REHOVOT, ISRAEL—November 8, 2015—On Monday, November 9, 2015, Prof. Lord Robert Winston and Israeli musician Shlomo Bar joined two Nobel laureates and two distinguished philanthropists to receive honorary doctorates from the Weizmann Institute of Science.
Prof. Lord Robert Winston, the event’s keynote speaker, is a world-renowned fertility expert, a pioneer of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and the treatment of female reproductive diseases. He has taught physicians from 80 countries and is a gifted communicator of often-complex science to the public through popular science books, TV programs, and lectures.
Shlomo Bar, composer, vocalist, drummer, and social activist, is known as a pioneer of ethnic music in Israel. His unique style, which has inspired many others, mixes East and West with instrumental improvisation and melody, and has contributed immensely to the cultural life of Israel.
Prof. Serge Haroche, recipient of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics, is a quantum physicist who realized Einstein’s dream of isolating and studying individual photons without destroying them. Testing the field of quantum mechanics at its most fundamental level, he opened the way to harnessing it for applications in quantum computing.
Miel de Botton is a clinical psychologist, contemporary art collector, philanthropist, and singer-songwriter. Following in the footsteps of her father, Gilbert de Botton, Miel is a dedicated friend of the Weizmann Institute of Science, recently establishing the de Botton Center for Marine Science.
Prof. Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, recipient of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics, is best known for developing the theoretical framework that explains the laser-cooling of atoms. His findings have paved the way toward ever-smaller electronic components, improved space navigation, and precise measurement of gravitational forces.
Pascal-Olivier Mantoux is the grandson of Charles Mantoux, a physician who developed the universal tuberculosis test known as the Mantoux test. Mantoux is an active member of the Weizmann Institute’s International and Executive Boards, and recently established, together with his wife, Ilana, the Ilana and Pascal Mantoux Institute for Bioinformatics.