Students Take the Stage

English
Weizmann Institute Student Theater group
From the moment they wake up in the morning and often into the late hours of the night, they usually immerse themselves in studies and research. But once a week for three hours, 14 research students tear themselves away from science to meet in the student clubroom, where they turn their attention to something quite different – the world of acting. Here, they get the opportunity to polish their stage skills – they practice improvisation, act in front of a camera, sing on stage and develop character roles. This year, the student theater group, which is in its third reincarnation, also staged a play: One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the 1963 stage adaptation of the Ken Kesey novel. Irit Natan-Benedek, a stage director and drama teacher, directed the production.

 

 

Weizmann Institute Student Theater group
Students took responsibility for every aspect of the production from start to finish: “We designed and painted the sets and backdrops, sewed the costumes, advertised the performances and even sold the tickets,” says Adi Natan. “The atmosphere here at the Institute was very supportive. The Clore Garden of Science mechanics workshop helped us to construct the sets, and the ‘Dyonon’ office supply store on campus donated the printing of the tickets.” Yoni Toker: “It’s a thrill to be on stage, and an even bigger thrill to get positive feedback from the audience.” Liran Goren: “Thanks to Irit’s excellent casting, each one of us was able to play himself or herself to some extent.”
 
Corinne Hasdai, Lydia Moskowitch and Ana Weksler, who work in the Physics Faculty office, gave the play rave reviews. “It was stirring to see the serious, reserved students we meet every day perform such vibrant, emotional roles.”
 
The cast of characters: Randle P. McMurphy: Yoav Lahini, Physics
of Complex Systems ❙Nurse Ratched: Shlomit Zarhi, Computer
Science and Applied Mathematics ❙Harding: Jonathan Toker,
Particle Physics ❙Billy Bibbit: Barak Raveh, Computer Science and Applied Mathematics ❙Chesy: Inbal Friedler, Chemical Physics ❙Tina: Liran Goren, Environmental Sciences and Energy Research ❙Scanlon: Klil Hahoresh Neori, Particle Physics ❙Nurse Flynn / Candy: Smadar Naoz, Astrophysics (Tel Aviv University) ❙Attendant Warren: Rami Band, Physics of Complex Systems ❙Attendant Williams: Ron Chen, Molecular Genetics ❙Dr. Spivey / Sandra: Tamar Kashti, Particle Physics ❙Ruckley: Latif Eliaz, Physics (Hebrew University) ❙Chief Bromden: Adi Natan, Physics of Complex Systems ❙Directed by: Irit Natan-Benedek
Weizmann Institute Student Theater group
English
  • Student theater group

Words from the Past

English
(l-r) Stanislava Sapinska and Dr. Zahava Scherz at the Bendin City Theater, Poland
 
At age 14, Zahava (Laskier) Scherz discovered by chance that she was not her father’s only child. “I accidentally came across a photo album,” she remembers. “In the album was a picture of a girl hugging a little boy. That girl looked like me, and when I asked my father who she was, he told me she was Rutka, his daughter from a previous marriage.” Jacob Laskier, her father, was from a highly respected, well-to-do family from the town of Bendin, in Poland. He survived the Holocaust, but his wife, son Joachim and daughter Rutka all perished. After the war, Jacob immigrated to Israel and remarried and, a short while later, Zahava was born. 
 
“I learned that Rutka was only 14 when she died – exactly the age I was when I found her photograph. This was an unsettling discovery for me, one that somehow influenced my life. I always felt very close to Rutka, and we decided to name our younger daughter Ruthie, in memory of her.” Though the sister she never knew was always present in Zahava’s imagination, she was scarcely prepared for the phone call that came several months ago: Menachem Lior, from the Zaglembie Society in Israel, called to tell her that Rutka’s diary had been discovered in Poland a few days earlier.
 
In 1939, there were 27,000 Jews living in Bendin. When the Germans reached Bendin in WWII, they burned the synagogue with worshipers inside. In May of 1942, 5,000 of Bendin’s Jews were sent to Auschwitz, most of them elderly and infirm. In the next year, the Germans began to evict Jews from their homes, concentrating them on the outskirts of a poor neighborhood that eventually became a ghetto. From there, many would be transported to Auschwitz or Birkenau.
 
