Advancing Technology
Weizmann’s research into advanced technology is immense and acts as a timeline for technology’s evolution.
It all began in 1954 when researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science built Israel’s first computer – which was also one of the first in the world. Later in the 1970s the algorithm that allows our online transactions to be secure, was co-developed by a Weizmann cryptographer. More recently an Institute scientist created a DNA-based biological computer that can fit into a drop of water.
Apart from these important achievements, Weizmann scientists also developed the technology behind light-sensitive spectacles and windscreens; are using quantum electronics to develop our next generation computers; creating artificial vision and image-recognition systems; and finding ways to use technology to increase our security, such safety-checking complex systems in nuclear reactors and spacecraft.
Facts
In 1954 Weizmann built Israel’s first computer and one of the world’s first
Designed the world’s smallest computer made of DNA – 1 trillion can fit into a drop of water
Winners of the version of the Nobel Prize for computer science – the AM Turing Award
Weizmann scientists have created a formula to predict how cracks will advance in specific materials.
AI Artificial Intelligence short IB 2021
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Selected achievements
Seeking to guarantee privacy
A Weizmann mathematician and MIT colleagues invented ways to encrypt and decrypt information, creating the Rivest-Shamir-Alderman (RSA) algorithm. In addition to laying the foundation of internet privacy, RSA is used worldwide for financial and governmental online security.
Seeking high distinction and recognition in computer science
In 2003 the A.M. Turing Award was awarded to Weizmann’s Professor Adi Shamir to recognise his work in the field of Cryptography. Known as the ‘Nobel Prize of computer science’ in 2013 it was again awarded to Professor Shafira Goldwasser to acknowledge her work also in the science of cryptography. She is third woman to win the award.
Seeking ways to use mathematics to predict material stress and failure in airplanes and dams
A mathematical formula to predict how cracks will advance in specific materials, such is the metal of airplane wings and concrete in dams has been created by Weizmann scientists. This is important in helping to predict how such structures can manage under stress.
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Surprising New Material Gets the Lead Out
A new Weizmann Institute of Science ceramic could replace lead-based electronic components. Produced in the Weizmann lab or Professor Igor Lubomirsky’s this material seems too good to be true. It belongs to a class of materials that are the backbone of many essential...
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Life sciences have never been more digital. To learn more about life processes, biologists are collecting massive quantities of data that computer scientists analyse by means of sophisticated computational models that they develop. Over the past few years, Dr Ori...