Q: Looking back over the last 5 years, what do you see as the major achievements of your first term of office?
A: I am proudest of our dynamic new research initiatives. The ongoing reorganization of our research structure has brought together new coalitions of scientists and facilitated new forms of collaboration, some of which are already beginning to bear fruit.
Q: Has there been a parallel change in the financial sphere?
A: There have been many changes in that sphere as well, as a result of which we have had four consecutive years of balanced budgets. In the first instance, increased support was received from donors all over the world. In the last five years they gave us $235m. in new cash gifts -- way above anything we have ever seen before. There has also been a slow but steady increase in support from the Government of Israel and, last but far from least, Institute scientists of all ranks brought us $130m. in research grants during those five years. That means an average of $500,000 per scientist!
Q: What about the expenditure side of the Institute's balance sheet?
A: We have decreased the number of our non-scientists by 120, while at the same time, increasing the number of our scientists and students by 100 each. The latter two groups of newcomers, by the way, were financed to a significant extent by outside sources.
Q: Where did the additional scientists and students come from?
A: Mainly from the former Soviet Union but, of course, we have also taken in many additional young scientists from other places.
Q: Did the Institute recruit any scientific "stars" during this period?
A: Yes, no fewer than 11, all of them world leaders in their respective fields. Five are from the former Soviet Union, two are American, three are Israelis who have returned after many years abroad and one is an Israeli who came from another institution of higher learning in this country. They are a tremendous addition.
Q: What changes have been made in the Institute's physical facilities to accommodate this influx of talent and meet other needs?
A: We've put up many new buildings, including the Brain Research Building, the Ebner Auditorium, the Goldschleger Life Sciences Library, the Musher Building for Science Teaching, the Mayer Building housing the Braun Submicron Center and the Laub International Youth Village. We've also renovated several other structures on the campus.
Q: Was this accompanied by an investment in the Institute's infrastructure?
A: We've invested a great deal in improving our research infrastructure. For example, our computer system has been substantially upgraded and our library budget has been doubled. However, I hasten to add, we still have a long way to go.
Q: Have there been specific changes where research is concerned?
A: A great many. In mathematics and physics, for instance we have embarked upon new types of research thanks mainly to the influx of students and scientists from the former Soviet Union.
Q: Does that mean the Russians have "taken over" in mathematics and physics?
A: Of course not. Sabras and immigrants from elsewhere still lead the way in most fields, including, for instance, the physics of solid-state condensed matter, where we are emphasizing its impact on electronics and modern technology.
Q: What is going on in other spheres of Institute research at this time?
A: While I can't go into everything, I'd like to point out that chemistry research has taken a giant step forward, multidisciplinary brain research has gone very well, studies of diseases ? autoimmune and others ? have been extremely fruitful and our efforts to safeguard the environment through, among other things, developing new approaches to the utilization of solar energy, have yielded important results that are likely to be of significance in this country and elsewhere in the world.
Q: Is the emphasis now on "results," or is pure research still important?
A: There is nothing so important as pure research at the Weizmann Institute, yet I wouldn't deny our growing success in technology transfer. The income of Yeda, our interface with industry, went up from $5 million five years ago to $12 million last year, and I see it only growing. That is why we have now appointed, for the first time, a Vice President for Technology Transfer.
Q: What about money from other sources? Isn't there likely to be a problem with U.S. grants because of cuts in research funding there and with grants from Germany because of that country's deteriorating economic situation?
A: There may be such a problem. However, the sources of our research grants are so diverse that so long as we do first class work, I believe the flow of grants will continue.
Q: Can we expect to go on getting so much money from Jewish philanthropic sources at a time when younger Jews are less attached to Jewish causes than their parents and grandparents?
A: We are already receiving substantial amounts of money from younger donors. As a matter of fact, I think we may do even better in the future because many younger people prefer to give money to organizations with which they identify, and whose goals they understand, rather than to larger amorphous bodies which serve very general purposes.
Q: Will we also go on getting more "stars" to join our staff, despite the low salaries we offer them?
A: Yes, because there are some people who will make sacrifices where salary is concerned so long as we can provide them with good research conditions.
Q: Isn't what you say no less true of other Institute scientists?
