Science and technology in Israel - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Science and technology in Israel is one of the country's most developed sectors. The percentage of Israelis engaged in scientific and technological inquiry, and the amount spent on research and development

Research and development

The phrase research and development , according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers to "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of...

(R&D) in relation to gross domestic product

Gross domestic product

Gross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living....

(GDP), is amongst the highest in the world. Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

ranks fourth in the world in scientific activity as measured by the number of scientific publications per million citizens. Israel's percentage of the total number of scientific articles published worldwide is almost 10 times higher than its percentage of the world's population.

Israeli scientists have contributed to the advancement of agriculture

Agricultural Research In Israel

Agricultural research in Israel is based on close cooperation and interaction between scientists, consultants, farmers and agriculture-related industries. Israel's semi-arid to arid climate and shortage of high quality water are major constraints facing Israeli agriculture...

, computer sciences

Computer Sciences

Computer Sciences can refer to:*The general field of computer science*Computer Sciences Corporation, the Fortune 500 Information Technology company...

, electronics

Electronics

Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...

, genetics

Genetics

Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....

, medicine

Medicine

Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....

, optics

Optics

Optics is the branch of physics which involves the behavior and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behavior of visible, ultraviolet, and infrared light...

, solar energy

Solar power in Israel

Solar power in Israel and the Israeli solar energy industry has a history that dates to the founding of the country. In the 1950s, Levi Yissar developed a solar water heater to help assuage an energy shortage in the new country. By 1967 around one in twenty households heated its water with the...

and various fields of engineering

Engineering

Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...

. Israel is home to major players in the high-tech industry and has one of the world's most technologically-literate populations. In 1998, Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...

was named by Newsweek

Newsweek

Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...

as one of the ten most technologically influential cities in the world. Since 2000, Israel has been a member of EUREKA

EUREKA

EUREKA, often abbreviated as "E!" or "Σ!", is a pan-European research and development funding and coordination organization. EUREKA aims to coordinate efforts of governments, research institutes and commercial companies concerning innovation...

, the pan-European research and development

Research and development

funding and coordination organization, and holds the rotating chairmanship of the organization for 2010-2011.

History

Jewish settlement in Mandate Palestine was ideologically motivated. Return to the homeland was perceived as contingent on a return to the soil. To establish the rural villages that formed the core of Zionist ideology and produce self-supporting Jewish farmers, agronomic experiments were conducted. The foundations of agricultural research in Israel were laid by the teachers and graduates of the Mikveh Yisrael School, the country's first agricultural school, established by the Alliance Israelite Universelle

Alliance Israélite Universelle

The Alliance Israélite Universelle is a Paris-based international Jewish organization founded in 1860 by the French statesman Adolphe Crémieux to safeguard the human rights of Jews around the world...

in 1870. On a field trip to Mount Hermon

Mount Hermon

Mount Hermon is a mountain cluster in the Anti-Lebanon mountain range. Its summit straddles the border between Syria and Lebanon and, at 2,814 m above sea level, is the highest point in Syria. On the top there is “Hermon Hotel”, in the buffer zone between Syria and Israeli-occupied...

in 1906, the agronomist Aaron Aaronsohn

Aaron Aaronsohn

Aaron Aaronsohn was a Jewish agronomist, botanist, and Zionist activist. Aaronsohn was the discoverer of wild emmer , believed to be "the mother of wheat."-Biography:...

discovered Triticum dicoccoides, or emmer

Emmer

Emmer wheat , also known as farro especially in Italy, is a low yielding, awned wheat. It was one of the first crops domesticated in the Near East...

wheat

Wheat

Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...

, believed to be the "mother of all wheat." In 1909, he founded an agricultural research station in Atlit where he built up an extensive library and collected geological and botanical samples. The Agricultural Station, founded in Rehovot

Rehovot

Rehovot is a city in the Center District of Israel, about south of Tel Aviv. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2009 the city had a total population of 112,700. Rehovot's official website estimates the population at 114,000.Rehovot was built on the site of Doron,...

in 1921, engaged in soil research and other aspects of farming in the country's difficult climactic conditions. This station, which became the Agricultural Research Organization (ARO), is now Israel’s major institution of agricultural research and development.

In 1912, the first cornerstone of the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

The Technion – Israel Institute of Technology is a research-intensive institute of technology in Haifa, Israel. Originally called the Technikum, it was founded in 1912...

was laid at a festive ceremony in Haifa which was then occupied by the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

. The Technion would become a unique university world wide in its claim to precede and create a nation. As Jews were often barred from Technical education in Europe, the Technion claims to have brought the skills needed to build a modern state.

Established before World War I, the Hebrew Health Station in Jerusalem, founded by Nathan Straus

Nathan Straus

Nathan Straus was an American merchant and philanthropist who co-owned two of New York City's biggest department stores – R.H...

engaged in medical and public health research, operating departments for public hygiene, eye diseases and bacteriology.
The station manufactured vaccines against typhus and cholera, and developed methods of pest control to eliminate field mice. The Pasteur Institute affiliated with the station developed a rabies vaccine. Departments for microbiology, biochemistry, bacteriology, and hygiene were opened at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...

, founded on Mount Scopus

Mount Scopus

Mount Scopus , جبل المشهد , جبل الصوانة) is a mountain in northeast Jerusalem. In the wake of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Mount Scopus became a UN protected Jewish exclave within Jordanian-occupied territory until the Six-Day War in 1967...

in 1925. In 1936, Jewish workers in the center of the country donated two-days' pay toward the establishment of the "Hospital of Judea and Sharon," later renamed Beilinson Hospital

Rabin Medical Center

The Rabin Medical Center is a medical center in Petah Tikva, Israel. It is currently the second largest medical center in Israel after Sheba Medical Center, having lost the title of largest in 2006...

. In 1938, Beilinson established the country's first blood bank

Blood bank

A blood bank is a cache or bank of blood or blood components, gathered as a result of blood donation, stored and preserved for later use in blood transfusion. The term "blood bank" typically refers to a division of a hospital laboratory where the storage of blood product occurs and where proper...

.

The Rothschild-Hadassah University Hospital on Mount Scopus opened in 1939 and was the first teaching hospital and medical center in the country. Since renamed the Hadassah Medical Center

Hadassah Medical Center

Hadassah Medical Center is a medical organization that operates two University hospitals at Ein Kerem and Mount Scopus in Jerusalem, Israel, as well as schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing, and pharmacology affiliated with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.The hospital was founded by Hadassah,...

, it has become a leader in medical research.

Industrial research began at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

The Technion – Israel Institute of Technology is a research-intensive institute of technology in Haifa, Israel. Originally called the Technikum, it was founded in 1912...

, was also initiated at the Daniel Sieff Research Center, (later the Weizmann Institute of Science

Weizmann Institute of Science

The Weizmann Institute of Science , known as Machon Weizmann, is a university and research institute in Rehovot, Israel. It differs from other Israeli universities in that it offers only graduate and post-graduate studies in the sciences....

),
established in 1934 in Rehovot

Rehovot

. The Dead Sea

Dead Sea

The Dead Sea , also called the Salt Sea, is a salt lake bordering Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank to the west. Its surface and shores are below sea level, the lowest elevation on the Earth's surface. The Dead Sea is deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world...

