President Shimon Peres at his Visit to the Technion:
“Today our most urgent task is to make peace with the Palestinians.”
“I prefer an imperfect peace over a lack of a perfect peace; luckily the Technion was founded 24 years before the establishment of the State of Israel – and laid the foundations for the future of the nation.”
The President of Israel, Shimon Peres, said at his visit to the Technion that the most urgent task today is to make peace with the Palestinians. “This would be the greatest revolution made since the founding of the state. I prefer an imperfect peace over a lack of perfect peace,” said Peres at a special panel discussion with Technion’s three Nobel Laureates, led by Dr. Yossi Vardi.
The President’s visit began with a presentation of the Formula racing car, which was built at the Technion. The car, created by a group of students from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering under the guidance of Professor Reuven Katz, placed the team in 19th place out of 57 in the Formula Student Competition – and first place among teams participating in the competition for the first time. Students Ahmed Omari and Doris Fitilon, who presented the car to the President, explained that the team is a mixture of Jewish and Arab students. “So that’s basically a car for two nations,” the President replied with a smile.
Technion President, Professor Perez Lavie, presented President Peres with a plaque which had a picture from his first visit to the Technion alongside a picture of Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion, of one of his first visits to the Technion. “There is no doubt that the vision of your teacher and predecessor Ben Gurion, to establish a global scientific center in Israel, has really taken shape,” said Professor Peretz Lavie. “The sense of mission which led to the establishment of the Technion is still with us today. Thank you for the opportunity you have given us to show you some of our scientific and engineering achievements.”
A series of breakthrough research originating from the Technion was presented to the President: landing drones on unmanned vessels (Professor Ehud Rivlin from the Faculty of Computer Science), a formation of three miniature satellites (Professor Pini Gurfil from the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering), a novel method for treating tumors (Professor Emeritus Yoram Palti), advanced membranes for water treatment (Professor Raphael Semiat from the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Professor Moris Eisen from the Faculty of Chemistry), and prediction of future events using artificial intelligence (Professor Shaul Markovitch from the Faculty of Computer Science and Dr. Kira Radinsky).
Later, President Peres met with the university’s future generation of scientists. Sarah Katzir, the Head of the Unit for the Advancement of Students at the Office of the Dean of Students, introduced him to the young men and women enrolled in the varied Technion programs – “Nitzanei HaTechnion” (initiated by the President himself – an excellence program for young students from the Druze community conducted under the auspices of the Ministry of Education and “Atidim” organization), “Future Scientists and Inventors” (also initiated by President Peres, this is a youth program providing talented students with pre-university education and laboratory experience), the Program for Ultra-Orthodox Students (this year 80 ultra-orthodox students are studying at Technion’s “Mechina” – pre-university program), and “Atidim in Industry” (a program for discharged soldiers from the country’s periphery – they are provided with pre-university studies supported by the “Atidim” organization).
Dana Maklada, a sixteen year old from Daliyat al-Carmel, told the President that she and her friends come to the Technion once a week for an enrichment program.
Matar Rozen, a fifteen year old from Moshav Abirim in the Galilee, said that she very much enjoys coming to the Technion. “If wanting to learn and invest is geeky then I have no problem being a nerd,” she said to a cheering crowd.
Chen Asher, aged twenty-six from Acre, said that he came to the Technion thanks to the “Atidim in Industry” program.
Yehuda Morgenstein, from the “Halamish” (Ultra-orthodox learn practical professions) program, spoke about the initial shock of transitioning from the Yeshiva world to the Technion. “We sat and studied between 12-15 hours a day to catch up on the material,” he said. “We were different. When we would go to the cafeteria they told us that the Kashrut inspectors had already visited today,” he added as sounds of laughter were heard from the audience.
At the panel discussion with three of Technion’s Nobel Laureates in Chemistry, Professors Avram Hershko, Aaron Ciechanover and Dan Shechtman, the President told them about how David Ben Gurion once asked him to set up a world champion soccer team. “I didn’t succeed in this task, but the Technion may very well become the Technionite world champions,” he said. “Ben Gurion used to dream big dreams and would let me dream as well,” he added. “I am proud of the Technion. Science is vital to our existence. The world is barely functioning and whole countries around us are falling apart. The future is in innovation, but if we don’t find a way to control fanatics or teach them to contain themselves – this world will be a dangerous place. The State of Israel must build ties with large global companies as well, not only with other countries. We are a small country and we are left with no choice but to have a great vision.”
Professor Aaron Ciechanover spoke about the personalized medicine revolution and said that it will change the face of medicine in the coming years. “We are currently setting up in Israel, medical institutes for personalized medicine,” he emphasized. “There is a need to improve science and technology education, but we mustn’t forget about the humanities.”
Professor Dan Shechtman said that the idea to eliminate the psychometric exam was a good one and recommended changing the name of the Ministry of Education to “The Ministry for Future Infrastructure.” He added that, “Universities need more young men and women to teach science and engineering.”
Professor Avram Hershko talked about the importance of basic research. “The more we understand about the workings of the human body, the better the drugs we’ll be able to develop,” he said.
“I saw at my visit to the Technion fascinating research and an impressive representation of Israel’s young people,” summarized President Shimon Peres on his visit to the Technion.