The Graduates

A recent evening of festivities at the Clore Garden of Science marked 40 years since the passing of Prof. Amos de-Shalit, and 35 years since the launching of the Amos de-Shalit Summer School programs, which are managed and supported by the Institute. Invited to the event were generations of graduates of the de-Shalit Summer School and the Science Workshop programs who are now research students and scientists at the Institute, as well as participants of the 2009 Summer Schools. Also present that evening were the sons of de-Shalit, Profs. Ehud and Avner de-Shalit, as well as grandson Omer.

Weizmann Institute President Prof. Daniel Zajfman (who coordinated the Amos de-Shalit Summer School in Physics in 1995) welcomed the participants. Zajfman spoke of the scientific and educational legacy left by de-Shalit, which has formed the basis for the high scientific and ethical standards of the Weizmann Institute – a legacy that is responsible for the special character of the Weizmann Institute. Further preserving his heritage is the Amos de-Shalit Fund, established in his memory, which strives to promote scientific understanding among youth.

During the event, Prof. Yosef Nir, Dean of the Faculty of Physics and a graduate of the Summer School of 1980 (who is the Amos de-Shalit Professor of Theoretical Physics), delivered a lecture entitled “Where Did Anti-Matter Disappear To?” Prof. Ari Elson of the Molecular Genetics Department, a 1984 Summer School graduate, focused his lecture on osteoporosis and the communication between cells. He also thanked the Amos de-Shalit Summer School for the experience it had given him, and wished it many more years of activity.