Rutka’s diary was written in 1943 in the Jewish ghetto. In neat cursive script and rich, colorful language, she documented a turbulent four-month period in the history of the Bendin Jewish community.She wrote of the difficult situation in which they found themselves – the persecution, restrictions and bans, but also of the day-to-day life of a growing girl – reflections, desires, dreams of boyfriends, and lists of books read.
 
Interspersed with poems she composed, Rutka described how she managed to escape the first selection of Jews to Auschwitz. She apparently knew of the death camps, and she wrote in one entry: “If God existed, he certainly wouldn’t allow living people to be pushed into ovens, the heads of little children to be broken open, or people to be stuffed into sacks and gassed to death.” 
 
In the ghetto, Rutka struck up a special friendship with a former tenant of the apartment, a Polish girl named Stanislava Sapinska. Stanislava recalled that Rutka was knowledgeable about the war and seemed to know many details about the “Final Solution.” Rutka realized she might not survive and decided to leave her diary for future generations. She consulted her Polish friend, and they agreed to hide it in a crack between the floorboards of the ghetto house. After the war, Stanislava returned to the house where the Laskier family had lived and retrieved the diary, but she kept it to herself. Only decades later did she decide to reveal the existence of the hidden diary, turning it over to Adam Shidlovsky, a journalist with ties to the Jewish Cultural Center in Zaglembie. Shidlovsky approached Menachem Lior, who located Scherz. “From then, things happened quickly. I was invited to Bendin, where I received an impressive reception, including a tour in the footsteps of my father and his family as described in the diary – to the house where they lived before the war, the house in the open ghetto where the diary was hidden and ending with the district where they stayed in the four months before their extermination in Auschwitz. The highlight of that day was  meeting Mrs. Sapinska, now 86, with whom I spent more than three hours learning about my sister and her life in those hard days – realizing how special she was. Sapinska was convinced that Rutka must have had some connections with the resistance.”
 
On the second day of the visit, a reception was held at the city hall attended by David Peleg, Israel’s ambassador to Poland, and the mayor of Bendin. The mayor made a promise that the diary would be handed to Scherz by Mrs. Sapinska as part of a ceremony to be held in Israel.
 
The ambassador made the suggestion that the diary be studied in Polish schools, and the deputy director of the Holocaust museum at Auschwitz requested that it be housed permanently in the museum. The presentation of the Polish version of the diary, “Pamietnik Rutki Laskier,” was followed by a 3-hour event in the city theater for an audience of 300 students of the age that Rutka had been when she wrote it. The event included a short movie about the diary, a play about Jewish life in Poland and an interview with Sapinska and Scherz. “The Polish people made real efforts to honor my family.” says Scherz.

• The text of the diary was published in Polish and the cover story appears on a Polish website. Many children have responded with poems and letters to Rutka. Guides at the Auschwitz Holocaust museum tell her story.
  
• The diary is not yet in Israel. The hope is that it will soon be handed over to Scherz, who will probably lend it to the Holocaust memorial museum. Yad Vashem is negotiating publishing a trans-lation of the diary into Hebrew and English.
 
• Dr. Zahava Scherz is a member  of the Science Teaching Depart-ment and the Davidson Institute for Science Education and is married to Prof. Avigdor Scherz of the Weizmann Institute's Plant Sciences Department.
 
A page from the diary
 
Rutka and Henyush (Joachim), 1938

 

Rutka, age 10, 1939, Poland

 

(l-r) Stanislava Sapinska and Dr. Zahava Scherz at the Bendin City Theater, Poland
English
  • Zahava Scherz

Stones

English

 

Prof. Daniel Wagner (at left) and Polish volunteers. Past and future

Remembering someone you loved bestows a form of eternal life on that person. This is the message of the play The Blue Bird by Belgian poet and Nobel laureate Maurice Maeterlinck. Another Belgian, Prof. Daniel Wagner of the Weizmann Institute's Materials and Interfaces Department, has taken Maeterlinck’s message to heart: He has undertaken to preserve the memory of those once loved and now forgotten.

 

The Site

Scattered headstones dating from 1828 denote the graves of some 3,000 Jews buried in the cemetery in Zdunska Wola – one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in Poland. The latest burial date – 1942 – signifies not only the end of one life but the passing of an entire community. Upon arriving at the site in search of ancestors, Wagner was so moved by the scene before him he pledged to undertake a cemetery census project. “Commitment to this research is much more than a rational act,” says Wagner. “It involves passion and something irresistible.”