Laboratories opened in the 1930s.

The first modern electronic computer in Israel and the Middle East, and one of the first large-scale, stored-program, electronic computers in the world, called WEIZAC

WEIZAC

The WEIZAC was the first computer in Israel, and one of the first large-scale, stored-program, electronic computers in the world....

, was built at the Weizmann Institute during 1954-1955, based on the Institute for Advanced Study

Institute for Advanced Study

The Institute for Advanced Study, located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States, is an independent postgraduate center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It was founded in 1930 by Abraham Flexner...

(IAS) architecture developed by John von Neumann

John von Neumann

John von Neumann was a Hungarian-American mathematician and polymath who made major contributions to a vast number of fields, including set theory, functional analysis, quantum mechanics, ergodic theory, geometry, fluid dynamics, economics and game theory, computer science, numerical analysis,...

. WEIZAC has been recognized by the IEEE as a milestone in the history of electrical engineering and computing.

IBM

IBM

International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...

Israel, registered on June 8, 1950, was the country's first high-tech firm. The company, located on Allenby Street

Allenby Street

Allenby Street is a major street in Tel Aviv, Israel. It was named in honor of Field Marshal Viscount Allenby.Allenby Street stretches from the Mediterranean sea in the northwest to HaAliya Street in the southeast. It was first paved with concrete in 1914. During the day, it is a commercial street...

in Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv

, assembled and repaired punch card machines, sorting machines and tabulators. In 1956, a local plant was opened to produce punch cards, and a year later, the first service center opened, offering computerized data processing services.

Scientific and technological research in Israel was boosted by the appointment of a chief scientist for the Industry and Trade Ministry at the recommendation of a committee headed by Ephraim Katzir

Ephraim Katzir

Ephraim Katzir was an Israeli biophysicist and former Israeli Labor Party politician. He was the fourth President of Israel from 1973 until 1978.-Biography:...

, later president of Israel

President of Israel

The President of the State of Israel is the head of state of Israel. The position is largely an apolitical ceremonial figurehead role, with the real executive power lying in the hands of the Prime Minister. The current president is Shimon Peres who took office on 15 July 2007...

. The Israeli government provided grants that covered 50–80 percent of the outlay for new start-ups, with no conditions, no shareholding and no participation in management. In the early 1980s, Control Data Corporation

Control Data Corporation

Control Data Corporation was a supercomputer firm. For most of the 1960s, it built the fastest computers in the world by far, only losing that crown in the 1970s after Seymour Cray left the company to found Cray Research, Inc....

, a partner in Elron Electronic Industries

Elron Electronic Industries

Elron Electronic Industries is a technology holding company based in Haifa Israel; since 1962 the company has been involved in setting-up, funding and developing over 30 companies and is considered one of the foundation stones of the high-tech industry in Israel...

, formed the country's first venture capital

Venture capital

Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as...

firm.

Environmental science

The country’s lack of conventional energy sources has spurred extensive research and development of alternative energy sources and Israel has developed innovative technologies in the solar energy field

Solar power in Israel

. Israel has become the world's largest per capita user of solar water heaters in the home. A new, high-efficiency receiver to collect concentrated sunlight has been developed, which will enhance the use of solar energy in industry as well.

In a 2009 report by the CleanTech Group, Israel ranked among the top 10 clean tech countries in the world, behind Denmark, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

The Arrow Ecology company has developed the ArrowBio process a patented system which takes trash directly from collection trucks and separates organic and inorganic materials through gravitational settling, screening, and hydro-mechanical shredding. The system is capable of sorting huge volumes of solid waste, salvaging recyclables, and turning the rest into biogas

Biogas

Biogas typically refers to a gas produced by the biological breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen. Organic waste such as dead plant and animal material, animal dung, and kitchen waste can be converted into a gaseous fuel called biogas...

and rich agricultural compost

Compost

Compost is organic matter that has been decomposed and recycled as a fertilizer and soil amendment. Compost is a key ingredient in organic farming. At its most essential, the process of composting requires simply piling up waste outdoors and waiting for the materials to break down from anywhere...

. The system is used in California, Australia, Greece, Mexico, the United Kingdom and in Israel. For example, an ArrowBio plant that has been operational at the Hiriya

Hiriya

Hiriya is a former waste dump located southeast of Tel Aviv, Israel.-History:Hiriya takes its name from the pre-1948 Arab village of al-Khayriyya, which was built on the site of the ancient biblical town of Beneberak....

landfill site since December 2003 serves the Tel Aviv area, and processes up to 150 tons of garbage a day.

In 2010, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology established GTEP - The Grand Technion Energy Program. This multidisciplinary task-force brings together Technion's top researchers in energy science and technology from over nine different faculties. GTEP's 4-point strategy targets research and development of alternative fuels; renewable energy sources; energy storage and conversion; and energy conservation. GTEP is presently the only center in Israel offering graduate studies in energy science and technology to bring the energy skills and know-how to address the energy challenges of the future.

According to water experts, pipe leakage is one of the major problems confronting the global water supply today. For Israel, which is two-thirds desert, water-saving technologies are of critical importance. The International Water Association

International Water Association

The International Water Association is a self-governing non-profit organization which aims to cover all facets of the water cycle. The body is headquartered in London, with a global secreteriat based in The Hague and offices in Beijing, Bucharest, Nairobi, Singapore and Washington DC.The group's...

has cited Israel as one of the leaders in innovative methods to reduce "nonrevenue water," i.e., water lost in the system before reaching the customer.

Space science

During the 1970s and 1980s Israel began developing the infrastructure

Infrastructure

Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...

needed for research and development in space exploration

Space exploration

Space exploration is the use of space technology to explore outer space. Physical exploration of space is conducted both by human spaceflights and by robotic spacecraft....

and sciences. In November 1982, the Minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Yuval Ne'eman

Yuval Ne'eman

Yuval Ne'eman , was a renowned Israeli theoretical physicist, military scientist, and politician. He was a minister in the Israeli government in the 1980s and early 1990s.-Biography:...

, established the Israel Space Agency (ISA), to coordinate and supervise a national space program. Because of geographical constraints, as well as safety considerations, the Israeli space program focuses on very small satellites loaded with payloads of a high degree of sophistication, and cooperation with other national space agencies. The Technion Asher Space Research Institute

Asher Space Research Institute (ASRI)

is a specialized institute dedicated to multidisciplinary research at Technion - Israel Institute of Technology.ASRI was established in 1984. Its members come from five Technion faculties, and it has a technical staff of Technion scientists in a variety of space-related fields...

plays a central role in educating the space engineers of the next generation.

Israel launced its first satellite, Ofeq-1

Ofeq

Ofeq, also spelled Offek or Ofek is the designation of a series of Israeli reconnaissance satellites first launched in 1988. All Ofeq satellites have been carried on top of Shavit rockets from Palmachim Airbase in Israel, on the Mediterranean coast. The Low Earth Orbit satellites complete one...

