Wolf Prize in Physics, “for the experimental discovery of quasicrystals which inspired the exploration of a new fundamental state of matter”; Honorary Member of the Israel Crystallographic Association 2000
EMET Prize for Science, Art and Culture, “for his pioneering contribution to the discovery of quasicrystals which revolutionized the understanding of solid state science” 2004
Honorary Member of the Japan Institute of Metals “in recognition of his outstanding contributions in the field of metallurgy and materials science” 2007
International Symposium: Quasicrystals – The Silver Jubilee, Tel Aviv
(Nobel Laureate in Chemistry Distinguished Prof. Dan Shechtman).
“Do not consider it proof just because it is written
in books…”
Maimonides (attributed)
“His discovery was extremely controversial. In the course of defending his findings, he was asked to leave his research group… However, his battle eventually forced scientists to reconsider their conception of the very nature of matter… Scientists are currently experimenting with using quasicrystals in different products such as frying pans and diesel engines.”
The Nobel Committee at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Dan Shectman’s discovery of Shechtmanite (Quasicrystals) on April 8th, 1982 changed our understanding of the material world forever. The breakthrough led to the a plethora of new materials and signalled the end of the scientific belief of condensed phase materials concerning symmetry restrictions. Recognition of the new form of matter required personal stamina, thorough proof and the endurance of ridicule on behalf of the scientist.
Shechtman was the first to observe the icosahedral phase in rapidly solidified aluminum transition metal alloys, which opened the field of quasiperiodic crystals as an area of study in materials science. This new form of matter – known as quasicrystals, or Shechtmanite – introduces unique and remarkable crystallographic and physical properties, embodying a novel kind of crystalline order.
Shechtman’s findings demonstrated a clear diffraction pattern with a fivefold symmetry. The pattern was recorded from an aluminum-manganese (Al-Mn) alloy which had been rapidly cooled after melting. Quasicrystals’ structure can be understood through the mathematical theory of tiling.
At the time, most of his colleagues ridiculed Shechtman’s discovery and his paper with Ilan Blech was rejected for publication. In November 1984, Physical Review Letters published Shechtman’s discovery in a scientific paper co-authored with three other scientists: Ilan Blech (Israel), Denis Gratias (France) and John Cahn (USA). Wider acclaim followed, mainly from physicists and mathematicians, and later from crystallographers.
In August 1986, David R. Nelson wrote in Scientific American, “Shechtmanite quasicrystals are no mere curiosity. The study of quasicrystals has tied together two existing branches of theory: the theory of metallic glasses and the mathematical theory of aperiodic tilings. In doing so it has brought new and powerful tools to bear on the study of metallic alloys. Questions about long- and short-range icosahedral order should occupy solid-state physicists and materials scientists for some time to come.”
Today, hundreds of materials are known to exist with the structure that Dan Shechtman discovered. Every year, a number of national and international conferences are held on this subject.
Over 40 scientific books have been dedicated to Shechtmanite, or quasiperiodic crystals, and in many other books, the chapters dealing with crystallography have been updated. In wake of the discovery and its proof, the International Society of Crystallographers has changed its basic definition of a crystal, reducing it to the ability to produce a clear-cut diffraction pattern and acknowledging the possibility of the crystallographic order to be either periodic or aperiodic.
Consider Israel. According to data on NASDAQ’s website, Israel has more companies listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange than any other country in the world except the U.S., and major companies such as Intel, Microsoft, IBM and Google have major research and development centers in Israel. Why? If you look at the data, you see a correlation between this entrepreneurial activity and the investments in and outputs from Israel’s universities.
Israel is among a handful of nations with the highest public expenditure on educational institutions relative to GDP, and it has the highest rate of R&D investment relative to GDP in the world. It also has the highest percentage of engineers in the work force and among the highest ratio of university degrees per capita. Many of the companies listed on NASDAQ were started by graduates of Israel’s universities: Technion, Tel Aviv University, Weizmann Institute and Hebrew University of Jerusalem, to mention a few. Do international university rankings capture these economic impacts from research and postsecondary education in Israel? The answer is no. In spite of their tremendous impact and output, Israel’s universities are ranked somewhere in the 100 to 200 range.