The chaos resulting from more than 50 years of neglect and vandalism did not discourage him. Wagner approached the challenge of establishing order in a systematic way, setting goals to explore the site thoroughly and to identify and document all headstones – a painstaking, time-consuming process involving clearing, cleaning, mapping, labeling, photographing and deciphering names and texts.

Many headstones had been moved or were toppled and long ago buried under layers of earth and debris, but every new discovery revealed a work of art. Colorfully painted and decorated in great detail, the headstones are relics of a lost Jewish tradition once practiced throughout Poland. Some symbols are easily understood as representing the identity of the deceased; but others are less obvious: mythical griffins, lavishly ornamented crowns, potted flowering plants, strange birds, boats with broken masts, even a ship facing a large fish. Some of the texts tell stories – including tales of crime or love.

 

The Community

From the beginning, Wagner sought assistance from the residents of Zdunska Wola – none of them Jewish. He promoted pride of ownership: “In many ways, this cemetery belongs as much to the local Polish community as to the Jewish people.” Townspeople participate in clearing and cleaning. For the tasks of mapping and recording, Wagner works closely with three local women who are committed to the project. In his absence, they serve as contacts or guides for other information seekers and for visitors from around the world.

Keen to share information on this vanished culture, Wagner developed a lecture on Jewish traditions, which he presents to Polish high school students several times each year. Other activities include an annual competition of Polish students’ projects on the topic of the Jewish presence in Zdunska Wola and the participation of Israeli youth in the cemetery renewal project. A few local students have even studied Hebrew under Wagner and now provide graveside translations of tombstones for an annual cemetery “open house.” Inspired by this achievement, Wagner is writing a guide, “Hebrew Tombstone Interpretation,” which he hopes will be a useful tool for research in Jewish cemeteries throughout the world.

 

Polish-Jewish grave

 

The Future

Wagner has embarked on a systematic compilation of photographs, records and stories for the purpose of publishing a book on the cemetery and the Jewish community of Zdunska Wola. His progress so far has resulted in the creation of a website, including a “Family Finder,” to aid other researchers.

Wagner: “The ultimate success of this research will be measured in terms of the site's future. It remains to be seen if the work undertaken so far will be preserved and proper restoration continued, and this depends on many things, not the least of which is the ongoing support of the local community.”

Wagner, who is at present chairman of the Zdunska Wola Organization in Israel, plans to pursue designation of the cemetery as a national historical monument of Poland.

 

Meeting an apparition

In 1997, after a winding climb up the family tree, Wagner came face-to-face with his great-grandfather – deceased some 60 years. Actor Morris (Moishe) Silberkasten had indeed materialized as an apparition of sorts: Wagner was able to track down a restored American-made Yiddish movie from the 1930s in which his great-grandfather had performed. Through these priceless motion-picture moments, Wagner “met” his great-grandfather, who had emigrated from Poland to America in 1916 via China and Japan and is buried in the Jewish Theater Actors section of Mount Hebron cemetery in Brooklyn, NY.

 

Prof. Daniel Wagner is the incumbent of the Livio Norzi Professorial Chair.

 

Prof. Daniel Wagner (at left) and Polish volunteers. Past and future
English
  • Daniel Wagner
  • Materials and Interfaces

Water, Darkness, Fire, and Light

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Ahuva Mirelman. New exhibit

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bursts of powerful, warm colors greet visitors at an exhibit by Ahuva Mirelman. Evoking the forces at play in the universe (one of the pictures is called Water, Darkness, Fire, and Light), the acrylic-on-canvas paintings are on display in the Beit Dondikov gallery in Rehovot.

They reflect intense feelings, says Mirelman, who began painting ten years ago. Born in Tel Aviv, Mirelman studied at an agricultural school and at the Kibbuzim College of Education. She worked many years as a nursery school teacher, focusing on special education. During a sabbatical in Washington, D.C., she joined a painting class and found that she had landed in a group of advanced painters. The experience strongly motivated her. Upon her return to Israel, she continued to develop her skills.