A: Certainly, which is why my number one goal for the next five years is to give as many groups of researchers as possible all the conditions they require to compete with their counterparts in other countries. That means trained staff, first class equipment, adequate laboratory space and last, but not least, a strong Institute infrastructure. Success or failure will then depend solely on the talent and efforts of the scientists themselves.
Q: Doesn't that mean that some groups will have a plethora of resources while others will go short?
A: That is precisely my intention. I refuse to allow a situation in which whatever resources we have are divided equally. We have to decide on priorities and to put everything possible at the disposal of the very best research groups on the campus.
Q: During these next five years, will you also be emphasizing the contributions we can make to the new Middle East?
A: We can and must play an important role in spheres where we already excel. I am thinking in particular of environmental science, energy research, plant genetics, nutrition, science education, and parasitic and tropical diseases.
No matter what shape the new Middle East takes, problems in these spheres will have to be tackled, and the Weizmann Institute will do its share in tackling them.
The Yeda Research & Development Company, last year received a record $12m. in royalties and research grants from industry, a clear indication of its increasingly successful efforts to commercialize Weizmann Institute research. A significant part of this sum, in turn, was used to finance further research at the Institute.
Commenting on this phenomenon at a recent Weizmann Institute Executive Council discussion on the subject, Prof. David Mirelman, Chairman of Yeda, said that while the Institute doesn't have a specific department devoted to applied science, it has "found mechanisms to stimulate projects with applicable potential".
Among scientists who have linked up with industry is Prof. Michal Schwartz of the Neurobiology Department, now working on a project which will, if successful, permit the regeneration of severed nerves. Though her research is still in the laboratory stage, a large European pharmaceutical firm has agreed to finance it in return for the right to exploit her findings, if they prove applicable.
Prof. Irun Cohen, in turn, is working with a start-up biotechnology company that was specially created to exploit his research results. If all goes well, the products of the new firm -- established by Yeda and an American venture capital company -- should contribute to the diagnosis and cure of juvenile diabetes as well as facilitate the treatment of other autoimmune diseases.
"Having the means to really get to the bottom of research is a very precious commodity and if the only way we can get it is through partnership with business, then we will have to learn to live with that situation," Cohen declared.
Prof. Shimon Ullman, of the Dept. of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, has yet a different link with industry: he provides a scientific input to Orbotech, a company that produces equipment for inspecting printed circuit boards, which are a key feature of almost all electronic equipment. Orbotech -- a firm recently formed by the merger of two Israeli companies, Orbot and Optrotech - -accounts for some 80% of the inspection machines produced in the world.
Ullman believes that while scientists provide ideas for new products, their successful commercialization depends primarily on the engineering and marketing arms of a firm.
Institute President Prof. Haim Harari summarized the discussion by stating that "applied science is now an integral part of the activities of the Weizmann Institute."
Prof. Cohen holds the Helen and Morris Mauerberger Chair in Immunology; Prof. Mirelman, the Besen-Brender Chair of Microbiology and Parasitology; Prof. Schwartz, the Maurice and Ilse Katz Chair in Neuroimmunology; and Prof. Ullman, the Ruth and Samy Cohn Chair in Computer Sciences.
The global Weizmann Institute family has lost some of its most prominent and creative leaders in recent months.
Prof. Albert Sabin, developer of the oral polio vaccine and world-famous virologist, was the fourth President of Weizmann Institute, serving between 1970 and 1972. Sabin was also a member of the Institute's Board of Governors for a quarter of a century.
In recent years Prof. Sabin showed special interest in solar energy research at the Weizmann Institute and personally contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars for such research. As he put it: "The earliest possible development of a suitable technology for replacing the exhaustible, polluting fossil fuels by inexhaustible, clean solar energy is of the greatest importance for the whole world, and I would like the Weizmann Institute to continue to be in the lead in this effort."
Distinguished Institute Professor Chaim L. Pekeris, one of the world's authorities on applied mathematics and geophysics, founded the Institute's Applied Mathematics Department, which he headed until 1973. Concurrently, he organized and managed Israel's first geophysical survey; built the WEIZAC, Israel's first computer and among the most advanced in the world at the time; and established the country's Institute for Petroleum Research and Geophysics.
Prof. Pekeris's research achievements included studies in convection within the earth, propagation of sound in layered media, and the computation of tides on a global scale. Among the many honors bestowed upon him was the Vetlesen Prize in Geophysics, considered to be the "Nobel Prize" in this field.