Dr. Guy Ankonia at the Joint GTEP & RBNI Photovoltaic Laboratory
Our collective will to power Formed through an alliance of Technion’s most dynamic multidisciplinary programs, the PVlab is helping scientists unleash the power of the sun to generate tomorrow’s much-needed energy.
This is not a solar luxury to save cash on fuel bills. Global scientific experts agree that with depleting oil reserves and astronomical increases in world population, the quest for new energy sources is vital to keep our world safe, and that solar power is in first place as the energy supplier of the future. Photovoltaic cells are used in solar panels across Israel to heat water. However, scientific investigation is still needed to optimize the use of different types of silicon within the cells, for mass production of electricity. Bringing energy know-how and expertise in the nano dimension together, the Grand Technion Energy Program (GTEP) and the Russell Berrie Institute of Nanotechnology (RBNI) are combining strengths in the new photovoltaic initiative. Thelabgives Israeli researchers from industry and academia the basic and advanced tools for the fabrication and characterization of photovoltaic devices. “Here, there is the freedom to explore what you think is right – in order to gain knowledge,” sayslabmanager Dr. Guy Ankonia. “Scientists can explore all frontiers ofPV… what was not known becomes known. Technion is a great place to do the research. You have the tools, the capabilities to explore, and the freedom.”
Attention PV Researchers from Industry and Academia! The Following facilities are available:
Technion student ingenuity wins 1st prize for Maglev car.
“Studying at the Technion has made me realize I can learn and create almost anything.”
Alert to future need: graduate student in civil engineering Erez Horev.
Cars that use magnets to hover through the air could sound like science fiction, or the fantasy of children. But since the success of high-speed Maglev (Magnetic levitaton) trains in Japan, there is reason to dream. Having worked in Israel’s transport system, Technion student Erez Horev is determined to explore the science that could make Maglev transport part of Israel’s future – dramatically saving energy and reducing environmental damage.
Although he is a graduate student in civil engineering, Erez Horev heard of the competition at the Technion Autonomous Systems Program and seized the moment. For months in his spare time he had been working on his Maglev car, and although his supervisor saw it as “too futuristic” for a full-time research project, Horev (like his name-sake former Technion President and global leader in engineering Amos Horev), he doesn’t give up.
The first prize, won together with another project in which a toolbox follows it’s owner around, won the attention of Israel’s national media. The idea first came to Horev when he was working on Israel’s new fast pay-road Highway 6, and later on the new light rail project in Haifa. The car operates normally but has six magnets attached to underside. When it enters the magnetic highway, the system is activated. “With this system, you could live in Italy and work n Germany and commute the whole distance in 50 minutes,” says Horev. “The car will go at 400 mph and the driver can go to sleep.”
In ordinary vehicles, 99% of the energy is used to overcome the friction between the wheels and the road. In the Maglev car, the friction is so minimal that it would lead to enormous savings in fuel. The system simulates a magnetic toll road for private vehicles. “Because of the high speeds that can reach them using this technology, the project could compete not only with existing toll roads, but even with domestic flights and trains,” says Horev.
Prize-winning Maglev car prototype “floats” above road surface at high speed.
“At the Technion, studies are always multidisciplinary. Although I study civil engineering, we also delve into physics, mathematics, organic chemistry. Studying at the Technion has made me realize I can learn and create almost anything.”
One can’t help think about Technion graduate Shai Agassi who presently launching his exemplary electric car system and infrastructure in Israel through his global company Better Place. A man who dares to dream and has the practical penchant for problem-solving and determination to see a project through, Horev admits that Agassi is in himself a template for Technion students.
“Every day is a new day,” he smiles, “Today, there is little research in the field of maglev. It is seen as too futuristic. But I will go on implementing the idea in my space time. I want to address a huge demand for governments and companies to invest in research and development of new transportation methods and efficiency, since citizens are tired of spending more than two hours in endless traffic jams. This issue is close to my heart, and I’m going to go with it to the end.”