, from the locally built Shavit

Shavit

Shavit is a space launch vehicle produced by Israel to launch small satellites into low earth orbit. It was first launched on September 19, 1988 , making Israel the eighth country to have a space launch capability after the USSR, United States, France, Japan, People's Republic of China, United...

launch vehicle on September 19, 1988 and has made important contributions in a number of areas in space research, including laser

Laser

A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation...

communication

Communication

Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...

, research into embryo development and osteoporosis

Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a disease of bones that leads to an increased risk of fracture. In osteoporosis the bone mineral density is reduced, bone microarchitecture is deteriorating, and the amount and variety of proteins in bone is altered...

in space, pollution

Pollution

Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light...

monitoring, and mapping geology

Geology

Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...

, soil and vegetation in semi-arid environments.

Key projects include the TAUVEX

TAUVEX

The Tel Aviv University Ultraviolet Explorer, or TAUVEX, is a space telescope array designed and constructed in Israel for Tel Aviv University by El-Op, Electro-Optical Industries, Ltd. acting as Prime Contractor, for the exploration of the ultraviolet sky...

telescope, the Tel Aviv University Ultra Violet Experiment, a UV telescope for astronomical observations which was developed in the 1990s to be accommodated on an Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) geo-synchronous satellite GSAT-4

GSAT-4

GSAT-4, also known as HealthSat, was an experimental communication and navigation satellite launched in April 2010 by the Indian Space Research Organisation on the maiden flight of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk.II rocket. It failed to reach orbit after the rocket's third stage...

, for joint operation and use by Indian and Israeli scientists; the VENUS micro-satellite, developed in collaboration with the French space agency, CNES

CNES

The is the French government space agency . Established under President Charles de Gaulle in 1961, its headquarters are located in central Paris and it is under the supervision of the French Ministries of Defence and Research...

, which will use an Israeli-developed space camera, electric space engine and algorithms; and MEIDEX (Mediterranean - Israel Dust Experiment), in collaboration with NASA

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

.

Ilan Ramon

Ilan Ramon

Ilan Ramon was a fighter pilot in the Israeli Air Force, and later the first Israeli astronaut....

was Israel's first astronaut

Astronaut

An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....

. Ramon was the space shuttle

Space Shuttle

The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...

payload specialist onboard the fatal STS-107

STS-107

-Mission parameters:*Mass:**Orbiter Liftoff: **Orbiter Landing: **Payload: *Perigee: *Apogee: *Inclination: 39.0°*Period: 90.1 min- Insignia :...

mission of Space Shuttle Columbia

Space Shuttle Columbia

Space Shuttle Columbia was the first spaceworthy Space Shuttle in NASA's orbital fleet. First launched on the STS-1 mission, the first of the Space Shuttle program, it completed 27 missions before being destroyed during re-entry on February 1, 2003 near the end of its 28th, STS-107. All seven crew...

, in which he and the six other crew members were killed in a re-entry accident

Space Shuttle Columbia disaster

The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster occurred on February 1, 2003, when shortly before it was scheduled to conclude its 28th mission, STS-107, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas and Louisiana during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, resulting in the death of all seven crew members...

over the southern United States. Ramon had been selected as a Payload Specialist

Payload Specialist

A Payload Specialist ' was an individual selected and trained by commercial or research organizations for flights of a specific payload on a NASA Space Shuttle mission...

in 1997 and trained at the Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas

Houston, Texas

Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...

, from 1998 until 2003. Among other experiments, Ramon was responsible for the MEIDEX project in which he was required to take pictures of atmospheric aerosol

Aerosol

Technically, an aerosol is a suspension of fine solid particles or liquid droplets in a gas. Examples are clouds, and air pollution such as smog and smoke. In general conversation, aerosol usually refers to an aerosol spray can or the output of such a can...

(dust) in the Mediterranean area using a multispectral camera designed to provide scientific information about atmospheric aerosols and the influence of global changes on the climate

Climate change

Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...

, and data for the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer

Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer

The Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer is a satellite instrument for measuring ozone values. It has been flown on NASA-satellites. Of the five TOMS instruments which were built, four entered successful orbit...

(TOMS) and Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments. Researchers from Tel Aviv University

Tel Aviv University

Tel Aviv University is a public university located in Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel. With nearly 30,000 students, TAU is Israel's largest university.-History:...

(TAU) were responsible for the scientific aspect of the experiment. The TAU team also worked with a US company, Orbital Sciences Corporation

Orbital Sciences Corporation

Orbital Sciences Corporation is an American company which specializes in the manufacturing and launch of satellites. Its Launch Systems Group is heavily involved with missile defense launch systems...

, to construct and test special flight instruments for the project.

In 2009 Israel was ranked 2nd among 20 top countries in space sciences by Thomson Reuters

Thomson Reuters

Thomson Reuters Corporation is a provider of information for the world's businesses and professionals and is created by the Thomson Corporation's purchase of Reuters Group on 17 April 2008. Thomson Reuters is headquartered at 3 Times Square, New York City, USA...

agency.

Physics

A team of 50 Israeli scientists work full-time at CERN

CERN

The European Organization for Nuclear Research , known as CERN , is an international organization whose purpose is to operate the world's largest particle physics laboratory, which is situated in the northwest suburbs of Geneva on the Franco–Swiss border...

, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, which operates the Large Hadron Collider

Large Hadron Collider

The Large Hadron Collider is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. It is expected to address some of the most fundamental questions of physics, advancing the understanding of the deepest laws of nature....

in Switzerland. Israel was granted observer status in 1991, but is now in the process of being accepted as a full-fledged member. An Israeli delegation headed by President

President of Israel

Shimon Peres

GCMG is the ninth President of the State of Israel. Peres served twice as the eighth Prime Minister of Israel and once as Interim Prime Minister, and has been a member of 12 cabinets in a political career spanning over 66 years...

visited the particle accelerator in 2011.

Aerospace engineering

Aerospace engineering is the primary branch of engineering concerned with the design, construction and science of aircraft and spacecraft. It is divided into two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering...

related to the country's defense needs has generated technological development with consequent civilian spin-offs. The Arava

IAI Arava

|-See also:-References:* Cohen, Irvine J. "Arava: Israel's first-born bids for world market". Air Enthusiast International, February 1974, Vol 6, No 2. pp. 55–61, 92–93....

short take-off and landing (STOL

STOL

STOL is an acronym for short take-off and landing, a term used to describe aircraft with very short runway requirements.-Definitions:There is no one accepted definition of STOL and many different definitions have been used by different authorities and nations at various times and for a myriad of...

) plane manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries was
the first aircraft to be produced in Israel, in the late 1960s, for both military and civilian uses. This was followed by the production of the Westwind business jet

IAI Westwind

|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Frawley, Gerald. "IAI Westwind". The International Directory of Civil Aircraft 1997/98. Fyshwick ACT: Aerospace Publications, 1997. ISBN 1-875671-26-9....

from 1965–1987, and later variants, the Astra

IAI Astra

|-See also:-External links:...

and the Gulfstream G100, which are still in active service.