Pekeris. honors and achievements
Prof. Pekeris
Prof. Yosef Aloni, who made major contributions to unraveling the control systems involved in processing DNA, was head of the Dept. of Molecular Genetics and Virology at the time of his death.
Shirley Weisgal, widow of the late Institute President and Chancellor Meyer W. Weisgal, was a full partner in her husband's efforts to win friends for the Weizmann Institute.
Avraham Agmon served as chairman of the Association of Friends of the Weizmann Institute in Israel; under his leadership it greatly expanded the scope of its activities.
Adold Ebner, an active member of the Israel Association, was the recipient of an honorary doctorate from the Institute and a generous donor, most recently of the Ebner Auditorium.
Ludwig Jesselson, a New Yorker, not only made significant contributions to the Institute itself, but also persuaded many others to provide meaningful support.
Prof. Aloni held the George F. Duckwitz Chair of Cancer Research and Prof. Pekeris, the Herman P. Taubman Chair of Applied Mathematics.
Q: How do you see the future of biological research at the Weizmann Institute?
A: I think there will be major changes because biological research is at a turning point. We must consider restructuring the life sciences at Weizmann in order to avoid stagnation and adjust to the changing situation. In fact, we have just started doing so.
Q: Why, in your opinion, has this turning point been reached?
A: It stems from very rapid developments in the life sciences and from the sheer volume of contemporary research. Just in my own field -- the neurobiology of learning and memory -- more than 200 papers are published every week. I obviously can't read most of them, let alone the 5,000 weekly papers in biology as a whole.
Q: That is certainly a problem, but are there other factors as well?
A: Yes. Today, if you are to compete with top research groups in the life sciences, you usually need relatively large research teams supported by a very sophisticated and expensive infrastructure.
Q: What conclusions are we at the Institute to draw from this situation?
A: There are several things. First, we must carefully consider the fields in which we are to specialize and in which we might be able to make an important or even unique contribution. We must go into those fields in depth and avoid jumping from one trendy project to another. Second, we must carefully choose the leaders of research groups. And finally, we must have a satisfactory infrastructure in terms of state-or-the-art technology and services. This costs a lot of money. In parallel, we may have to cut down the overall number of topics on which we work.
Q: What criteria should be applied in deciding on which topics to forego?
A: There are areas of biological research -- like the study of particular oncogenes, growth regulation factors and some facets of brain research -- where we are definitely at the cutting edge. There are others where we are not, and some of the latter may have to be abandoned, however difficult this may be. In general, I would like people to think that some very important topics in biological research are particularly associated with Weizmann Institute.
Q: Does that mean that Institute scientists will have less freedom of choice, that they will be told what to investigate?
A: I don't think that is a problem. Generally speaking, excellent scientists choose excellent projects. But when we are selecting new personnel or contemplating investment in new equipment, we may wish to consider the need to create a critical mass in a particular field. Moreover, we may decide to limit the number of groups and give more resources to certain ones.
Q: You yourself are working on one of the subjects receiving ever more emphasis at the Institute, namely brain research. What are your goals?
A: The objective of my research is to contribute to an understanding of the processes of learning and memory. Specifically, I am interested in the events that take place in our brain during learning and a few minutes afterwards, when short-term memory becomes consolidated into long-term memory.
Q: Where brain research is concerned, do we have any advantages over other institutions?
A: Our mutidisciplinary character is certainly an advantage, because the brain can best be understood by studying it with the combined insights of biology, mathematics, physics and chemistry. In addition, we have a number of top scientist doing brain research. This has helped us to excel in topics like imaging the living brain and elucidating the biological correlates of higher brain function, particularly perception and memory.
Q: Despite the mutidisciplinary character of brain research here, isn't biology the dominant discipline in that field, as it is, indeed, in the Institute as a whole?
A: Yes, since over 50 percent of Institute research is in biology. But even so, we don't cover everything; for example, we do nothing or next to nothing in classic areas like zoology and whole-animal physiology.
Q: Apart from the balance of disciplines, how do you feel about the balance between basic and applied research?
A: I feel that we should devote almost all our energy to basic research. I'm happy if something of economic importance emerges as a by-product of that research, but I don't think that we should decide to investigate some subject just because it is of interest to industry and will attract its support.