To enhance their research, the Technion established theTechnion Autonomous Systems Program(TASP), the only one of its kind in Israel, and the scientific home for dozens of advanced researchers from many faculties.
The Technion “Technobrain” Competition Opens
The world’s longest yo-yo will be released from a 30 m high crane
As part of Technion’s traditional “Technbrain” competition, students will compete against each other by releasing the world’s longest yo-yo from a 30 meter high crane. The yo-yo will have to run back up a 20 meter long rope, to its maximum height and then drop down again and run up a number of times to a minimum of over 5 meters. A team of judges will measure the maximum height the yo-yo reaches on its first ascent after release from the crane and the number of times it loops up and down.
The crane will have a compartment in which the yo-yo will be placed. The compartment’s floor will open and the yo-yo will be released downward. Competitors are not allowed to use an external energy source and the dynamic rope will be supplied to them by the competition organizers. Winners will receive 10,000 ₪, 5,000 ₪, and 3,000 ₪ (1st, 2nd and 3rd places, respectively).
The “Technbrain” competition is held at the Technion in memory of Neev-Ya Durban, who first envisioned and thereafter established the competition, and was a student and outstanding Technion graduate. Neev-Ya was an officer in the IDF when he was murdered during a mugging on a quiet street in Tel Aviv in March 2003. The competition and the prizes are funded by Dr. Robert Shillman (who everyone knows as “Dr. Bob”), who did his graduate work at the Technion.
In 2012, Technion celebrates 100 years since the laying of its 1st cornerstone.
This century has seen many miracles – the miraculous birth of Israel as a nation; the awesome transformation of our world into a global village where technology and science bring the keys to the future of health, communication, the environment, energy, security and global communion.
From 1912, until today, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, has been part of this miracle.
Within every nation, there are citizens that have lived the story of its suffering and its success. Behind every scientific and high-tech innovation there is a scientist with a story. Within the mind of each scientist there are sparks of curiosity and inspiration – the inspiration behind the Start-up Nation.
Here are just some of the living stories of innovation, human integrity and achievement from Technion ~ Israel Institute of Technology.
Technion founding father Prof. Albert Einstein at Technion.
The Brainstormer
“What is important are the many e-mails I receive from grateful patients helped by Rasagiline.” Prof. Moussa Youdim
It was his father’s struggle with deep depression over business troubles in 1957 that changed the course of Prof. Moussa Youdim’s life, from studying medicine to going into pharmacology. He sought a more refined, and merciful understanding of brain chemistry that would help bring treatment and relief to millions. Prof. Youdim is today internationally renowned for his brain research and drug development in depressive illness and Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. He has established the importance of monoamine oxidase and brain iron metabolism for brain function that can lead to cognitive impairments and neurodegenerative diseases.
Where internet began.
“They unequivocally bear the stamp of the present century.” BBVA Foundation President, Francisco Gonzále, at the Frontiers of Knowledge Awards, 2009.
The Lempel-Ziv algorithm – the mathematical formula for compressing vast amounts of information – is the thought power that enabled the high-tech communications revolution of our generation. From the birth of the internet, through to the global broadcasting of live images from Mars, we are indebted to the science behind compression and decompression made possible by the legendary Technion algorithm in 1983. Tiberius-born Prof. Jacob Ziv and Poland-born Prof. Abraham Lempel changed the direction of mankind by bringing the best compression ratio ever. This became the standard utility in unix systems, the gif image format, tiff, pdf and adobe acrobat software. Generations of Technion graduates mentored by the two pioneering professors, adopted not only the knowledge, but also the spirit of innovation, empowering the high-tech revolution, in Israel and across the globe.
Light Man 2020
“Technion is the place I chose to do this research.” Distinguished Prof. Moti Segev
What is light? How is it composed? How to unravel the secrets of a soliton – a single wave packet of light? What wonders of technology and science can be achieved when we master its power? Distinguished Prof.Mordechai (Moti) Segev was raised in Haifa to a poor immigrant family of shoemakers. But little Moti had a secret – the secret of what happens when you excel beyond all frontiers. Years later – as the first Israeli to be offered a tenured position in Princeton in 1998 – Segev chose to return to Technion and to create there a focus of optics research alluring excellent students and faculty from across the world. Some proofs of his global success include the world’s first observation of 2D lattice solitons, and the first experimental demonstration of Anderson localization in a disordered periodic system.
