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 benefit of humanity.
Aug 01, 2019...
What is your field of study?
I did my doctorate in high-energy physics – particle physics – and my research is on astroparticles.
Could you explain to laypeople what that means?
As we all learned in high school, we are made of molecules, atoms, protons, neutrons and electrons. But we can actually go down to a more precise resolution because the protons and neutrons are composed of smaller particles, called quarks. And there are also a great many more particles that are created at very high energies. With particle accelerators – if they are particle accelerators such as the sun, gamma-ray bursts and supernovas –
Mar 14, 2012...
IRVINE, Calif. and TEL AVIV, Israel, March 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ —
News Highlights
Broadcom Foundation, a non-profit organization funded by Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM), today announced it will donate $100,000 to the Weizmann Institute of Science in support of SpaceIL, an Israel-based non-profit mounting a submission for Google’s $30 million Lunar X Prize contest. This project was selected by Broadcom Foundation for its use of the competition as a platform to promote excitement for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) among Israeli youth. As the only non-profit team in the contest, SpaceIL has pledged to donate all winning proceeds to STEM education for middle school children. Join the SpaceIL conversation at www.facebook.com/TeamSpaceIL.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/a-black-hole-where/
Mar 02, 2017...
A hole may be an empty space, but a black hole – the heart of darkness – is anything but.
Appearing in a variety of science fiction stories and usually surrounded by an aura of mystery, myths and surprising theories – black holes have engaged the imagination since the idea of their existence arose in the 18th century. Here we take a look at what actually creates a black hole, what effects are created near black holes, what types of black holes exist in the universe, and what other rumors, theories and myths revolve around them.
Jun 27, 2017... This computer-simulated image shows a supermassive black hole at the core of a galaxy. The black region in the center represents the black holes event horizon, where no light can escape the massive objects gravitational grip. The black hole’s powerful gravity distorts space around it like a funhouse mirror. Light from background stars is stretched and smeared as the stars skim by the black hole. Credit: NASA, ESA, and D. Coe, J. Anderson, and R. van der Marel (STScI)
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/earth-mass-planet-right-next-door/
Aug 26, 2016...
Artist’s impression of the newly-discovered planet, Proxima Centauri b. Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—August 26,2016—An international team announced in Nature that a planet with a mass similar to that of Earth has been observed orbiting the star Proxima Centauri – the closest star to our Sun, just over four light years (about 40 trillion km) away. The project, known as the “Pale Red Dot,” involves scientists from nine countries; led by Dr. Guillem Anglada-Escudé of the Queen Mary University of London, the collaboration includes the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Dr. Aviv Ofir, who is in the group of Prof. Oded Aharonson in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences.
Dec 15, 2016...
In just the right conditions, the destruction of a star in a black hole’s gravitational tide should produce an unusual flash of light
When astronomers and astrophysicists observe flashes of light in the dark sky, they assume they have seen a supernova. Possibly a star has burnt up its supply of nuclear fuel and collapsed, throwing off its outer layers into space; or maybe a dense white dwarf siphoned off material from a companion star until it exploded from excess weight. But a flash of light observed on June 14, 2015 did not fit any of the usual models.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/the-many-moons-theory/
Jan 09, 2017...
Our planet may once have had dozens of small moonlets, which welded together over the millennia into the object that’s visible today. PHOTOGRAPH BY THE PRINT COLLECTOR / GETTY
Unbeknownst to most earthlings, the moon is experiencing a crisis. Geophysicists will tell you that it’s a “compositional” crisis—a crisis regarding the stuff of which the moon is composed. But it’s also an identity crisis, as much for the scientists as for the object they study.
Feb 11, 2019...
Prof. Oded Aharonson and the Beresheet lunar craft
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—February 11, 2019—After an enterprise lasting nearly a decade, the Israeli unmanned Moon mission “Beresheet” (“Genesis” in Hebrew) will soon take off from Earth, bound for the Moon’s rocky surface. Prof. Oded Aharonson of the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences is head of the international science team, and will be watching closely as the craft approaches the Moon and initiates the scientific part of the mission, which will start well before touchdown.
Jan 21, 2019...
Under general relativity, a black hole is inescapable. Once something travels beyond the event horizon into the heart of the black hole, there’s no return. So intense is the gravitational force of a black hole that not even light - the fastest thing in the Universe - can achieve escape velocity.
Under general relativity, therefore, a black hole emits no electromagnetic radiation. But, as a young Stephen Hawking theorised in 1974, it does emit something when you add quantum mechanics to the mix.
Mar 28, 2018...
Prof. Avishay Gal-Yam
Many stars die with a whimper, subsiding into cool, small stars, but the most massive go out with a bang. These giants produce elements in their cores, and when the stars explode into the spectacular phenomena known as supernovae, the power of the event scatters the elements far into space. You could even say that supernovae are responsible for life on Earth, since the explosions are the source of most of the elements found on our planet and in our bodies.
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