Q: You may not have as strong links with industry as do many scientists, but you do have closer links with the press than your colleagues. Didn't you -- albeit a good many years ago -- work as a journalist yourself?
A: Yes I did, and perhaps that strengthens my desire to make science understandable to the public. Though some of my friends would disagree, I personally believe that if scientists can't explain what they are doing to laymen, then they may not understand it themselves.
Q: Do scientists also have special responsibilities in the educational system?
A: I think they should devote some time to education, even at the elementary school level. As things stand, I'm afraid most kids don't acquire a basic knowledge of science in school. And most important, they are not exposed to the scientific methodology that will be crucial for making decisions in the 21st century.
Q: If youngsters become interested in science and decide to become scientists, will they find jobs? Indeed, will all the Russian immigrant scientists find work?
A: Very good scientists, the top two to five percent, will find work in institutions of higher learning, while some of the others will get jobs in industry, depending on how far and in what direction it expands. But I think that it is the responsibility of government and industry alike to create more employment opportunities, because investment in the scientific community is investment in the strength and well-being of our society. In addition, there should be an expansion of colleges, both because this will mean more teaching positions and because those colleges are needed to accommodate, among others, some of the immigrant students.
If all these things are done, most science graduates will find their niche.
Prof. Dudai holds the Sara and Michael Sela Chair of Neurobiology.
A scale that weighs objects in motion, a novel electro-optical device to control the amount of light passing through it and an instrument for measuring the freshness of dairy products -- development of such hi-tech ventures is providing immediate employment to some 25 immigrant scientists in five new companies in the Kiryat Weizmann Industrial Park near the Weizmann Institute. If successful, the projects should create many additional jobs for both immigrants and veteran Israelis.
The companies were established in the framework of the Kiryat Weizmann Incubator for Technological Entrepreneurship, one of 20 such programs in Israel intended to tap the knowhow of immigrant scientists for the creation of new products, technologies and jobs. The Kiryat Weizmann Incubator, the board of which is chaired by Weizmann Institute Vice President Prof. Ruth Arnon, is a joint project of Yeda Research & Development Co. Ltd. and Africa-Israel Investments Ltd. Also helping is the Office of the Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, which subsidizes the scientists' salaries and contributes to the cost of equipment and materials.
The proposals of immigrant scientists and engineers serve as the basis for each new company, which is formed in partnership with an industrial sponsor. "The industrial partner provides guidance in both technology and marketing," explains Dr. Shmuel Yerushalmi, General Manager of the Incubator for Technological Entrepreneurship and a former member of the Weizmann Institute's Electronics Department. "Out of the approximately 300 proposals received to date, our selection committee -- composed of Weizmann Institute researchers, industrialists, representatives of Africa-Israel Investments and myself -- chose the ones that had the most market potential."
"While the immigrants lacked certain Western knowhow, they were able on their arrival," Yerushalmi adds, "to catch up with their Israeli counterparts in a few months."
What's the best way to synthesize nitrobenzene? Which granting agencies are likely to support research in number theory? Which American companies produce gold-plated wave guides for a new device that involves microwaves?
Thanks to a major expansion of library-user services, researchers and staff of the Weizmann Institute can now conveniently find answers to these questions -- and many others -- without leaving their offices. Over the past year, notes Chief Librarian Ms. Ilana Pollack, several databases acquired by the Institute Library System have been hooked via optical readers and computer servers into the Institute's communications networks, enabling a wealth of library-catalogue, bibliographical, scientific and general information to be accessed by PC and Macintosh computers throughout the campus. While using or borrowing books, as well as consulting journals, will still require library visits, much preparatory and bibliographic work can now be done from a researcher's own laboratory or office.
Access to up-to-date scientific information is of particular importance to scientists and students in a small country like Israel, which is geographically isolated from the major centers of research. Those at the Institute now enjoy computer access to the book and periodical catalogs of all of Israel's major university libraries; the MEDLINE medical literature database; Current Contents in chemistry, physics and the life sciences, which is updated every week to provide the most recent literature citations and abstracts; and other databases that provide information about chemical technology, syntheses, hazardous materials and environmental pollution. Just two of the more general computer-accessible resources include the Thomas Register of American Manufacturers and GRANTS, information about thousands of agencies that support scientific research. Many additional databases stored in computers abroad are also available through the library's Information Retrieval Unit, headed by Ms. Miriam Farber.