A Matter of Class
“If you believe in your research then fight for it. Fight for the truth.” Distinguished Prof. Dan Shechtman.
Since 1912, matter – the miracle of everything in our world – was defined by scientists with a strict paradigm: crystals are ordered and periodic – with no exception. That was before Israeli-born Distinguished Prof. Dan Shechtman reached for the electron microsope in 1982 – the year humanity’s perception of matter was changed forever. Shechtman broke all the rules when he revealed a new class of matter – “Shechtmanite” – crystals with 5-fold rotation symmetry. “I was alone. I was ridiculed by my colleagues and my peers,” tells Shechtman, who stood by his revolutionary research into quasi-periodic crystals despite the disgrace it brought him among international scientists. The new strength of material made available through quasi-periodic crystals has today converted the world, opening a range of applications in super-strong steel – especially where it contacts the human body, such as in surgical equipment.
Multi-tasking Stem Cells
“Everyone knows about the Technion…”Prof. Shulamit Levenberg
One of seven sisters in a religious family, no-one could foresee that Prof. Shulamit Levenberg would change the course of global science. Yet, when she revealed a breakthrough process to create living human tissue in the lab – she opened a new dimension of promise in medical research – that could eventually culminate in a medical ability to cultivate and replace damaged organs in the body.
Prof. Levenberg conducts interdisciplinary research in the subjects of tissue engineering from human embryonic stem cells using biodegradable polymers. She is recognized as a world leader in the field. Her research proved that it is possible to create complex muscle tissue including blood vessels (as well as beating heart muscle) in a laboratory. She has been named among the world’s top 50 science leaders by the prestigious magazine Scientific American.
The Imagineer
“Technion is a holistic experience.” Technion Alum Shai Agassi
Proud Technion alum Shai Agassi wants to put you behind the wheel of an electric car — but he doesn’t want you to sacrifice convenience (or cash) to do it. When horrific climate-change scenarios elicit little but endless chatter from governments and entrenched special interests, the difference between talk and action represent an embarrassing gulf. Meet exemplary Technion alum Shai Agassi, who has stepped fearlessly into that gap. His approach to solving the puzzle of electric automobiles could spark nothing short of an automotive revolution. Agassi stunned the software industry in 2007 by resigning from SAP to focus on his vision for breaking the world’s fossil-fuel habit, through his global start-up Project Better Place. Recently he signed up to make San Francisco the EV capital of the US – with a revolutionary switchable battery electric taxi program.
The Kiss of Life
“Mentorship is as important as science.” Nobel Laureate Avram Hershko
Ubiquitin: so called, because it is a protein present in all living cells. No-one knew why it was there, and no-one dared to wonder: it was just boring – “ubiquitous”. But no living secrets are untouched by Technion scientists. Throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s, Distinguished Professors Avram Hershko and Aaron Ciechanover unveiled the mysteries of the ubiquitin system, revealing the masterkeys of human health. The ubiquitous protein ubiquitin, they showed, is the key factor in deciding when and how a cell should regenerate. Imbalance in ubiquitin reveals itself in some of the world’s most incurable afflictions – such as cancer and neuro-degenerative disorders. By 2004, the Technion research was already revolutionizing medical understanding and opening the way to innovative cures and treatments. No wonder that, in that year, the two Technion Professors became Israel’s first Nobel Laureates in science.
Sniffing Out Cancer
“I am where I feel that I contribute the most.” Dr. Hossam Haick
When Dr. Hossam Haick was studying for his doctorate, a friend of his was diagnosed with leukemia. “It was very painful for me. I saw his suffering. That was the first time I began to think about diagnosing cancer by means of oxygenating substances that are excreted in a photocatalytic procedure (accelerated by light ) and come into contact with cancer cells. Nazareth-born Haick has since amazed the world with an ingenious system for detecting cancer via breath tests. Haick’s patented “electronic nose” promises to detect several types of cancer in their early stages. His goal is to detect cancer early enough to give the human body a better chance of beating the disease.