In the current exhibit, Ahuva displays her pictures alongside those of three Rehovot-based artists. Built in the late nineteenth century, Beit Dondikov was the third house in what was then the fledgling community of Rehovot; it belonged to Esther and Moshe Smilansky. Since Moshe Smilansky was a well-known pioneer, it was one of the central houses in the Jewish Yishuv of those days. Recently the house was renovated and turned into a gallery.

When not painting, Ahuva volunteers in the rehabilitation ward at Tel Hashomer's Chaim Sheba Medical Center. She is also a member of the judging committee for "Out-standing Employee in Israel"of the Ma'ariv newspaper and sings in the Ramat Efal choral group.

Ahuva Mirelman is married to Prof. David Mirelman, Dean of the Biochemistry Faculty at the Weizmann Institute of Science.

Ahuva Mirelman. Fire and Light

Ahuva Mirelman. A Selction of paintings

 
Ahuva Mirelman. Fire and Light
English
  • David Mirelman
  • Exhibit

The Volunteering Spirit

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Nathalie Moyal Amsellem, Shahar Molshansky, Arnaud Amzallag, Sophie Snaper, and Oshrat Perets. A helping hand

 

 

"Doing something for others makes me feel less helpless when I think of the huge problems in society that need to be solved," says Oshrat Perets, a master's student in the Weizmann Institute's Molecular Genetics Department.

This line of thought has guided her for years. Oshrat was a soldier-teacher in Beersheba and a coordinator of Perach, a countrywide "bigbrother" project initiated by the Weizmann Institute. "As a girl and a teenager I was exposed to poverty and neglect in my neighborhood in southern Tel Aviv. As a soldier I was already able to recognize hunger in children. That's what drives me now."

A few months ago, she searched the Web for a humanitarian aidorganization in which to volunteer. She found the site of Latet ("to give" in Hebrew), sent an e-mail, and was invited to participate in the campaign "Food for Life,"an effort in Tel Aviv to collect food donations for the needy.

Now, thanks to her efforts, the campaign has extended to the Rehovot area. "I involved everyone I knew, distributed flyers at the Institute, and sent e-mails to all the students. The response was great. I was surprised and encouraged to find out how many people at the Institute were already involved in contributing to society in numerous ways. We gradually evolved into a strongly bonded group of volunteers that took full responsibility for the project."

On set dates, students recruited by Oshrat stand at the entrances to local supermarkets and politely askcustomers to buy basic dry products of their choice and donate them on their way out. The products are then delivered via existing organizations catering to the elderly, new immigrants, and families severely hurt by the economic crisis.

The first time the project took place in Rehovot, the branch collected three tons of food. Since then, the students have broadened its scope to include the neighboring cities of Ness-Ziona and Rishon Le-Zion. Recently Ph.D. student Baruch Zimerman of the Institute's Molecular Cell Biology Department became responsible for organizing the campaigns in Tel Aviv and recruiting volunteers there.

Ayelet Laron, a Ph.D. student of the Molecular Cell Biology Department and one of the participants in the Rehovot project, says, "Recent publications on poverty in Israel paint a very grim picture, and I felt it was important to get involved." Shahar Molshansky, a master's student in the Biological Chemistry Department, says, "For some time I had felt the need to do something about theeconomic crisis and the generally low spirits in Israel."

Helena Medvedovsky, a master's student in the Immunology Department, immigrated to Israel from Russia nine years ago. "It hurts to see people who are hungry,"she says. "It was wonderful to see people opening up and donating, though they themselves were not necessarily well off."

"I feel much better about human nature after seeing how many people want to help others,"says Oshrat. "Something that stood out was that people tended to donate baby products, which are relatively expensive. I think the reason the Jewish people has endured is that we've always helped each other. If we lose that, we've lost everything."
 
 
 
Nathalie Moyal Amsellem, Shahar Molshansky, Arnaud Amzallag, Sophie Snaper, and Oshrat Perets. A helping hand
English
  • "Latet"
  • Feinberg Graduate School

Labs, Lights, and Action

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Weizmann Institute theater group

 

Once a week, one young scientist and fifteen students from the Weizmann Institute's Feinberg Graduate School meet, almost in secret, in one of the Institute's lecture halls. The name of the game: theater, bright lights, impersonating different characters, personal expression, audience applause.
 