This library-without-walls program is one aspect of a major library expansion and modernization master plan. It has already included the building of the Frankel Mathematics Library, inaugurated in 1989; the Rochlin Science Teaching Library, opened in 1990; and the innovative Goldschleger Library of Life Sciences, dedicated in 1992. Plans have been drawn up for a new physics library, a remodeled Wix Central Library, and a future expanded chemistry library, as well.
Eight physicists from the Landau Institute in Moscow have arrived at the Weizmann Institute within the framework of a Joint Center for Theoretical Physics, recently established in Rehovot by the two world-famous institutions. The visiting scientists are carrying out collaborative studies with Weizmann Institute physicists for six-month periods, and similar groups will follow in their footsteps year by year. Although the Joint Center is the first Soviet-Israeli collaborative research institution ever to be created, Prof. Isaak Khalatnikov, Director of the Landau Institute, said that for many of the Soviet participants the Center provided an opportunity "to continue long-established contacts with Israeli physicists and to meet with former colleagues who had emigrated to Israel. For many it's like moving to a new office, with no need for adjustment to a new environment."
Among the visitors from the Landau Institute is Prof. Anatoly Larkin, a world-renowned expert in superconductivity and the mentor of an exceptionally large number of successful scientists in various branches of physics. Prof. Larkin feels that the Center is unique in bringing together "not individual researchers but entire groups with wide-ranging expertise, for extended periods of time. They will be focusing on 'mesoscopic' (ultrasmall) and chaotic systems."
According to Prof. Shimon Levit, a Weizmann physicist who is serving as Director of the Center, the Soviets "have developed a school of theoretical physics that integrates diverse fields ? including statistical mechanics, condensed-matter physics and mathematical physics -- that are regarded as separate disciplines in the West." Prof. Levit notes that the Israeli scientists are gaining familiarity with this school, while at the same time introducing the Soviets to the "Israeli school of physics." The latter exploits the principle of "symmetry" ? the ability of atoms to undergo various transformations while retaining certain of their properties ? to learn about microscopic particles.
Q: As Chairman of the Board of Yeda, which provides an interface between the Weizmann Institute and industry, do you feel that applied research is taken seriously enough here?
A: I don't like the term "applied research," which implies that it is a type of second-rate research in which you are setting out to produce a certain product. I prefer "applicable research," namely studies which while not product-oriented, may nevertheless pave the way to new products or processes. From my experience at Yeda, I can assure you that applicable research is taken very seriously at the Institute, and we are always on the lookout for innovations of economic potential.
Q: Why does so much potentially applicable research fail to turn into new products?
A: To understand the problem you must first realize that while people usually speak of R&D (Research and Development) as a single concept, the two are very different from one another. The research stage, in which we are all involved, is usually the most crucial because without it there wouldn't be a product at the end of the line. However, it is also the shortest and certainly the cheapest phase of the process. Where development is concerned, we must find partners with the requisite expertise and financial capabilities. And even then, the project may have to be abandoned because it doesn't live up to expectations or because of market considerations.
Q: Are there enough potential partners right here in Israel?
A: Unfortunately, no. This is because the development stage of novel products or processes is risky and demands long-term investments; Israeli industry isn't rich enough to undertake most such ventures. Moreover, the Government here has not offered sufficient tax or other incentives to investors when they accept long-term risks.
Q: Is there any way you can see of solving this problem?
A: We are exploring the possibility of forming a venture capital fund for high-technology projects, based on investments by a consortium of companies and private investors. This fund could put small amounts of money into early stages of promising projects and then invest more if it seemed justified.
Q: Have profits already been made from products that emerged from Weizmann Institute labs?
A: Certainly. For example, BioMakor, a biotechnological plant at the Kiryat Weizmann Industrial Park, is doing nicely by producing research chemicals and biological materials, many of which originated at the Institute. Another example is InterPharm, also in Kiryat Weizmann. It and its parent company Ares Serono are earning millions of dollars a year from antiviral pharmaceuticals based on interferon technology from Prof. Michel Revel's lab at the Institute.
Also worthy of mention are the encoding and decoding devices ("smart cards") used by TV satellite broadcasting companies and banks, devices based on the research of Institute mathematician Adi Shamir. In addition, significant income also comes in from the hybrid cucumber seeds developed by Prof. Esra Galun.