9/11 Never again
“At critical moments in an emergency, there is no time.” Security expert Prof. Avi Kirschenbaum.
A decate later and the trauma is fresh. And the global threat is still there. Post 9/11, everyone wants to know they are safe on a plane. High-tech security innovation has always been quietly high on the scientific agenda of Israel’s top institute of technology, but recently world headlines showed another aspect of Technion expertise – people management in a crisis. “At critical moments in an emergency, there is no time to consult a supervisor or read the manual,” says Prof. Avi Kirschenbaum, whose decades of expertise in home-front security recently won his team a $5 million grant by the European Union to ensure airport against hostile threats. “In order to prevent disasters and deal with them properly, we have to ensure that all the teams, and not just security teams, will be trained and highly motivated.”
Upwardly Motile
“For interdisciplinary science, Technion is an excellent place.” Prof. Kinneret Keren
Named one of the 100 top young innovators by MIT’s Technology Review Magazine, Dr. Kinneret Keren is researching nature’s genius in self-assembly. On one hand this can be used in the creation of nano-scale electronics; on the other, it brings a wealth of understanding to medical science – understanding a cell’s motility – or how it moves through space and time can provide the master-keys for healing such diseases as cancer or heart disease. Keren integrates physics and cell biology in her research, moving between real and artificial cells. “The biophysical aspects of cell biology have been neglected in many areas,” she explains: “Basic cellular processes are highly relevant to understanding normal processes and diseases, for example, understanding how and why cells move faster brings a chance to better understand how cancer spreads.”
Think Global
Think Technion
“Israel can win the battle for survival only by developing expert knowledge in technology.”
Prof. Albert Einstein (President of the first Technion Society)
“Technion has a great contribution to make to Israel’s future prosperity, and Israel’s prosperity cannot but be of great benefit to other countries, as well.”
Winston Churchill (The late Prime Minister of Great Britain)
“You – the people of the Technion – have led the way in technology, science and engineering.”
Yitzhak Rabin (The late Prime Minister of Israel)
“The Technion has been a beacon of learning in our region.”
The late King Hussein of Jordan
And no-one should ignore the most amazing part of Technion….
“The fact that the Bible contains a lot of information – approximately 10 million bits – is central. The Nano Bible project demonstrates the miniaturization at our disposal…” -Prof. Uri Sivan
When Pope Benedict XVI visited Jerusalem in May 2009, President of the State of Israel, Shimon Peres, presented him with a very special gift. RBNI scientists worked around the clock to prepare the exhibition piece of the world’s first Nano Bible.
The over 1.2 million letters of the Hebrew Bible were etched into a silicon chip at Technion’s Zisapel Nanoelectronics Center, using a focused beam of energetic gallium ions. When the ions strike the target, they splash some atoms out of it, thereby etching into it. A holy speck of dust, the Nano Bible was mounted on a one-centimeter thick transparent stage and presented within an authentic leather cover of a full-sized Bible.
The Nano Bible was created and produced by Prof. Uri Sivan and his doctoral student Ohad Zohar
“How small can the Bible be?” Technion Nano students heard the call.
The Bible is only 0.5 square millimeters – much smaller than the head of a pin.At the Zisapel Nanoelectronics Center the text was etched with a focused beam of energetic gallium ions.
World-renowned architect Dr. Santiago Calatrava has designed a giant obelisk that marks the heart of the Technion campus. The 28-meter high kinetic sculpture is composed of 224 steel ribs on eight levels. The monument moves in a wave-like motion, in which each moving rib induces the sequential motion of the next one level at a time from top to bottom. “I designed this vertical kinetic sculpture, which integrates beauty with technique and mechanics, such that it can be seen from every place.”
“We will be able to see atoms and extract information about chemical bonds between atoms using this first-of-its-kind 4.5 meter high piece of equipment that weighs in at over 2000 kg…”
Researchers of the Technion Institute of Technology claim test will be able to differentiate between different kinds of cancers, tumors, diseases.
