[img]96|left|||no_popup[/img]Dateline Jerusalem – No wonder the Weizmann Institute of Science, in my town of Rehovot, Israel, ranks as one of the top 100 universities in the world. If the Clore Garden of Science on the Weizmann campus, originally intended to encourage children to have fun experiencing science, is any indication of the calibre of the Institute's research, its world ranking and Nobel Prize recipients should be of no surprise. Although the outdoor museum originally was intended for children, it is a must-see for adults as well. There are 100 hands-on interactive scientific exhibits to experience in this outdoor garden setting. I went with two other adults visiting me from the States. These child-friendly scientific experiments we participated in were well beyond my mental capabilities. No wonder Israel is a world leader in science, medicine and technology when its children are encouraged to love science in such an atmosphere.
We toured the Weizmann House museum. Chaim Weizmann, the first President of the State of Israel, was a a scientist (more than 120 patents are in his name) and founder of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, both universities making the top 100 list. He wanted to make Israel one of the top science centers of the world. Considering the State of Israel is only 64 years old, and three of its universities made the top 100, Weizmann's vision has come true. One of 15 children, 12 of whom were doctors, scientists, and academics, he became famous for discovering how to produce acetone from bacterial fermentation, which was used in the production of cordite explosive propellants critical to the Allied war effort in World War I. Because his discovery helped the British and Allies, he was well received by Winston Churchill and the British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour. In fact, Weizmann's scientific work was so important to the war effort that Balfour issued the Balfour Declaration of 1917, which stated in part that the British government “views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” Churchill, Balfour and Albert Einstein were personal friends of Weizmann.
I do not like old. But the Weizmann House, designed by architect Erich Mendelsohn in the 1930s, looks like a modern day home, both inside and out. I have fallen in love with its architecture and would love to live in it. It absolutely suits my entertaining needs. If ever I were to build a home, I would model it after the Weizmann House. The u-shaped home has a swimming pool in the front of the house, which reminds me of the location of the pool I had when I lived in Encino. Inside, the kitchen is divided into three parts, a room used as a butler's pantry, a room just for washing dishes, and a room with the most modern appliances available 80 years ago. My favorite room was the dining room. It was open to the wide entry hall that spanned the length of the house and had a view of the spiral marble staircase tower. On the other side were windows overlooking acres of gardens. Heavy floor-to-ceiling carved wooden accordion doors on both ends of the dining room, built into a track on the marble floor, could close off the dining room from guests and then be dramatically opened when dinner was served. The Weizmann House museum displays important documents, papers, photographs, paintings and sculptures, one of which is a 1500-year-old horse. Outside the entrance is a Ford Lincoln Cosmopolitan, a gift g to Dr. Weizmann from Henry Ford II.
After that, we walked across campus to the Observation Deck above the Solar Mirror Field. Sixty-four mirrors are connected to a computer in the Solar Tower that calculates the location of the sun in relation to the earth every second. The Weizmann field of solar mirrors is one of the leading solar energy research installations in the world.
From almost anywhere on campus, the Koffler Accelerator can be seen, its unusual shape almost science fiction- like. The building combines two towers, one egg-shaped and the other like a corkscrew. It has become the architectural symbol of the Weizmann Institute, often described as futuristic and space-age. The Accelerator houses a sophisticated research instrument for the study of the nucleus of the atom called a Pelletron. The nuclear physics accelerator examines an atomic nucleus, one ten- thousandth the size of an atom. The Pelletron is an electrostatic accelerator in which charged particles are accelerated by a static field. No longer used as intended, the Accelerator is now a famous landmark at the Weizmann Institute and for the City of Rehovot.
No wonder the City of Rehovot is often referred to as “The City of Science and Culture” because of the Weizmann Institute. I just love living in Rehovot.
L'hitraot. Shachar
