"The whole of my remaining realizable estate shall be dealt with in the following way: the capital, invested in safe securities by my executors, shall constitute a fund, the interest on which shall be annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind".Alfred Nobel's will, November 27, 1895, Paris.
Israeli scientist Ada Yonat won the 2009 Nobel Prize for chemistry for her work on the function of the ribosome, which has important implications for antibiotics. Yonat is the ninth Israeli Nobel Prize recipient since 1901, and one of only 37 women to be awarded that honor. Per capita, Israel has one of the highest percentages of Nobel laureates in the world! The first Israeli woman to win a Nobel Prize, Yonat serves as the director of the Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman Center for Bimolecular Structure and Assembly at the Weizmann Institute of Science. She won the Israel Prize in 2002 and was a co-recipient of the 2006 Wolf Prize in Chemistry, and in 2008, she became the first Israeli to win a lifetime achievement award from L'Oréal and UNESCO for her vital work identifying how bacteria become resistant to antibiotics. An extraordinary scientist, she is a product of the Israeli educational system, like most of the other Israeli Nobel recipients.
Decades ago, Israel had the vision to invest in promising young researchers. What enabled the young state to make that investment in the future? Forty years ago, it was clear to our founders that a new state must encourage scientific research and development in order to flourish. Israel's first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, declared that the money it takes to buy two tanks can open a new research center. Ben Gurion's statement was visionary, the kind of vision that sees values, education, and culture as part of a state's foundations. Over and above the decision to invest in education, the Israeli character contributed as well: Israelis like to meet new people and get to know everything about them; they are very curious, and are known for their out-of-the-box thinking.
But today, 80 percent of Israeli high school students don't take science as part of their curriculum, and Israeli students fall in the twenty-fifth rank in science tests, whereas Singapore comes in first. Classrooms in Israel are crowded and teacher's salaries are low relative to other countries. Have we lost Ben Gurion's vision?
Despite these troubling facts, we have good reasons to stay optimistic. Singapore may score highest in science, but it boasts no Nobel Prize recipients. We must be doing something right if we still manage to achieve world recognition. Israel is achieving breakthroughs in a variety of fields. During the last decade, Israel has been recognized around the world as a powerhouse in computer programming innovations, medicine, engineering and many other areas. The percentage of Israelis currently engaged in scientific and technological research is among the highest in the world.
Nevertheless, the country can't rest on its laurels. One in 10 Israeli scientists has moved abroad, mostly to the US, because of the lack of well-paying positions, research funds, and well-equipped labs. Many brilliant Israelis who left Israel and are now trying to return struggle to find suitable jobs and scientific conditions to continue growing and developing.
For a day, Prof. Yonat's accomplishment shifted the focus from the usual political news to something different and inspiring, something that highlights Israel as a country that is able to produce world-recognized scientists despite fighting for 62 years after its war of independence. We want to emphasize these types of news items: Israeli Nobel laureates, Israeli achievements in arts, science, literature, and technology. We want to describe Israel as a place where people study, invent, create, build, and innovate.
How can Israel ensure that there will be more Israeli Nobel laureates in the future? (Prof. Yonat is 70 years old. Other Israeli Nobel laureates are around her age. All started their academic careers when the state invested more in research.) In the past decade, the government cut two billion dollars from the academic budget. Recently, Israel's finance minister, Dr. Yuval Steinitz, announced that hi-tech is more important than infrastructure, and that Israel should invest more in R&D. We will see if actions take the place of words, and if more and more Israelis will be able to confer the greatest benefit on mankind, as Alfred Nobel dreamed.
Please visit our site and add your comments and opinions on this month's A View from Jerusalem. We look forward to hearing your feedback!
Israeli scientist Ada Yonat won the 2009 Nobel Prize for chemistry for her work on the function of the ribosome, which has important implications for antibiotics. Yonat is the ninth Israeli Nobel Prize recipient since 1901, and one of only 37 women to be awarded that honor. Per capita, Israel has one of the highest percentages of Nobel laureates in the world! The first Israeli woman to win a Nobel Prize, Yonat serves as the director of the Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman Center for Bimolecular Structure and Assembly at the Weizmann Institute of Science. She won the Israel Prize in 2002 and was a co-recipient of the 2006 Wolf Prize in Chemistry, and in 2008, she became the first Israeli to win a lifetime achievement award from L'Oréal and UNESCO for her vital work identifying how bacteria become resistant to antibiotics. An extraordinary scientist, she is a product of the Israeli educational system, like most of the other Israeli Nobel recipients.
Decades ago, Israel had the vision to invest in promising young researchers. What enabled the young state to make that investment in the future? Forty years ago, it was clear to our founders that a new state must encourage scientific research and development in order to flourish. Israel's first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, declared that the money it takes to buy two tanks can open a new research center. Ben Gurion's statement was visionary, the kind of vision that sees values, education, and culture as part of a state's foundations. Over and above the decision to invest in education, the Israeli character contributed as well: Israelis like to meet new people and get to know everything about them; they are very curious, and are known for their out-of-the-box thinking.
But today, 80 percent of Israeli high school students don't take science as part of their curriculum, and Israeli students fall in the twenty-fifth rank in science tests, whereas Singapore comes in first. Classrooms in Israel are crowded and teacher's salaries are low relative to other countries. Have we lost Ben Gurion's vision?
Despite these troubling facts, we have good reasons to stay optimistic. Singapore may score highest in science, but it boasts no Nobel Prize recipients. We must be doing something right if we still manage to achieve world recognition. Israel is achieving breakthroughs in a variety of fields. During the last decade, Israel has been recognized around the world as a powerhouse in computer programming innovations, medicine, engineering and many other areas. The percentage of Israelis currently engaged in scientific and technological research is among the highest in the world.
Nevertheless, the country can't rest on its laurels. One in 10 Israeli scientists has moved abroad, mostly to the US, because of the lack of well-paying positions, research funds, and well-equipped labs. Many brilliant Israelis who left Israel and are now trying to return struggle to find suitable jobs and scientific conditions to continue growing and developing.
For a day, Prof. Yonat's accomplishment shifted the focus from the usual political news to something different and inspiring, something that highlights Israel as a country that is able to produce world-recognized scientists despite fighting for 62 years after its war of independence. We want to emphasize these types of news items: Israeli Nobel laureates, Israeli achievements in arts, science, literature, and technology. We want to describe Israel as a place where people study, invent, create, build, and innovate.
How can Israel ensure that there will be more Israeli Nobel laureates in the future? (Prof. Yonat is 70 years old. Other Israeli Nobel laureates are around her age. All started their academic careers when the state invested more in research.) In the past decade, the government cut two billion dollars from the academic budget. Recently, Israel's finance minister, Dr. Yuval Steinitz, announced that hi-tech is more important than infrastructure, and that Israel should invest more in R&D. We will see if actions take the place of words, and if more and more Israelis will be able to confer the greatest benefit on mankind, as Alfred Nobel dreamed.
Leah Garber
Director, Israel Office
Director, Israel Office