An innovative, simple blood test that can diagnose a variety of diseases, including cancer, has been developed by researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and was just reported in a central article in the Proceedings of the [US] National Academy of Sciences.
Prof. Arie Admon of the biology faculty claims that the test will provide doctors with a rich variety of information that until now has not been available and is suited to the trend of “personalized medicine,” in which treatment is suited to the genetic and other characteristics of the patient. The development was part of the doctoral work of Dr. Michal Bassani- Sternberg and will help suit medication to the patient.
As opposed to current blood tests for cancer which merely note whether cancerous cells are still in the blood stream, the new test will be able to differentiate between different kinds of cancers and tumors as well as other diseases. Scientists are now working on the technique.
Admon said it was known that when the proteins in a cell deteriorate or end their roles, they are broken down into their building blocks of amino acids to create new proteins. Some of the products of this process, however, are not completely broken down and remain as pieces of short proteins called peptides.
Meanwhile, some of these peptides are displayed on the surface of the cells with help from the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) protein. When the peptides from the proteins of the disease “report” their state of health to the immune system, the immune cells kill the sick cells and prevent the spread of the disease.
The body cells not only present the HLA protein on their surfaces but also release part of these protein molecules into the bloodstream with the characteristic peptides. Cancer cells release larger amounts of the HLA protein with the peptides into the blood in an effort to “confuse” the immune system, explained Admon. Thus, the two Technion researchers reached the conclusion that by characterizing the variety of peptides linked to the HLA proteins that were released into the blood, they could diagnose cancer and other disorders.
The researchers separated the HLA proteins from the other blood proteins and then released the linked peptides. Using a mass spectrometer device, they succeeded in identifying the sequence of amino acids of the separated peptides and the original proteins that were in the cells in which the peptides were produced.
In one blood sample, thousands of different peptides can be identified, providing vital information about the disease or the tumor. There are peptides that are not present in healthy people, and when they are found, the patient can be sent for additional tests, the researchers said.
A sustainable future demands scientific solutions. Developing more efficient means to harness energy, bringing renewable energy innovations and exploring revolutionary methods for energy storage and conversion, The Grand Technion Energy Program (GTEP) is guaranteeing the future of us all.
This future demands highly-skilled graduates in energy science, and as such, GTEP has launched its unique Graduate Energy Studies Program. This is the only advanced multidisciplinary energy program in Israel, and it is also open to international students.
Global Exchange
In addition to nurturing the coming generation, international scientific collaboration with world-class researchers is vital to brainstorm the scientific power challenges. Prof. Harry Tuller of MIT recently delivered a lecture series and spoke about energy, Israel, and the challenges ahead. Global warming, pollution and astronomical increases in world energy demands were on the agenda: you can read more here.
Prof. Harry L. Tuller, MIT, at Technion as part of the Pollack Distinguished Lecture Series
This February, GTEP also hosted Professor Eicke R. Weber – Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE and Professor for Physics/Solar Energy at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics and at the Faculty of Engineering at the Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, Germany.
Among the many exciting research projects at GTEP, one laboratory received special attention this month: the lab of GTEP Prof. Yair Ein Eli. Prof. Ein Eli has registered two patents for his innovative silicon air battery – an all-green battery alternative that uses silicon – an abundant resource – and which promises 1000s of hours of life.
While the endorsement of Technion friends means that the dream of developing the silicon air battery to create a rechargeable version for electric cars and a multitude of other applications could well be realized in coming years, first on the horizon is a new generation of batteries for hearing aids. The beauty of the silicon-air battery is that hearing-aid users will only have to change batteries once every several months – as opposed to once a week. Read more here.
Primary-school teacher Hadas Hauz – waiting for the si-air battery.
Alternative Fuels
Prof. Gideon Grader of the faculty of Chemical Engineering and Head of the Grand Technion Energy Program, discusses the development of hydrogen nitrogen alternative fuels to break our dependence on oil. Film made by the American Technion Society.
1912
