exercise, and 2017 was particularly awe-inspiring. Let’s look at some of the highlights.
Cancer immunotherapy. In the 1980s, Prof. Zelig Eshhar began to develop what he called “CAR T cells,” genetically modified immune cells that harness the patient’s own immune system to fight disease. American researchers built on his discoveries, and the therapy led to astonishing remission in leukemia patients. In August, CAR T-cells made history as the first gene therapy approved by the FDA; since then, a second has been approved. Prof. Eshhar is now studying CAR T-cells for treating other diseases.
Jun 22, 2011...
Researchers studying autistic toddlers have discovered their brain activity appears to be out of sync at a very early stage – a finding that sheds light on the biology of the condition and might help in earlier diagnosis.
In research published in the journal Neuron, scientists in Israel used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to look at the brains of sleeping toddlers and found that certain types of neural activity are disrupted in autistic children, but not in typical children or in others with delayed language development.
Feb 28, 2019... In the second episode of Weizmann in Focus, CEO Dave Doneson discusses how the Institute’s plant scientists are tackling the challenge of global food security. These innovative researchers are figuring out how plants can better resist drought, provide higher-quality nutrition, and more. Dave spotlights a breakthrough by Prof. Jonathan Gressel, who discovered a method of killing a parasitic weed that was destroying corn crops in sub-Saharan Africa.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/tough-science/
Oct 12, 2011...
Ada Etil Yonath
X-ray crystallographer currently at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. She won a share of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her work on the structure and function of the ribosome. Yonath was born in 1939 in Jerusalem to a poor family. Her father died when she was 11 years old, and Yonath helped support her mother and younger sister. Yonath was the first Israeli woman to win a Nobel prize and the first woman in 45 years to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Apr 25, 2017... Building Dialogue through Science, or BDS, (http://israelbds.org/) is the name of a website that features the many and varied scientific studies that rely on close collaboration between Israeli researchers and those in different countries. These range from the SESAME synchrotron, a Middle-Eastern facility based in Jordan that serves life-sciences researchers from Egypt to Iran; efforts to discover the processes that lead up to the fantastic stellar explosions known as supernovae, in which Israeli researchers are alerted to possible events in the California night sky; brain research; quantum physics studies; scientific archaeology; and much more.
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