By day they conduct experiments in biotechnology, isolate genes, observe biochemical processes in cells, build mathematical models describing natural phenomena, and investigate the properties of semiconductors and superconductors. By night they examine different ways of expressing emotions, and work on how best to present their character.
 
'A scientist must fully control his or her experiment in order to produce the most accurate results, whereas an actor must be free of all conventions,' says Liat Haklai Topper, a student in the Molecular Cell Biology Department. 'But both science and theater require sensual, open, and creative thinking, although they involve different types of creativity.'
 
The troupe members do it all on their own - prepare the costumes and the sets, control the sound and lighting, even sell and distribute the tickets. This year they will be staging Shakespeare's Twelfth Night; or, What You Will, a tangled love triangle. Having lost her brother, the countess Olivia goes into mourning and refuses to continue with her life. Orsino, Duke of Illyria is desperately in love with her and dispatches his court messengers in the hope of changing her mind. Enter Viola, a young girl who is weak and dispirited having survived a storm at sea in which she believes her twin brother, Sebastian, drowned. To survive in a foreign land, Viola becomes a servant of the Duke. She arrives at his court dressed as a boy, Cesario.
 
Before long, Orsino tells her of his unrequited love and begs her to plead his case. She agrees, although it is clear that she herself has fallen in love with Orsino... and the web gets ever more complex as Olivia begins to show an interest in Viola, alias Cesario.
 
This year the students were joined by Dr. Uri Alon, a senior scientist in the Molecular Cell Biology Department. 'In the lab, the status of a scientist is of course different from that of a student, but here, on stage, all barriers fall,' says Noa Ofen-Noy, the troupe's coordinator. 'In real life, Ron Chen is Dr. Alon's student, but in the play they are engaged in numerous amusing conflicts.'
 
'This is a highly intelligent, creative, witty, kicking and punching group,' says theater director Sharon Bar Ziv, a graduate of the Nissan Nativ Acting Studio, one of the most respected acting schools in Israel. 'Working with them is an amazing experience. Even though they are amateurs, they take what they do seriously and the results are therefore truly professional. All those who enjoy theater are invited to attend our December performance. A first class act is guaranteed.'
Weizmann Institute theater group
English
  • Feinberg Graduate School
  • Student theater group

A Photo Opportunity Made in Heaven

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Dr. Anna Weizmann in her lab. Photo: Wallace Litwin
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Some 50 years ago a young American photographer, Wallace Litwin, snapped a remarkable picture of Dr. Anna (Hanna) Weizmann, Chaim Weizmann's sister and colleague, in her biochemistry laboratory at the Institute. When he recently donated the Anna Weizmann close-up and other prints to the Weizmann Archives in Rehovot, the gift evoked dramatic memories.
 
Litwin's debut as a professional photographer occurred in 1947 in the dungeons of the fortress of Akko (known as Acre in English) in British-run Palestine. He managed to take more than 200 "passport" photos of fellow inmates for forged IDs, crucial to the success of the historic Akko prison break organized by the Jewish underground.
 
"I had my camera and 20 rolls of film," he recalls. "The opportunity was heaven sent."
 
Litwin came to photography after years of travel and adventure. During the Depression and World War II, he worked in breweries, took machinist jobs in Africa and the Middle East, and served in the U.S. merchant marine on runs to Murmansk and the Philippines. "It was a lovely way of life," he says. He decided to become a photojournalist. It was an inspired choice.
 
Wallace Litwin on his motorcycle
Fresh out of photography school, he joined a group of 20 volunteers recruited by the American League for a Free Palestine. They boarded the S.S. Ben Hecht in New York, picked up 674 Holocaust survivors at Port-de-Bouc near Marseilles, and set sail for a clandestine landing attempt in Palestine. But the Royal Navy captured their ship. The Americans ended up in Akko with other freedom fighters and pri-soners, and escaped with them.
 
Among the unforgettable friends Wallace Litwin made in those turbulent days was Anna Weizmann, one of the original ten research scientists at the Weizmann Institute. She invited him to visit the campus to capture the excitement of scientific research in the newly independent State of Israel.
 
Litwin went on to a distinguished career with Town & Country and other leading magazines, doing museum-quality photography all over the world. Now 85, he lives near Tallahassee, Florida. As vigorous as ever, he travels everywhere on his big black motorcycle.
 