Q: Are we choosy when it comes to linking up with companies?
A: Absolutely. We have to be very careful to preserve the reputation of the Weizmann Institute. For example, we try to avoid committing ourselves to a partnership with organizations that might attempt to sell shares in the stock market under false pretenses. Of course, due to our caution we can sometimes end up losing potential business partners.
Q: Doesn't money, or lack of it, also create problems in conquering parasitic diseases, currently your main area of scientific interest?
A: That is very true. Parasitic diseases are primarily rampant in less-developed countries, and drug companies are not willing to put money into developing drugs or vaccines for potential customers who are virtually penniless.
Q: Do you believe that antiparasitic drugs are the answer anyway?
A: Only for very selective diseases, or for visitors to afflicted countries. But they are not, in general, a solution in areas where the parasite is endemic, because even if a person there is cured, he will almost certainly be reinfected. Vaccines should be a more satisfactory long-term answer.
Q: Is it particularly difficult to make vaccines that are effective against parasitic disease?
A: Yes, because parasites have developed sophisticated mechanisms for disguising their cell surface components and this helps them evade the host defense mechanism. Using genetic engineering techniques we are trying to design "smart" vaccines that will be based on conserved structures of the parasite, and these will hopefully enable the immune system to see through the parasite's disguise and destroy it.
Q: Is the Institute doing anything of significance in this sphere?
A: It certainly is. Prof. Israel Schechter has identified and cloned what appears to be one of the key components in the snail-borne blood fluke (flat worm) Schistosoma, which produces the debilitating bilharziasis that affects tens of millions in countries like Egypt and Brazil. Also studying that malady is Prof. Ruth Arnon, who is examining other components present in Schistosoma that may prove to be useful as vaccines.
My own group is working on amoebic dysentery, a disease caused by a single-celled protozoan organism and spread by polluted water or food contaminated by fecal waste. We have also identified and cloned a number of essential components in the amoebae and are currently evaluating their immuno-protective potential.
Q: Why should Institute scientists be putting so much time and effort into parasitic diseases which, after all, aren't much of a problem in this country?
A: Firstly, we are interested in helping to solve one of the pressing health problems of mankind. Secondly, as mentioned before, the parasites have developed extremely sophisticated methods for evading the body's defenses, and whatever we learn about these mechanisms may help us understand how other "invaders," such as viruses or tumor cells, evade these same defenses.
In addition there is also much to be learned by finding out how a parasite adjusts to changing environmental conditions. During its complex life cycle, it is never sure where it will be the next day -- in a human host, in a mosquito, in a sewage system or somewhere else. It is very important to understand how the parasite rapidly senses such drastic changes in its microenvironment and regulates its metabolism in response to them. Such knowledge could lead to entirely new approaches to defeat parasitic disease.
Q: Is there a parallel between parasitic diseases on the one hand, and AIDS on the other?
A: There may be some analogies. With the AIDS virus, as with parasites, constant molecular changes are the key to survival. But there are some essential cell component and protein structures that neither a parasite nor an AIDS virus can change if it wishes to survive, and if we discover what they are and successfully reproduce them we may be able to create drugs or vaccines to control them.
Prof. Arnon holds the Paul Ehrlich Chair of Immunology; Prof. Mirelman, the Bensen-Brender Chair of Microbiology and Parasitology; and Prof. Schechter, the Dr. Hymie Moross Chair of Molecular Immunology.
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An Interview With Prof. Haim Harari
Prof. Haim Harari
A: I am proudest of our dynamic new research initiatives. The ongoing reorganization of our research structure has brought together new coalitions of scientists and facilitated new forms of collaboration, some of which are already beginning to bear fruit.
Q: Has there been a parallel change in the financial sphere?
A: There have been many changes in that sphere as well, as a result of which we have had four consecutive years of balanced budgets. In the first instance, increased support was received from donors all over the world. In the last five years they gave us $235m. in new cash gifts -- way above anything we have ever seen before. There has also been a slow but steady increase in support from the Government of Israel and, last but far from least, Institute scientists of all ranks brought us $130m. in research grants during those five years. That means an average of $500,000 per scientist!
Q: What about the expenditure side of the Institute's balance sheet?