Israel is among the few countries capable of launching satellites into orbit and locally designed and manufactured satellites have been produced and launched by Israel Aerospace Industries(IAI), Israel's largest military engineering company, in cooperation with the Israel Space Agency. The AMOS-1 geostationary satellite began operations in 1996 as Israel's first commercial communications satellite. It was built primarily for direct-to-home television broadcasting, TV distribution and VSAT services. AMOS-2 was launched in December 2003 and a further series of AMOS communications satellites (AMOS 2

AMOS 2

AMOS-2 is an Israeli commercial communication satellite, part of the AMOS series of satellites. The satellite was positioned at 4° W longitude in the geo-stationary orbit....

- 5i) are operated or in development by the Spacecom Satellite Communications

Spacecom

Spacecom, or Space Communication , is a communications satellite operator in the Middle East, European Union and North-America headquartered in the city of Ramat Gan, Israel...

company, headquartered in Ramat-Gan, Israel. Spacecom provides satellite telecommuncations services to countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Another satellite, the Gurwin-II TechSAT, designed and manufactured by the Technion, was launched in July 1998 to provide communications, remote sensing and research services. EROS, launched in 2000, is a non-geostationary orbit satellite for commercial photography and surveillance services.

Israel also develops, manufactures, and exports a large number of related aerospace products, including display systems, aeronautical computers, instrumentation systems, drones and flight simulators. Israel's second largest defense company is Elbit Systems, which makes electro-optical systems for air, sea and ground forces; drones; control and monitoring systems; communications systems and more.

The Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

The Technion – Israel Institute of Technology is a research-intensive institute of technology in Haifa, Israel. Originally called the Technikum, it was founded in 1912...

is home to the Asher Space Research Institute (ASRI)

Asher Space Research Institute (ASRI)

, which is unique in Israel as a university-based center of space research. At ASRI, Israeli students designed, built and launched their own satellite: Gurwin TechSat.

Agricultural engineering

Israel’s agricultural sector is characterized by an intensive system of production stemming from the need to overcome the scarcity in natural resource, particularly water and arable land, in a country where more than half of its area is desert. The growth in agricultural production is based on close

cooperation of scientists, farmers and agriculture-related industries and has resulted in the development of advanced agricultural

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

technology, water-conserving irrigation

Irrigation

Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...

methods, anaerobic digestion

Anaerobic digestion

Anaerobic digestion is a series of processes in which microorganisms break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen. It is used for industrial or domestic purposes to manage waste and/or to release energy....

, greenhouse technology, desert agriculture and salinity research. Israeli companies also supply irrigation, water conservation and greenhouse technologies and know-how to other countries.

The modern technology of drip irrigation

Drip irrigation

Drip irrigation, also known as trickle irrigation or microirrigation or localized irrigation , is an irrigation method which saves water and fertilizer by allowing water to drip slowly to the roots of plants, either onto the soil surface or directly onto the root zone, through a network of valves,...

was invented in Israel by Simcha Blass

Simcha Blass

Simcha Blass was an Israeli water engineer, a main figure of water development in Israel, initiator, introducer and developer of new drip irrigation systems, inventor of new dripper .-Early life:Simcha Blass was born in Warsaw, Poland, which was then part of the Russian Empire, to a Jewish orthodox...

and his son Yeshayahu. Instead of releasing water through tiny holes, blocked easily by tiny particles, water was released through larger and longer passageways by using velocity to slow water inside a plastic emitter. The first experimental system of this type was established in 1959 when Blass partnered with Kibbutz Hatzerim

Hatzerim

Hatzerim is a kibbutz located 8 kilometers west of Beersheba in the Negev desert in Israel. It is named after the Bible , mentionning a site nearby: "the Avvites who lived in farmyards as far as Gaza".-History:...

to create an irrigation company called Netafim

Netafim

Netafim is a company in the field of irrigation for agriculture and landscaping. The company focuses on crops in the area of drip irrigation, greenhouse turnkey projects, and biofuel energy crops...

. Together they developed and patented the first practical surface drip irrigation emitter. This method was very successful and had spread to Australia, North America and South America by the late 1960s.

Israeli farmers rely heavily on greenhouse technology to ensure a constant, year-round supply of high quality produce, while overcoming the obstacles posed by adverse climatic conditions, and water and land shortages. Technologies include computerized greenhouse climate control, greenhouse shading, irrigation

Irrigation

, fertigation

Fertigation

Fertigation is the application of fertilizers, soil amendments, or other water-soluble products through an irrigation system.Chemigation, a related and sometimes interchangeable term, is the application of chemicals through an irrigation system...

, greenhouse water recycling and biological control of plant disease and insects, allow farmers to control most production parameters. As a result, Israeli farmers successfully grow between 3.5 and 4.5 million roses per hectare

Hectare

The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...

in season and an average of 400 tons of tomatoes per hectare, four times the amount harvested in open fields.

Computer engineering

Israel's Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and the Weizmann Institute of Science

Weizmann Institute of Science

are ranked among the top 20 academic institutions in the world in computer science

Computer science

Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...

.

Israeli companies excel in computer security technologies, semiconductors and communications. Israeli firms include Check Point

Check Point

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. is a global provider of IT security solutions. Best known for its firewall and VPN products, Check Point first pioneered the industry with FireWall-1 and its patented stateful inspection technology...

, a leading firewall firm; Amdocs

Amdocs

Amdocs Limited is a provider of software and services for billing, customer relationship management , operations support systems...

, which makes business and operations support systems for telecoms; Comverse, a voice-mail company; and Mercury Interactive

Mercury Interactive

Mercury is now part of Hewlett-Packard. The combination of Mercury Interactive and HP OpenView formed HP Software Division, a global business unit within HP Enterprise Business...

, which measures software performance. A high concentration of high-tech industries in the coastal plain of Israel has led to the nickname Silicon Wadi

Silicon Wadi

Silicon Wadi is an area with a high concentration of high-tech industries in the coastal plain in Israel, similar to Silicon Valley in California, in the United States. Silicon Wadi is considered second in importance only to its Californian counterpart...

(lit

Literal translation

Literal translation, or direct translation, is the rendering of text from one language to another "word-for-word" rather than conveying the sense of the original...

: "Silicon Valley"). Both Israeli and international companies are based there.
Intel
and Microsoft

Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

built their first overseas research and development

Research and development

centers in Israel, and other high-tech multi-national corporations, such as IBM

IBM

, Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...

, and Motorola

Motorola

Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...

, have opened facilities in the country. Intel developed its dual-core Core Duo processor at its Israel Development Center in Haifa

Haifa

Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...

.

Optics, electro-optics, and lasers are significant fields and Israel produces fiber-optics, electro-optic

Electro-optics

Electro-optics is a branch of technology involving components, devices and systems which operate by modification of the optical properties of a material by an electric field...

inspection systems for printed circuit boards, thermal imaging night-vision systems, and electro-optics-based robotic manufacturing systems.

Research into robotics

Robotics

Robotics is the branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation, structural disposition, manufacture and application of robots...

first began in the late 1970s, has resulted in the production of robots designed to perform a wide variety of computer aided manufacturing tasks, including diamond polishing, welding, packing, and building. Research is also conducted in the application of artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...

to robots.