Dr. Anna Weizmann in her lab. Photo: Wallace Litwin
English
  • Chaim Weizmann

A Search for Roots Leads to the Stars

English

Moishe Silberkasten

 

"In March 1995, I was doing some joint scientific research with a colleague at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. After a long day of work, we went downtown to visit the Mormon Family History Library. I had never been there before."

So begins the genealogical journey of Professor Daniel Wagner. Wagner, a professor with the Materials and Interfaces Department, has been on the Weizmann Institute faculty since 1985.

Natural curiousity, a chance visit to the world-renowned Family History Library in Salt Lake City (which houses the world's most complete collection of family data), and two years of dedicated investigation yielded a family tree whose boughs date back to 1739.
 
But the twists and turns of how he discovered his family history has more the ring of a Hollywood adventure movie. Indeed, one discovery led to the big screen. It turns out his estranged great­grandfather was one of the stars of Yiddish film.

Wagner suddenly remembers a family anecdote.

"My father always quipped that our family name should be Silberkasten, not Wagner. I never paid much attention to it, actually," explains Wagner. It seems Wagner's great-grandfather had run off to America at the beginning of the century. He left behind a wife, Malka, and their 3-year-old son, David. Malka later married Ben Zion Wagner, who formally adopted David, Wagner's grandfather.

"I decided to see if there really was something to the family legend," Wagner continues. "I started searching for the name Moishe Silberkasten, but kept drawing a blank. After several frustrating hours, I was about to give up. Then I decided to give it one last shot. It came to me to try alternate spellings and when I checked out the Social Security Death Index, Sylvia Silberkasten popped up on the screen!"

While Sylvia wasn't exactly the name he'd been tracing, it was close enough to draw him further into his search. Finding this one remote thread, he started his research from scratch, once again scouring databases, census lists and immigration records.

"Then, finally, I found him." After checking hundreds of meters of microfilm, the name Moishe Silberkasten appeared on the list of passengers who went through immigration services in the Port of New York. Back in Israel, Wagner discovered a valuable website which focuses on Jewish genealogy. [See sidebar p.4.] Putting out the word on the site's mailing list that he was searching for Moishe Silberkasten resulted in a response from a woman in Brooklyn. She replied that a Morris (Moishe) Silberkasten is buried in the Yiddish Theatrical Alliance plot in her borough's Mt. Hebron Cemetery.

Crosschecking the New York archives of the YIVO Institute and the Yiddish language Daily Forward newspaper, Wagner learned that his kin was actually one of the Yiddish stage's leading actors, appearing with the famous troupe of Maurice Schwartz.

Every genealogist's dream: The object of Wagner's search springs to life through reviews, interviews and articles, including photos of Silberkasten and his troupe alongside Charlie Chaplin and Albert Einstein. Notes Wagner, "His sudden death on the road in Detroit was considered big news, with full-page articles highlighting his career."
 

Wagner then scoured a filmography and found three films listed in which Silberkasten appeared. Digging deeper in a second appendix, there was a list of restored movies, including one in which Silberkasten starred. So the next stop on Wagner's contact list was Boston's National Center for Jewish Film at Brandeis University. Wagner asked by e-mail whether he could see the movie the next time he was in Boston. "They warmly welcomed me to visit Brandeis, but they said that the movie was available on video," relates Wagner, excitedly. "I bought a copy of Vu ist Mein Kind?,  a film in which he'd played.

"Exactly one year after I searched the computer at the Mormon Center in Salt Lake City, I was watching my great-grandfather on the television monitor, alive, speaking, moving...a curious mixture of my father and grandfather, the same voice as my grandfather's."

Truth, as they say, is stranger than fiction. A search that could well be entitled "Where is My Great-Grandfather?" led Wagner to "Where is My Child?"

Real-life drama is enacted 60 years after one Moishe Silberkasten flees family and Warsaw to seek fulfillment on the stage and screen. Until the time when, through the marvels of 20th century technology, he is reunited with his great-grandson, a scientist whose skill lies in the artistry of the sciences. Did Wagner inherit the Silberkasten touch? His colleagues report that he's a first-rate performer, bringing to life his own domain, material sciences.

