Located in Rehovot, Israel, the Institute is a city of science with 19 departments, under five faculties: Mathematics; Physics; Chemistry; Biophysics-Biochemistry; Biology, devoted to fundamental research in the natural sciences related to human welfare. Its primary task is the discovery of knowledge and the training of new generations of scientists. It was first conceived in 1944 in honor of the 70th birthday of Chaim Weizmann.

Relevance of Science Research. Engaged in some several hundred research projects, Weizmann Institute scientists are studying the elements which constitute the life forces of humans, animals, and their environs to fathom how they function, and thereby to learn how birth, congenital defects, disease, aging can be controlled, and how the energies of the earth, of the ocean tides, and the atmosphere can be deflected from destruction and harnessed for humankind’s welfare.

Status of Institute. It is in the forefront of research in the life sciences (cell biology, experimental biology, biological ultrastructure, biodynamics, biophysics, genetics, plant genetics, chemical immunology, biochemistry, polymer research), in physics, in chemistry, and in mathematics. It has become an important scientific resource, not only for Israel, but for the world.

Contributions to the State of Israel. Institute scientists are principal advisors to the Israeli government on science, new resources, water economy, industry, education, population of and development of the desert, agriculture, new food potentials, mineral exploitation, and the like.

Aid to Science Education. The Weizmann Institute is serving the educational and scientific manpower needs of Israel on two levels: the graduate student through the Feinberg Graduate School, and the high school student through its Science Teaching Department.

The Feinberg Graduate School is a multidisciplinary school for the training of independent researchers both in the natural sciences and in modern science technology. It is accredited as an American school abroad by charter from the New York State University Regents. In 1968, the Institute set up a Science Teaching Department, the first of its kind in Israel.

As a further stimulus to science learning, the Institute sponsors an Annual Science Fair, a Mathematics Olympiad, science clubs, special courses for gifted children, and a Summer Science Youth Camp.

In May 1973, a Weizmann Institute scientist, Professor Ephraim Katchalsky-Katzir, world renowned authority on protein research, was inaugurated as the fourth President of Israel. Founder and head of the Institute‘s Biophysics Department for 25 years, President Katzir continued his research while in office.

The Weizmann Institute has been ranked by Nobel Laureate Dr. Arthur Kornberg as among the top ten research institutes in the world.

When the U.S. government decided to launch an international project to map and decipher the human genome, i.e., to read all the 3 billion “letters” making up the DNA in our bodies. The Israeli center of this gigantic endeavor was established at the Weizmann Institute. In the year 2000, the entire draft of the human genome was completed, and since then scientists have been busy identifying and deciphering the information encoded in individual genes. At the Weizmann Institute, scientists have, for example, discovered and deciphered genes involved in causing heart attacks, a particular type of leukemia, a type of muscular degeneration and others.