An Israeli, CEO and president of M-Systems

M-Systems

M-Systems Ltd., was a Nasdaq-listed Israeli producer of Flash memory storage products founded in 1989 by Dov Moran and based in Kfar Sava, Israel. They were best known for developing and patenting the first flash drive, marketed in 1995 as DiskOnChip, and the first USB flash drive, marketed in...

, Dov Moran, invented the first flash drive

USB flash drive

A flash drive is a data storage device that consists of flash memory with an integrated Universal Serial Bus interface. flash drives are typically removable and rewritable, and physically much smaller than a floppy disk. Most weigh less than 30 g...

in 1998.

More than 3,850 start-ups

Startup company

A startup company or startup is a company with a limited operating history. These companies, generally newly created, are in a phase of development and research for markets...

have been established in Israel, making it second only to the US in this sector and has the largest number of NASDAQ

NASDAQ

The NASDAQ Stock Market, also known as the NASDAQ, is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations". It is the second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization in the world, after the New York Stock Exchange. As of...

-listed companies outside North America.

Hydraulic engineering

Because rain falls only in the winter, and largely in the northern part of the country, irrigation and water engineering

Hydraulic engineering

This article is about civil engineering. For the mechanical engineering discipline see Hydraulic machineryHydraulic engineering as a sub-discipline of civil engineering is concerned with the flow and conveyance of fluids, principally water and sewage. One feature of these systems is the extensive...

is vital to the country's economic survival and growth. Large scale projects to direct water from rivers and reservoirs in the north, to make optimal use of groundwater, and to reclaim flood overflow and sewage have been undertaken. The largest such project was a national water distribution system called the National Carrier, completed in 1964, flowing from the country's biggest freshwater lake, the Sea of Galilee

Sea of Galilee

The Sea of Galilee, also Kinneret, Lake of Gennesaret, or Lake Tiberias , is the largest freshwater lake in Israel, and it is approximately in circumference, about long, and wide. The lake has a total area of , and a maximum depth of approximately 43 m...

, to the northern Negev

Negev

The Negev is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The Arabs, including the native Bedouin population of the region, refer to the desert as al-Naqab. The origin of the word Neghebh is from the Hebrew root denoting 'dry'...

desert, through huge channels, pipes and tunnels.

The Ashkelon

Ashkelon

Ashkelon is a coastal city in the South District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The ancient seaport of Ashkelon dates back to the Neolithic Age...

seawater reverse osmosis

Reverse osmosis

Reverse osmosis is a membrane technical filtration method that removes many types of large molecules and ions from solutions by applying pressure to the solution when it is on one side of a selective membrane. The result is that the solute is retained on the pressurized side of the membrane and...

(SWRO) desalination

Desalination

Desalination, desalinization, or desalinisation refers to any of several processes that remove some amount of salt and other minerals from saline water...

plant was the largest in the world at the time it was built. The project was developed as a BOT

Build-Operate-Transfer

Build-own-operate-transfer or build-operate-transfer is a form of project financing, wherein a private entity receives a concession from the private or public sector to finance, design, construct, and operate a facility stated in the concession contract...

(Build-Operate-Transfer) by a consortium of three international companies: Veolia water, IDE

International Development Enterprises

IDE - International Development Enterprises, founded in 1981 by Paul Polak, is an international not-for-profit corporation devoted to the manufacture, marketing, and distribution of affordable, scalable micro-irrigation and other low-cost water recovery systems throughout the developing world...

Technologies and Elran.

Military engineering

Rejection of requests for weapons and technologies, arms sanctions and massive rearmament of the Arab countries prodded Israel into the development of a broad-based indigenous arms industry. The Israel Defense Forces

Israel Defense Forces

The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...

relies heavily on local military technology and high-tech weapons systems designed and manufactured in Israel. Israeli-developed military equipment includes small arms, anti-tank rockets and missiles, boats and submarines, tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, unmanned surface vehicles, aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), air-defense systems, weapon stations and radar.

An impetus for the development of the industry was the embargo on arms sales to Israel during the Six-Day War

Six-Day War

The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...

which prompted Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), founded as a maintenance facility in 1953, to begin developing and assembling its own aircraft, including the Kfir

KFIR

KFIR is a radio station licensed to Sweet Home, Oregon, USA, the station serves the Willamette Valley. Albany, Corvallis, Lebanon, Salem, Sweet Home. News/Talk with Dennis Miller, Glenn Beck, Lars Larson, & Coast to Coast weekdays. The station is currently owned by Radio Fiesta Network,...

, the Arava

IAI Arava

|-See also:-References:* Cohen, Irvine J. "Arava: Israel's first-born bids for world market". Air Enthusiast International, February 1974, Vol 6, No 2. pp. 55–61, 92–93....

and the Nesher

IAI Nesher

The Israel Aircraft Industries Nesher is the Israeli version of the Dassault Mirage 5 multi-role fighter aircraft...

.

Notable technology includes the Uzi submachine gun

Uzi submachine gun

The Uzi is a family of Israeli open bolt, blowback-operated submachine guns. Smaller variants are considered to be machine pistols. The Uzi was one of the first weapons to use a telescoping bolt design which allows for the magazine to be housed in the pistol grip for a shorter weapon.The first Uzi...

, introduced in 1954, the country's main battle tank

Main battle tank

A main battle tank , also known as a battle tank or universal tank, is a tank that fills the heavy direct fire role of many modern armies. They were originally conceived to replace the light, medium, heavy and super-heavy tanks. Development was spurred onwards in the Cold War with the development...

, the Merkava

Merkava

The Merkava is a main battle tank used by the Israel Defense Forces. The tank began development in 1974 and was first introduced in 1978. Four main versions of the tank have been deployed. It was first used extensively in the 1982 Lebanon War...

, and the jointly designed Israeli and U.S.Arrow missile, one of the world's only operational, advanced anti-ballistic missile

Anti-ballistic missile

An anti-ballistic missile is a missile designed to counter ballistic missiles .A ballistic missile is used to deliver nuclear, chemical, biological or conventional warheads in a ballistic flight trajectory. The term "anti-ballistic missile" describes any antimissile system designed to counter...

systems.

The Iron Dome

Iron Dome

Iron Dome is a mobile air defense system in development by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems designed to intercept short-range rockets and artillery shells. The system was created as a defensive countermeasure to the rocket threat against Israel's civilian population on its northern and southern...

mobile air defense system developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems is designed to intercept short-range rocket

Rocket

A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...

s and artillery shells. The system was created as a defensive countermeasure to the rocket threat against Israel's civilian population on its northern and southern borders, and was declared operational and initially deployed in the first quarter of 2011. It is designed to
intercept very short-range threats up to 70 kilometers in all-weather situations. On April 7, 2011, the system successfully intercepted a Grad rocket launched from Gaza

Gaza Strip

thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...

, marking the first time in history a short-range rocket was ever intercepted.