And this is the story of how Wagner, applying the same meticulous research to genealogy as to science, magically materialized his long-lost great-grandfather.
 
Genealogical Journey

websites:
http://www.weizmann.ac.il/wagner/Family.htm (Wagner's home page) http://www.avotaynu.com/ (Jewish genealogy

publications)
http://www.jewishgen.org/ (Best site for Jewish genealogy)
http://www.ancestry.com/

(Excellent for genealogy in general)
http://www.CyndisList.com/ (Fantastic site with 27,000 genealogy links)
http://www.navitek.com/igs/ (Israel Genealogical Society)

 

Wagner Takes it to the Limit

 
Why can't we build super-tall skyscrapers or elevators to the moon? Well, for one thing, we don't have the right kinds of materials, substances that would have to be ultra-lightweight and incredibly strong. What material might fit the bill? Carbon-based fullerenes.

They have a quality that makes them particularly attractive to materials science. Because of the strength of their chemical bonds, they can form molecular chains of virtually unlimited size. As such, materials created from fullerene macromolecules are believed to be extraordinarily strong. But saying they're strong isn't good enough.

The question is how strong? In order to be useful for science and engineering, a material's strength must be precisely tested and quantified. Professor Wagner, a member of the Materials and Interfaces Department, is an expert in just that ­ taking the fullerenes to their limit. He has created a unique experimental technique which allows him to probe the strength of the fullerenes.

Mechanically compressing and stretching the material at various levels of stress, Wagner examines the fibers through an electron microscope to see how many cracks are formed. By observing the position and density of the cracks, Wagner determines the strength of the fullerene fibers. So what about that elevator to the moon? Some day, passengers may well hear this: "Going up. Step right in."
 
Moishe Silberkasten
English
  • Daniel Wagner

Early Days in the Weizmann Institute

English

Prof. Joe Jaffe
 

Prof. Joe Jaffe, one of a dwindling group of eyewitnesses to early Weizmann Institute history, has turned to writing in his retirement. Since Jaffe's eye seems always to have a twinkle, the result is a collection of charming, light-hearted vignettes recently published in the United Kingdom by New Guild. The Manchester-born author worked as a physicist in England during World War II and was recruited by Dr. Chaim Weizmann in 1948 to join his fledgling Institute.

The book opens with tales about the author's arrival in Rehovot, including a nerve-racking journey from the airport in an armored truck, and his first impressions of the Institute's charismatic scientific director, Prof. Ernst Bergmann, and other staff members. One of the stories is an amusing account of the gathering of Institute scientists in a lab to listen to the proclamation of the State of Israel on the radio. Many of them left the room in tears, only to find out later that their weeping was due not to emotion, but to tear gas, which -- as was later discovered by Jaffe -- leaked from a glass vial accidentally knocked off a bench in the midst of the applause at the climax of the ceremony. The book is peppered with numerous anecdotes about Dr. Weizmann and his right-hand man Meyer Weisgal, who is credited with "completing Weizmann's task by shepherding the Institute through its adolescence and a crucial additional period of growth."

Jaffe, who left the Institute in 1968 to found one of Israel's first hi-tech companies, today divides his time between writing and freelance industrial consulting.

Prof. Joe Jaffe
English
  • Chaim Weizmann
  • Joe Jaffe
  • Meir Weisgal

The Queen and the Professor

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Prof. David Samuel and Queen Elizabeth II. Rare honor


Queen Elizabeth II's 1996 honors list included Weizmann Institute Professor Emeritus David Samuel. The veteran Institute scientist was awarded the Order of the British Empire for services to British academic and commercial interests in Israel.

Prof. Samuel, a chemist, joined the Weizmann Institute as a graduate student in 1949 and was appointed to the academic staff in 1956. He subsequently expanded his interests to the neurosciences and science teaching. On his retirement in 1987, he became president of the Shenkar College of Textile Technology and Fashion, a position he occupied until 1994.

Samuel holds the British title of Lord (Viscount Samuel of Mount Carmel and Toxteth), which he inherited from his grandfather, Lord Samuel, the first British High Commissioner to Mandatory Palestine.
 

 

Prof. David Samuel and Queen Elizabeth II. Rare honor
English
  • Awards
  • Chemistry
  • David Samuel

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