A: We have decreased the number of our non-scientists by 120, while at the same time, increasing the number of our scientists and students by 100 each. The latter two groups of newcomers, by the way, were financed to a significant extent by outside sources.
Q: Where did the additional scientists and students come from?
A: Mainly from the former Soviet Union but, of course, we have also taken in many additional young scientists from other places.
Q: Did the Institute recruit any scientific "stars" during this period?
A: Yes, no fewer than 11, all of them world leaders in their respective fields. Five are from the former Soviet Union, two are American, three are Israelis who have returned after many years abroad and one is an Israeli who came from another institution of higher learning in this country. They are a tremendous addition.
Q: What changes have been made in the Institute's physical facilities to accommodate this influx of talent and meet other needs?
A: We've put up many new buildings, including the Brain Research Building, the Ebner Auditorium, the Goldschleger Life Sciences Library, the Musher Building for Science Teaching, the Mayer Building housing the Braun Submicron Center and the Laub International Youth Village. We've also renovated several other structures on the campus.
Q: Was this accompanied by an investment in the Institute's infrastructure?
A: We've invested a great deal in improving our research infrastructure. For example, our computer system has been substantially upgraded and our library budget has been doubled. However, I hasten to add, we still have a long way to go.
Q: Have there been specific changes where research is concerned?
A: A great many. In mathematics and physics, for instance we have embarked upon new types of research thanks mainly to the influx of students and scientists from the former Soviet Union.
Q: Does that mean the Russians have "taken over" in mathematics and physics?
A: Of course not. Sabras and immigrants from elsewhere still lead the way in most fields, including, for instance, the physics of solid-state condensed matter, where we are emphasizing its impact on electronics and modern technology.
Q: What is going on in other spheres of Institute research at this time?
A: While I can't go into everything, I'd like to point out that chemistry research has taken a giant step forward, multidisciplinary brain research has gone very well, studies of diseases ? autoimmune and others ? have been extremely fruitful and our efforts to safeguard the environment through, among other things, developing new approaches to the utilization of solar energy, have yielded important results that are likely to be of significance in this country and elsewhere in the world.
Q: Is the emphasis now on "results," or is pure research still important?
A: There is nothing so important as pure research at the Weizmann Institute, yet I wouldn't deny our growing success in technology transfer. The income of Yeda, our interface with industry, went up from $5 million five years ago to $12 million last year, and I see it only growing. That is why we have now appointed, for the first time, a Vice President for Technology Transfer.
Q: What about money from other sources? Isn't there likely to be a problem with U.S. grants because of cuts in research funding there and with grants from Germany because of that country's deteriorating economic situation?
A: There may be such a problem. However, the sources of our research grants are so diverse that so long as we do first class work, I believe the flow of grants will continue.
Q: Can we expect to go on getting so much money from Jewish philanthropic sources at a time when younger Jews are less attached to Jewish causes than their parents and grandparents?
A: We are already receiving substantial amounts of money from younger donors. As a matter of fact, I think we may do even better in the future because many younger people prefer to give money to organizations with which they identify, and whose goals they understand, rather than to larger amorphous bodies which serve very general purposes.
Q: Will we also go on getting more "stars" to join our staff, despite the low salaries we offer them?
A: Yes, because there are some people who will make sacrifices where salary is concerned so long as we can provide them with good research conditions.
Q: Isn't what you say no less true of other Institute scientists?
A: Certainly, which is why my number one goal for the next five years is to give as many groups of researchers as possible all the conditions they require to compete with their counterparts in other countries. That means trained staff, first class equipment, adequate laboratory space and last, but not least, a strong Institute infrastructure. Success or failure will then depend solely on the talent and efforts of the scientists themselves.
Q: Doesn't that mean that some groups will have a plethora of resources while others will go short?
A: That is precisely my intention. I refuse to allow a situation in which whatever resources we have are divided equally. We have to decide on priorities and to put everything possible at the disposal of the very best research groups on the campus.
Q: During these next five years, will you also be emphasizing the contributions we can make to the new Middle East?
A: We can and must play an important role in spheres where we already excel. I am thinking in particular of environmental science, energy research, plant genetics, nutrition, science education, and parasitic and tropical diseases.
No matter what shape the new Middle East takes, problems in these spheres will have to be tackled, and the Weizmann Institute will do its share in tackling them.