Israel has also developed a network of reconnaissance satellites.
The Ofeq

Ofeq

(lit. Horizon) series (Ofeq 1 - Ofeq 7) were launched between 1988 and 2007. The satellites were carried by Shavit

Shavit

rockets launched from Palmachim Airbase

Palmachim Airbase

Palmachim Air Force Base is an Israeli military facility and spaceport located near the cities of Rishon LeZion and Yavne on the Mediterranean Sea. It is named after nearby Kibbutz Palmachim on the Mediterranean shore....

. Both the satellites and the launchers were designed and manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), with Elbit Systems

Elbit Systems

Elbit Systems Ltd. is one of the world's largest defense electronics manufacturers and integrators. Established in 1967, and based in Haifa, Israel, Elbit employs 11,000 people worldwide....

' El-Op division supplying the optical payload.

Health sciences

Israel has an advanced infrastructure of medical and paramedical research and bioengineering capabilities. Biotechnology

Biotechnology

Biotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...

, biomedical, and clinical research

Clinical research

Clinical research is a branch of medical science that determines the safety and effectiveness of medications, devices, diagnostic products and treatment regimens intended for human use...

account for over half of the country's scientific publications, and the industrial sector has used this extensive knowledge to develop pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and treatment therapies.

Medicine and genetics

Israeli scientists have developed methods for producing a human growth hormone and interferon

Interferon

Interferons are proteins made and released by host cells in response to the presence of pathogens—such as viruses, bacteria, or parasites—or tumor cells. They allow communication between cells to trigger the protective defenses of the immune system that eradicate pathogens or tumors.IFNs belong to...

, a group of proteins effective against viral infections. Copaxone, a medicine effective in the treatment of multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...

, was developed in Israel from basic research to industrial production. Genetic engineering

Genetic engineering

Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the direct human manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. It involves the introduction of foreign DNA or synthetic genes into the organism of interest...

has resulted in a wide range of diagnostic kits based on monoclonal antibodies

Monoclonal antibodies

Monoclonal antibodies are monospecific antibodies that are the same because they are made by identical immune cells that are all clones of a unique parent cell....

, with other microbiological products.

Advanced stem cell

Stem cell

This article is about the cell type. For the medical therapy, see Stem Cell TreatmentsStem cells are biological cells found in all multicellular organisms, that can divide and differentiate into diverse specialized cell types and can self-renew to produce more stem cells...

research takes place in Israel. The first steps in the development of stem cell studies occurred in Israel, with research in this field dating back to studies of bone marrow stem cells in the early 1960s. By 2006, Israeli scientists were leaders on a per capita basis in the number of articles published in scientific journals related to stem cell research. In 2011, Israeli scientist Inbar Friedrich Ben-Nun led a team which produced the first stem cells from endangered species, a breakthrough that could save animals in danger of extinction.

Biomedical engineering

Sophisticated medical equipment for both diagnostic and treatment purposes has been developed and marketed worldwide, such as computer tomography (CT) scanners, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

Magnetic resonance imaging

Magnetic resonance imaging , nuclear magnetic resonance imaging , or magnetic resonance tomography is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to visualize detailed internal structures...

systems, ultrasound scanners

Medical ultrasonography

Diagnostic sonography is an ultrasound-based diagnostic imaging technique used for visualizing subcutaneous body structures including tendons, muscles, joints, vessels and internal organs for possible pathology or lesions...

, nuclear medical cameras

Nuclear medicine

In nuclear medicine procedures, elemental radionuclides are combined with other elements to form chemical compounds, or else combined with existing pharmaceutical compounds, to form radiopharmaceuticals. These radiopharmaceuticals, once administered to the patient, can localize to specific organs...

, and surgical lasers

Laser scalpel

A laser scalpel is a scalpel for surgery, cutting or ablating living biological tissue by the energy of laser light. In soft tissue laser surgery, a laser beam ablates or vaporizes the soft tissue with high water content....

. Other innovations include a controlled-release liquid polymer to prevent accumulation of tooth plaque, a device to reduce both benign and malignant swellings of the prostate gland, the use of botulin

Botulinum toxin

Botulinum toxin is a protein produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum, and is considered the most powerful neurotoxin ever discovered. Botulinum toxin causes Botulism poisoning, a serious and life-threatening illness in humans and animals...

to correct eye squint, and a miniature camera encased in a swallowable capsule used to diagnose gastrointestinal disease, developed by Given Imaging

Given Imaging

Given Imaging is an Israeli medical technology company that manufactures and markets diagnostic products for the visualization and detection of disorders of the gastrointestinal tract....

.

In 2009, scientists from several European countries

Science and technology in Europe

Europe's achievements in science and technology have been significant and research and development efforts form an integral part of the European economy. Europe has been the home of some of the most prominent researchers in various scientific disciplines, notably physics, mathematics, chemistry and...

and Israel developed a robotic prosthetic hand, called SmartHand, which functions like a real one, allowing patients to write with it, type on a keyboard, play piano and perform other fine movements. The prosthesis

Prosthesis

In medicine, a prosthesis, prosthetic, or prosthetic limb is an artificial device extension that replaces a missing body part. It is part of the field of biomechatronics, the science of using mechanical devices with human muscle, skeleton, and nervous systems to assist or enhance motor control...

has sensors which enable the patient to sense real feeling in its fingertips. A new MRI system for identifying and diagnosing tumors developed at the Weizmann Institute has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is already being used in diagnosing breast and testicular cancer. The new system will replace invasive procedures and eliminate waiting time for the results.

Pharmaceuticals

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. , is an international pharmaceutical company headquartered in Petah Tikva, Israel. It specializes in generic and proprietary pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients...

, headquartered in Petah Tikva

Petah Tikva

Petah Tikva known as Em HaMoshavot , is a city in the Center District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv.According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, at the end of 2009, the city's population stood at 209,600. The population density is approximately...

, Israel, is the largest generic drug

Medication

A pharmaceutical drug, also referred to as medicine, medication or medicament, can be loosely defined as any chemical substance intended for use in the medical diagnosis, cure, treatment, or prevention of disease.- Classification :...

manufacturer in the world and one of the 20 largest pharmaceutical

Pharmacy

Pharmacy is the health profession that links the health sciences with the chemical sciences and it is charged with ensuring the safe and effective use of pharmaceutical drugs...

companies worldwide. It specializes in generic drug

Generic drug

A generic drug is a drug defined as "a drug product that is comparable to brand/reference listed drug product in dosage form, strength, route of administration, quality and performance characteristics, and intended use." It has also been defined as a term referring to any drug marketed under its...

s and active pharmaceutical ingredients and has developed proprietary pharmaceuticals such as Copaxone and Laquinimod

Laquinimod

Laquinimod is an experimental immunomodulator developed by Active Biotech and Teva. It is currently being investigated as an oral treatment for multiple sclerosis ....

for the treatment of multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis

, and Rasagiline

Rasagiline

Rasagiline is an irreversible inhibitor of monoamine oxidase used as a monotherapy in early Parkinson's disease or as an adjunct therapy in more advanced cases. It is selective for MAO type B over type A by a factor of fourteen....

for the treatment of Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...

Scientific research institutions

Israel has seven research universities: Bar-Ilan University

Bar-Ilan University

Bar-Ilan University is a university in Ramat Gan of the Tel Aviv District, Israel.Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is now Israel's second-largest academic institution. It has nearly 26,800 students and 1,350 faculty members...

, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev is a university in Beersheba, Israel, established in 1969. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has a current enrollment of 17,400 students, and is one of Israel's fastest growing universities....

, the University of Haifa

University of Haifa

The University of Haifa is a university in Haifa, Israel.The University of Haifa was founded in 1963 by Haifa mayor Abba Hushi, to operate under the academic auspices of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem....

, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

, the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Tel Aviv University

Tel Aviv University

Tel Aviv University is a public university located in Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel. With nearly 30,000 students, TAU is Israel's largest university.-History:...

and the Weizmann Institute of Science

Weizmann Institute of Science

, Rehovot

Rehovot

. Other scientific research institutions include the Volcani Institute of Agricultural Research

Volcani Institute of Agricultural Research

The Volcani Institute of Agricultural Research is an agricultural research center in Beit Dagan, Israel.The Volcani Institute is named for its founder and director for 30 years, Yitzhak Elazari Volcani. It was the first agricultural research institution in Palestine. It began as an agricultural...

in Beit Dagan

Beit Dagan

-Transportation:Beit Dagan's main transportation hub is the Beit Dagan Junction , between highway 44 and road 412, serving as a bus terminal for lines to Rishon LeZion, Tzrifin, Ashkelon, Tel Aviv, Petah Tikva, Rehovot, etc....

, the Israel Institute for Biological Research

Israel Institute for Biological Research

Israel Institute for Biological Research is a government defense research institute specializing in biology, medicinal chemistry and environmental science, and is suspected of also developing biological and chemical weapons, as well as defenses against them. It is located in Ness Ziona, 20...

and the Soreq Nuclear Research Center

Soreq Nuclear Research Center

The Soreq Nuclear Research Center is a research and development institute located near the localities of Palmachim and Yavne in Israel. It operates under the auspices of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission...

. The Ben-Gurion National Solar Energy Center

Ben-Gurion National Solar Energy Center

The Ben-Gurion National Solar Energy Center at Midreshet Ben-Gurion is the national alternative energy research institute of Israel. It was established in 1987 by the Ministry of National Infrastructures to study promising alternative and clean energy technologies, particularly those involving...

at Sde Boker

Sde Boker

Sde Boker is a kibbutz in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Best known as the retirement home of Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, it falls under the jurisdiction of Ramat HaNegev Regional Council.-History:...

is an alternative energy

Alternative energy

Alternative energy is an umbrella term that refers to any source of usable energy intended to replace fuel sources without the undesired consequences of the replaced fuels....

research institute established in 1987 by the Ministry of National Infrastructures to study alternative and clean

Clean technology

Clean technology includes recycling, renewable energy , information technology, green transportation, electric motors, green chemistry, lighting, Greywater, and many other appliances that are now more energy efficient. It is a means to create electricity and fuels, with a smaller environmental...

energy technologies.

Israeli universities are ranked among the top 100 academic institutions in the world in the following scientific disciplines: in physics

Physics

Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...

(Hebrew University, Weizmann Institute of Science and Tel Aviv University); in chemistry

Chemistry

Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....

(the Technion, Tel Aviv University and Hebrew University); in computer science

Computer science

(Weizmann Institute of Science and the Technion - in the top 20, Tel Aviv University, Hebrew University, and Bar Ilan University); in mathematics

Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...

and natural sciences (the Technion, Hebrew University, Tel Aviv University and Weizmann Institute of Science); in engineering

Engineering

(Technion); in life sciences

Life sciences

The life sciences comprise the fields of science that involve the scientific study of living organisms, like plants, animals, and human beings. While biology remains the centerpiece of the life sciences, technological advances in molecular biology and biotechnology have led to a burgeoning of...

(Hebrew University).

Research conducted at Israeli universities and institutes is shared with the private sector through technology transfer (TT) units. Israel's first university TT unit, YEDA, was established by the Weizmann Institute of Science in the 1950s. Research in such fields as arid and semi-arid zone agricultural engineering was transferred to kibbutzim and private farmers on a gratis basis and agricultural knowledge was shared with developing countries.

Technology transfer

In 2007, the United Nations General Assembly's Economic and Financial Committee adopted an Israeli-sponsored draft resolution on agricultural technology transfer to developing countries. The resolution called on developed countries to make their knowledge and know-how accessible to the developing world as part of the UN campaign to eradicate hunger and dire poverty by 2015. The initiative is an outgrowth of Israel's many years of contributing its know-how to developing nations, especially Africa, in the spheres of agriculture, fighting desertification, rural development, irrigation, medical development, computers and the empowerment of women.

Nobel prize laureates

Four Israelis have won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry:

In 2004, biologists Avram Hershko

Avram Hershko

Avram Hershko is a Hungarian-Israeli biochemist and Nobel laureate in Chemistry.-Biography:Born Herskó Ferenc in Karcag, Hungary, Hershko emigrated to Israel in 1950. Received his M.D. in 1965 and his Ph.D in 1969 from the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel...

and Aaron Ciechanover

Aaron Ciechanover

Aaron Ciechanover is an Israeli biologist, and Nobel laureate in Chemistry.- Biography :Ciechanover was born in Haifa, British mandate of Palestine, a year before the establishment of the State of Israel...

of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology were two of the three winners of the prize, for the discovery of ubiquitin

Ubiquitin

Ubiquitin is a small regulatory protein that has been found in almost all tissues of eukaryotic organisms. Among other functions, it directs protein recycling.Ubiquitin can be attached to proteins and label them for destruction...

-mediated protein degradation.

In 2009, Ada Yonath

Ada Yonath

Ada E. Yonath is an Israeli crystallographer best known for her pioneering work on the structure of the ribosome. She is the current director of the Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman Center for Biomolecular Structure and Assembly of the Weizmann Institute of Science. In 2009, she received the Nobel...

of the Weizmann Institute of Science

Weizmann Institute of Science

was one of the winners for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome

Ribosome

A ribosome is a component of cells that assembles the twenty specific amino acid molecules to form the particular protein molecule determined by the nucleotide sequence of an RNA molecule....

.

In 2011, Daniel Shechtman of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology was awarded the prize for the discovery of quasicrystal

Quasicrystal

A quasiperiodic crystal, or, in short, quasicrystal, is a structure that is ordered but not periodic. A quasicrystalline pattern can continuously fill all available space, but it lacks translational symmetry...

s.

Additionally, the 1958 Medicine laureate, Joshua Lederberg

Joshua Lederberg

Joshua Lederberg ForMemRS was an American molecular biologist known for his work in microbial genetics, artificial intelligence, and the United States space program. He was just 33 years old when he won the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering that bacteria can mate and...

, was born to Israeli Jewish parents, and 2004 Physics laureate, David Gross

David Gross

David Jonathan Gross is an American particle physicist and string theorist. Along with Frank Wilczek and David Politzer, he was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery of asymptotic freedom. He is currently the director and holder of the Frederick W...

