{"id":84485,"date":"2019-06-23T14:27:55","date_gmt":"2019-06-23T11:27:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/blog\/the-fantastic-seven\/"},"modified":"2019-06-23T14:27:55","modified_gmt":"2019-06-23T11:27:55","slug":"the-fantastic-seven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/blog\/the-fantastic-seven\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fantastic Seven"},"content":{"rendered":"

Technion awarded honorary doctorates to seven distinguished men and women, including entrepreneur and businessman Sami Sagol, architect Moshe Safdie, ISEF founder Nina Weiner, and Prof.<\/b> St\u00e9phane Mallat, whose grandfather secured the permit to build the first Technion building in 1911<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

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2019 Honorary Doctorate laureates. From left: Nina Avidar Weiner, Sami Sagol, Moshe Safdie, Prof. Stephane Mallat, Prof. Dr. Alfred Forchel, Dr. Stuart I. Feldman and Carol Epstein<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During the festive and emotional ceremony, which took place during the annual Board of Governors meeting, Technion conferred honorary doctorates on seven distinguished individuals. The ceremony was held in the presence of Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie, Chairman of the Council Mr. Gideon Frank, Chairman of the Board of Governors Mr. Lawrence Jackier, of Canadian Ambassador to Israel <\/span>H.E. Deborah A. Lyons<\/span><\/a>, French Consul in Haifa Mr. Patrice Servantie, Deputy Mayor of Haifa Mr. David Etzioni, members of the Technion management and Faculty deans.<\/span><\/p>\n

Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie<\/b> said at the ceremony that, \u201cThe success of the State of Israel in general, and of Technion in particular, rests on a combination of <\/span>chutzpah<\/span><\/i>, ambition and the courage to ask questions and risk making mistakes. These are the traits shared by the seven laureates receiving honorary doctorates this evening. They don\u2019t all come from cultures where <\/span>chutzpah<\/span><\/i> is prevalent, but all succeeded thanks to the fact that they dare to think outside the box, ask important questions and strive for satisfactory answers. We are grateful for your heroic efforts to make the world a better place.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Laureates<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Architect <\/span>Moshe Safdie<\/b> is one of the world\u2019s most celebrated architects. During his distinguished 50-year career, Mr. Safdie has created well over 200 awe-inspiring architectural projects\u00a0that span the globe. \u201cI was born in Hadar Hacarmel in a Bauhaus modernist building, across the street was the Technion”, he said. \u201cWith my parents coming from Aleppo and my architecture education being in the west in Canada, I think I merged within me Western European and Eastern traditions. While I’ve received many Honorary Doctorates and other awards, I’m very moved by being honored by the Technion. For me the Technion is home territory, it is literally where I was born and where I grew up. When I decided to be an architect far away in cold Montreal the Technion was always for me the memory of which school of architecture I should have been at.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n