The Weizmann Institute of Science (Hebrew: מכון ויצמן למדע Machon Weizmann LeMada) is a public research university in Rehovot, Israel, south of Tel Aviv established in 1934, 14 years before the State of Israel. It differs from other Israeli universities in that it offers only graduate and postgraduate degrees in the natural and exact sciences.
It is a multidisciplinary research center, with around 2,500 scientists, postdoctoral fellows, Ph.D. and M.Sc. students, and scientific, technical, and administrative staff working at the Institute.
Three Nobel laureates and three Turing Award laureates have been associated with the Weizmann Institute of Science.
Founded in 1934 by Chaim Weizmann and his first team, among them Benjamin M. Bloch, as the Daniel Sieff Research Institute. Weizmann had offered the post of director to Nobel Prize laureate Fritz Haber, but took over the directorship himself after Haber's death en route to Palestine. Before he became President of the State of Israel in February 1949, Weizmann pursued his research in organic chemistry at its laboratories. The institute was renamed the Weizmann Institute of Science in his honor on November 2, 1949, in agreement with the Sieff family.
The Weizmann Institute presently has about 2,500 students, postdoctoral fellows, staff, and faculty, and awards M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in mathematics, computer science, physics, chemistry, biochemistry, and biology, as well as several interdisciplinary programs. The symbol of the Weizmann Institute of Science is the multibranched Ficus tree.
Undergraduates and recent graduates must apply to M.Sc. programs, while those earning an M.Sc. or an MD can apply directly to Ph.D. programs. Full fellowships are given to all students and outside employment is not allowed.
In addition to its academic programs, the Weizmann Institute runs programs for youth, including science clubs, camps, and competitions. The Bessie F. Lawrence International Summer Science Institute accepts high-school graduates from all over the world for a four-week, science-based summer camp. The Clore Garden of Science, which opened in 1999, is the world’s first completely interactive outdoor science museum.
In 2015, the Weizmann Institute made the Academic Ranking of World Universities at an unspecified place between 101 and 150 and the U.S. News' Best Global Universities list in 126th place. However, it made neither the QS World University Rankings nor the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. In the 2015 CWTS Leiden Ranking, which is based on the proportion of a university's scientific papers published between 2010 and 2013 that made the 10% most cited in their field, it was ranked 10th in the world and first in Israel.
Chaim Weizmann (1934–1952)Meyer Weisgal (1952-1959 as acting director)Abba Eban (1959–1966)Meyer Weisgal (1966–1970)Albert Sabin (1970–1972)Israel Dostrovsky (1972–1975)Michael Sela (1975–1985)Aryeh Dvoretzky (1985–1988)Haim Harari (1988–2001)Ilan Chet (2001–2006)Daniel Zajfman (2006–present)The nonscientists Abba Eban and Meyer Weisgal were assisted by Scientific Directors, as was Weizmann himself owing to his duties as the first President of Israel. The following persons held the position of Scientific Director:
Ernst David Bergmann (1949-1951)Amos de-Shalit (1960-1961 and 1966-1968)Shneior Lifson (1962-1966)Gerhard M. J. Schmidt (1969)Uri Alon, systems biologistRuth Arnon, immunologistArkady Aronov, condensed matter physicistMordechai Ben-Ari, computer scientistAri Ben-Menahem, geophysicistAchi Brandt, mathematicianIrun Cohen, immunologistDavid Danon, biologistAmos de-Shalit, physicistIrit Dinur, computer scientist and mathematicianIsrael Dostrovsky, physical chemistYadin Dudai, neuroscientistHarry Dym, mathematicianBenjamin Elazari Volcani discovered life in the Dead Sea and pioneered biological silicon research.Aviezri Fraenkel, mathematicianAsher A. Friesem, physicistStephen Gelbart, mathematicianJoseph Gillis, mathematicianOded Goldreich, computer scientistShafrira Goldwasser, computer scientist two time winner of the Godel Prize (1993 and 2001), and the Turing Award (2012)Jacob H. Hanna, stem cell biologistHaim Harari, theoretical physicistDavid Harel (born 1950), computer scientistYoseph Imry, theoretical physicistAharon Katzir, chemistEphraim Katzir, biophysicist, fourth President of the State of IsraelBruria Kaufman, theoretical physicistJacob Klein, chemistUlf Leonhardt, physicistAlexander Lerner, mathematicianMichael Levitt, chemical physics, presently at Stanford University: Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2013)Moshe Levy, chemistShneior Lifson, physicistHarry J. Lipkin, physicistHenry Markram (born 1962), neuroscientistMeir Lahav, chemistMordehai Milgrom, astrophysicistDavid Milstein, organic chemistMoni Naor, computer scientistChaim L. Pekeris, geophysicistAmir Pnueli, computer scientist, Turing Award (1996)Ran Raz, computer scientistAmitai Regev, mathematicianOmer Reingold, computer scientistLeo Sachs, molecular biologistJosip Schlessinger, biochemist and biophysicianDavid Samuel, 3rd Viscount Samuel, chemistEran Segal, computational biologistLee Segel, applied mathematicianMichael Sela, immunologistAdi Shamir, cryptographer, Turing Award (2002)Ehud Shapiro, computer scientist and computational biologistNathan Sharon, biochemistAmnon Shashua, computer scientistFranz Sondheimer, chemistAdy Stern, physicistJoel Sussman, crystallographerIgal Talmi, physicistReshef Tenne, chemistEdward Trifonov, molecular biophysicistShimon Ullman, computer scientistGabriele Veneziano, theoretical physicistDavid Wallach, biochemistArieh Warshel, chemical physics, presently at University of Southern California: Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2013)Chaim Weizmann, chemist, first President of the State of IsraelMeir Wilchek, biochemistAda Yonath, crystallographer, Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2009)Daniel Zajfman, physicistAmikam Aharoni (1929–2002), physicistDorit Aharonov (born 1970), computer scientistJoanna Aizenberg, professor of chemistryUri Alon, systems biologistHaim Aviv, molecular biologistKaren Avraham, geneticistNeta Bahcall, astrophysicistEli Biham, cryptographer and cryptanalystOfer Biham, physicistAchi Brandt (born 1938), mathematicianJoseph Buxbaum, geneticist and neuroscientistNachum Dershowitz, computer scientistDanny Dolev, computer scientistDov Dori, computer scientistYadin Dudai, neuroscientistAmos Fiat, computer scientistNir Friedman, computer scientist and biologistEhud Gazit, biochemist and nanotechnologistAlexander Goldfarb, (born 1947), microbiologist, activist, and authorValerie Halyo, experimental physicistEliezer (Eli) Huberman, biologistYoseph Imry, theoretical physicistBernard H. Lavenda, chemical physicistAnders Levermann, climate scientistAlexander Levitzki (born 1940), biochemistYehuda Lindell, computer scientistMario Livio (born 1945), astrophysicistMiron Livny, computer scientistHenry Markram (born 1962), neuroscientistRaphael Mechoulam, organic chemistDavid Peleg, computer scientistAmir Pnueli (1941–2009), computer scientistOmer Reingold, computer scientistGideon Rodan, biochemistBarton Rubenstein, modernist sculptorShmuel Safra, computer scientistJosip Schlessinger (born 1945), biochemist and biophysicianNathan Seiberg, physicistAdi Shamir (born 1952), cryptographerAmnon Shashua, computer scientistNahum Sonenberg, biochemistHermona Soreq, molecular neuroscientistEli Upfal, computer scientistLev Vaidman, physicistMoshe Vardi, computer scientistInder Verma, cancer researcher and molecular biologistAda Yonath, crystallographerArieh Warshel, chemistMeir Wilchek, biochemistDoron Zeilberger, mathematicianEitan Zemel, applied mathematicianFrom downtown Tel-Aviv, take a train from either the University, Savidor Center, HaShalom, or HaHagana stations headed to the Rehovot Railway Station or to the Ashkelon Railway Station via Lod. Disembark at Rehovot station which is located nearby the campus. Travel time will be about 25 minutes from Tel Aviv HaHagana. To the main gate, it will be an additional 5-minute walk.From Ben Gurion Airport, take any Tel Aviv bound train from Ben Gurion Airport Railway Station, located at the lower level of Terminal 3 to Tel Aviv HaHagana Railway Station. Change to a train bound for Rehovot or Ashkelon via Lod and follow the instruction above. Total travel time will be about 50 minutes, depending on train connection/transfer.