Scientific and Political Activities of the First President of Israel
Chaim Weizmann, one of the few men who have achieved success in two disparate fields, chemist and statesman, was born on November 17, 1874, in the small town of Motol, Russia, part of what was known as the Pale of Settlement, an area where Jewish families were allowed to live. Beginning at age four he attended a religious school in which classes were conducted in Yiddish. He did not learn Russian until he was eleven. In 1885 he migrated to Pinsk to attend a Russian high school, where he studied chemistry and devoted much of his spare time to Zionist activities. He later became president of the World Zionist Organization (from 1921), president of the Hebrew University in Palestine (from 1932), and the first president, a largely ceremonial position, of the new State of Israel (from its establishment in 1948 until his death in 1952).
After university studies in Germany and Switzerland (he earned a Ph.D. in 1899 for research on dyestuffs), he taught as a privatdocent (unsalaried lecturer) at the University of Geneva. He subsequently carried out basic and applied research at the University of Manchester in England. His academic research was supplemented by industrial research. In 1904 he was awarded the first of his 110 patents. He became a British citizen in 1910.
During World War I, a search for synthetic rubber in England led to Weizmann’s classic work on the fermentation of glucose , a sugar containing six carbon atoms, as a source of acetone (1915), urgently needed by the British government for the manufacture of cordite (smokeless powder). Weizmann’s use of a fermenting agent to produce acetone followed his discovery of the acid-resistant microorganism Clostridium acetobutylicum; this method of acetone production became known as the Weizmann process. At the request of Winston Churchill, then first lord of the admiralty, the Weizmann process was put into operation on an enormous scale in England, Canada, and the United States. The rapid wartime expansion of this process (from a laboratory to an industrial scale) was not only unique among microbiological processes used in industry, but was also the forerunner of the rapid expansion of penicillin production during World War II, as well as of the breadth of operations of many of today’s biotechnological processes.
Weizmann knew that his fermentation process yielded chemical compounds containing three and four carbon atoms and predicted that the same process could produce the substances on which modern petrochemical industries are based. He often enunciated the need for countries (especially those poor in natural oil) to replace a petroleum-based chemical industry with one based on fermentation. The Balfour Declaration (1917), the first formal international recognition of Zionism, was, to some extent, a culmination of Weizmann’s scientific and political efforts. His fermentation process, which contributed to the Allies’ victory in World War I, was not a direct cause of the declaration but was certainly an indirect one.
During the two decades following World War I, politics replaced chemistry as Weizmann’s main pursuit. However, he did pursue scientific research, alongside his political activities, until the end of his life. In his later years (and while president of Israel), he worked at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, where he died on November 9, 1952. In Israel his grave is a place of national pilgrimage.
About the Author
Dr. Badruddin Khan teaches Chemistry in the University of Kashmir, Srinagar, India.His contact details are: Phone-+91 9697091517, E.mail: buk1@rediffmail.com
President Ronald Reagan – Speech on the Geneva Summit
|
|
Real Bling Rhinestone Geneva President Men Watch GE58AS $29.99 |
|
|
Real Bling Rhinestone Geneva President Men Watch GE58DG $29.99 |
|
|
CT Photo President Ronald Reagan & Furgler Trip Geneva $9.99 |
|
|
Rhinestones Silver Geneva President Ladies Watch GR210S $24.99 |
|
|
TIME MAGAZINE OCTOBER 17 1977-PUSHING TOWARD GENEVA-PRESIDENT CARTER $3.49 |
|
|
1955 Pres Eisenhower Swiss President Max Petitipierre Geneva Press Photo $28.88 |
|
|