, grew up partly in Israel, where he obtained his undergraduate degree. In the social sciences, the Nobel Prize for Economics was awarded to Daniel Kahneman

Daniel Kahneman

Daniel Kahneman is an Israeli-American psychologist and Nobel laureate. He is notable for his work on the psychology of judgment and decision-making, behavioral economics and hedonic psychology....

in 2002, and to Robert Aumann

Robert Aumann

Robert John Aumann is an Israeli-American mathematician and a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences. He is a professor at the Center for the Study of Rationality in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel...

of the Hebrew University in 2005.

Civilian

Aladdin Knowledge Systems
Aladdin Knowledge Systems
Aladdin Knowledge Systems was a company that produced software for digital rights management and Internet security. The company was by SafeNet Inc, in 2009. Its corporate headquarters are located in Belcamp...
Amdocs
Amdocs
Amdocs Limited is a provider of software and services for billing, customer relationship management , operations support systems...
AudioCodes
AudioCodes
AudioCodes Ltd. designs, develops, and sells products for voice, data, and video over IP networks. The company is an early pioneer of the VoIP industry having shipped VoIP solutions as early as 1995.-Company history:...
Babylon Ltd.
Babylon (program)
Babylon is a computer dictionary and translation program for Microsoft Windows, developed by Babylon Ltd., an Israeli public company .-History:...
Better Place
CEVA, Inc.
Commtouch
Commtouch
Commtouch is an Internet security technology company founded in 1991. The company is headquartered in Netanya, Israel, with a subsidiary in Sunnyvale, California....
Comverse
Check Point
Check Point
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. is a global provider of IT security solutions. Best known for its firewall and VPN products, Check Point first pioneered the industry with FireWall-1 and its patented stateful inspection technology...
ECI Telecom
ECI Telecom
ECI Telecom Ltd is a global telecom networking infrastructure provider headquartered in Petah Tikva, Israel. It provides communications platforms and solutions to carriers and service providers, cable/multiple system operators, wireless/cellular service providers, utilities and carrier of carriers,...
Mobileye
Mobileye
Mobileye is a technology company that focuses on the development of vision-based Advanced Driver Assistance Systems providing warnings for collision prevention and mitigation. Mobileye offers a wide range of driver safety solutions combining artificial vision image processing, multiple...
Ness Technologies
Ness Technologies
Ness Technologies is an Israel-based global provider of IT services and solutions.-History:Ness Technologies was established in 1999 in Tel Aviv, Israel. The company provides information technology and business planning services in North America, Europe, the Middle-East, and the Asia Pacific...

- software service provider
NICE Systems
NICE Systems
NICE Systems Ltd. , together with its subsidiaries, provides solutions that enable enterprises and security organizations to extract insight from interactions, transactions and surveillance....
Minicom Advanced Systems
Minicom Advanced Systems
Minicom Advanced Systems is an information technology manufacturer of KVM switches, extenders and remote access management solutions that facilitate control of corporate IT environments. The company is located in Jerusalem, Israel, and has regional offices in North America, Europe and China...

- digital signage and KVM
RAD Data Communications
RAD Data Communications
RAD Data Communications is a privately held corporation, based in Tel Aviv, Israel, that designs and manufacturers specialized networking equipment.RAD Data Communications is a member of the RAD Group of companies.-History:...
Radware
Radware
Radware , is a provider of integrated Application delivery, Network Security and Load balancing solutions based in Tel Aviv, Israel. Radware, which is a member of the Rad Group of companies, is a public company and its shares are traded on NASDAQ.- History :...
Radvision
Radvision Ltd.
RADVISION., founded in 1992, is a Nasdaq and Tel Aviv Stock Exchange-traded company, which is a component of the TA-100 Index of the largest 100 companies traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange by market cap, it provides products and technologies for videoconferencing, video telephony, and the...
Tadiran Telecom
Tadiran Telecom
Tadiran Telecom Ltd is a telecommunications company which offers enterprises complete converged communications solutions that support voice, data, video and advanced applications. It is represented by a global network of more than 200 distributors and affiliates in 40 countries.The corporate...
Teva Ltd.
Tower Semiconductor
Tower Semiconductor
Tower Semiconductor Ltd. , global specialty foundry leader and its fully owned U.S. subsidiary Jazz Semiconductor, operate collectively under the brand name TowerJazz, manufacturing integrated circuits with geometries ranging from 1.0 to 0.13-micron...
Zoran Corporation
Zend Technologies
Zend Technologies
Zend Technologies Ltd. is an Israeli world wide web infrastructure software company with headquarters in Cupertino, California, U.S., technology center in Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv, Israel and offices in France, Italy and Germany...

- web infrastructure software, inventors of PHP
PHP
PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document...

Environmental and waste treatment technology

BrightSource Energy
BrightSource Energy
BrightSource Energy is an Oakland, California, corporation that designs, builds, finances and operates utility-scale solar power plants that deliver clean, low-cost solar energy to utility and industrial customers worldwide at prices that compete with fossil fuels.Greentech Media ranked...
Ormat Industries
Ormat Industries
Ormat Industries Ltd. is a provider of alternative and renewable energy technology. To date the company has installed over 750 power units worldwide...
Solel
Solel
Solel Solar Systems Ltd. is an Israeli solar thermal equipment designer and manufacturer based in Beit Shemesh, Israel. Solel makes equipment for solar thermal power plants, facilities that use the sun's heat to create steam and turn an electricity generator....
SolarEdge
SolarEdge
SolarEdge is a provider of power optimizer, solar inverter and monitoring solutions for photovoltaic arrays. These products aim to increase energy output through module-level MPPT...

Security, military, government

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI)
Israel Military Industries
Israel Military Industries
Israel Weapons Industries , formerly the "Magen" division of the Israel Military Industries Ltd. is an Israeli firearms manufacturer. In 2005, the Small Arms Division of IMI was privatized....

(IMI)
RAFAEL Armament Development Authority
RAFAEL Armament Development Authority
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. , known as RAFAEL or Rafael, is an Israeli defense technology company...
Elbit Systems
Elbit Systems
Elbit Systems Ltd. is one of the world's largest defense electronics manufacturers and integrators. Established in 1967, and based in Haifa, Israel, Elbit employs 11,000 people worldwide....
Soltam
Soltam
Soltam Systems is an Israeli Defense company located near Yokneam. The company has been developing and manufacturing advanced artillery systems, mortars, ammunition and peripheral equipment since 1952. Soltam Systems serves armed and special forces in more than 60 countries...
Plasan
Plasan
Plasan is an Israeli owned vehicle manufacturer established in 1985...

External links

http://www1.technion.ac.il/en Technion - Israel Institute of Technology Website in English.
Israel21c - A Focus Beyond Israel Innovation News Service
Isracast Science and Technology section News on Science and Technology from Israel
Israel Science and Technology Homepage
MATIMOP - Israeli Industry Center for R&D
Israel High Tech and Venture Capital Research Center
2004 in science and technology in Israel
2005 in science and technology in Israel
Photographs of Israeli industry and technology
Defense R&D and Economic Growth in Israel: A Research Agenda, Dan Peled
Israel Science Technology Latest news on Israeli tech industry includes Software, Semiconductors, Mobile and Cleantech

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.