{"id":84166,"date":"2016-09-28T08:50:46","date_gmt":"2016-09-28T05:50:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/blog\/shimon-peres-and-technion\/"},"modified":"2016-09-28T08:50:46","modified_gmt":"2016-09-28T05:50:46","slug":"shimon-peres-and-technion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/blog\/shimon-peres-and-technion\/","title":{"rendered":"Shimon Peres and Technion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Technion mourns the passing\u00a0of Shimon Peres, 9th President of the State of Israel, a dear friend of Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\n“Israel is small in area and poor in resources, so we have no choice but to be great visionaries. To be a visionary is not a tangible quality, but visionaries can create a new reality.\u201d
\n<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Shimon Peres (1923-2016) believed in the importance of science and technology for the advance of Israel. In recognition of this, he was conferred a Technion Honorary Doctorate in 1985. <\/span><\/p>\n

Peres was a firm and steadfast advocate of Technion. In 2003, he was present at the groundbreaking ceremony of the Technion Sara and Moshe Zisapel Nano-Electronics Center; he participated in the signing ceremony of the Technion\u2019s cooperation agreement with the\u00a0\u00c9cole Polytechnique in 2013; and in 2015, he honored the Technion with his presence at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Guangdong Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (GTIIT) in China, where he said: \u201cThe establishment of a Technion campus in China is one more proof that Israeli innovation is breaking down geographic borders.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie said today: <\/span><\/p>\n

“Shimon Peres, the 9<\/span>th<\/span> president of the State of Israel, recipient of an honorary doctorate from the Technion and a true friend, passed away this morning. As a visionary, Shimon Peres believed in the power of technology to change human reality. In a letter he sent me in 2013 he wrote that “Technion researchers and scientists, many talented young people among them, contribute to the positioning of Israel as an original and daring global laboratory at the forefront of scientific development worldwide. There is no limit to your breakthrough and innovation. You guarantee the preservation of Israel’s qualitative edge into the future.”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

He was a unique person, full of optimism and vision, who believed in the power of science and engineering in advancing humanity towards a better future. He supported the development of research in nanotechnology and laid the cornerstone for the Nanoelctronics Center named after Sarah and Moshe Zisapel at Technion. Nanotechnology Research, which at the time was a new and pioneering field, is today a central field of activity at Technion.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Peres liked visiting the Technion, and was always thrilled by the level of scientific research and technological innovation. A year ago he honored the Technion by participating in the groundbreaking ceremony of Guangdong Technion Israel Institute of Technology (GTIIT) in China – an initiative he claimed to be evidence of Israeli innovation and its ability to cross geographical boundaries. \u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

We lost a dear man today, a true friend and mentor. May he be of blessed memory.”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n


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