1955 Press Photo Geneva Switzerland President Eisenhowe $21.88 |
|
|
Set of 3 Brand New Geneva President Men Watches GM1023 $45.99 |
|
|
Rhinestones 2-Tone Geneva President Ladies Watch GR2107 $24.99 |
|
|
1946 Press Photo President Carl Hambro League Nations Geneva assembly Norway $25.88 |
|
|
Real Bling Rhinestone Geneva President Men Watch GE58SS $29.99 |
|
|
Geneva Switzerland Quai President Wilson c1910 Postcard $4.79 |
|
|
1974 Cypriot President Glafkos Clerides Palais des Nations Geneva Press Photo $18.88 |
|
|
1957 US PRESIDENT EISENHOWER GENEVA WAVING PRESS PHOTO $13.88 |
|
|
CT PHOTO apa-152 President Ronald Reagan & Gorbachev Trip Geneva $9.98 |
|
|
CT PHOTO apa-191 President Ronald Reagan & Gorbachev Trip Geneva $9.98 |
|
|
CT PHOTO apa-196 President Ronald Reagan & Gorbachev Trip Geneva $9.98 |
|
|
1959 President Eisenhower and Geneva Conferees Press Photo $23.88 |
|
|
1969 Geneva Eric Thrane President of the EFTA Council $13.03 |
|
|
Peter Jennings Reporting: Guantanamo $19.98 In another of his primetime investigative documentaries, Peter Jennings reports on one of the most controversial features of America’s war on terror – the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. After September 11, 2001, President Bush said that the war against terrorism demanded new tactics and new thinking. More than two years later, almost 600 prisoners from 40 countries are being held at Guant… |
|
|
SPEECH TO CONGRESS ON GENEVA SUMMIT – REAGAN, 1985 $14.95 Experience the American Journey through our country’s visual heritage in this historical recording provided by the National Archives of the United States. From the U.S. Information Agency “Worldnet Today” Program Series. PRESIDENT REAGAN SPEAKS TO A JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS UPON HIS RETURN FROM TALKS IN GENEVA WITH SOVIET LEADER MIKHAIL GORBACHEV. HE SAYS IT WAS A CONSTRUCTIVE MEETING, ALTHOUGH… |
|
|
The Geneva Seduction (An International Thriller) $6.95 Mick Pierce is kidnapped by industrial terrorists.Abducted on the Swiss Riviera, CIA officer Mick Pierce can only watch helplessly as an assassin zeros in on the President of the United States.A trail of murders across Europe leads investigators to a final showdown as the American President prepares to speak at Europe’s high-energy laboratory, buried deep beneath the mountains.And then, his kidnap… |
|
|
A Prisoner of War – Justified Vengeance Stress and the desire for revenge can make men do things they’d never do under normal circumstances, especially in times of war!When Slade Robbins’ Phantom was shot down over Vietnam, he was just a statistic. ***What American prisoners endured at the hands of the Viet Cong and their Soviet sponsors during their captivity was brutal beyond imagination!However, most American prisoners held true to t… |
|
|
Declarations of War and Authorizations for the Use of Military Force: Historical Background and Legal Implications – CRS Report $0.99 From the Washington Administration to the present, Congress and the President have enacted 11 separate formal declarations of war against foreign nations in five different wars. Each declaration has been preceded by a presidential request either in writing or in person before a joint session of Congress. The reasons cited in justification for the requests have included armed attacks on United Stat… |
|
|
Geneva Hotels $40 Geneva Hotels |
|
|
THE LODGE AT GENEVA $90 THE LODGE AT GENEVA |
|
|
Mystery At Geneva $1.89 Mystery At Geneva |
|
|
The Geneva Deception $9.59 The Geneva Deception |
|
|
President $289 President hotel was built in 1982 |
|
|
the president $379.99 Robert Indiana the president – Serigraph |
|
|
Geneva $104.95 The women’s Sofft Geneva sandal bootie is the perfect way to finish off your outfit. The uppers feature printed nappa, crisscrossing down the front into a peep toe opening. The zip-up back makes for easy on-and-off, and the enclosed heel is fashionable and comfortable. This shoe goes perfectly from day to night, so you can turn on the glamour all day!Printed nappa upperOpen toe, crisscross instepEnclosed, zip entry heelHandpainted outsoleApprox. 3″ inch heel heightSOFFT 3010-2517 GENEVA CHAMPAGNE |