About Us
Founded in 1944, the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science develops philanthropic support for the Weizmann Institute in Israel, and advances its mission of science for the benefit of humanity.
Jun 14, 2021...
For something that was to have been done and thrown away three years ago, NASA’s Juno spacecraft has a busy schedule ahead exploring Jupiter and its big moons.
The spacecraft entered orbit around Jupiter on July 4, 2016, and has survived bombardment from intense radiation at the largest of the solar system’s planets. It is now finishing its primary mission, but NASA has granted it a four-year extension and 42 more orbits. Last week, it zipped past Ganymede, Jupiter’s largest moon.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/jupiter-s-super-polar-cyclones-are-here-to-stay/
Jul 19, 2021... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—July 19, 2021—Until recently, before NASA’s Juno space probe entered its orbit around the planet Jupiter, no one knew that powerful cyclones approximately the size of Australia rage across its polar regions. Jupiter’s storms, as opposed to the earthly variety, do not disperse and rarely change. In an article published in Nature Geoscience, researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science reveal the mysteries of Jupiter’s cyclones: which forces affix these gargantuan storms to their polar locations and why the storms’ numbers and locations remain more or less constant over time.
Oct 28, 2021... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—October 28, 2021—Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is up there with the rings of Saturn and the blue marble of Earth for solar system icon status. In a study published today in Science, Weizmann Institute of Science researchers and their collaborators on NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter report that this spot – really a giant, persistent storm – extends to a depth of about 500 kilometers below the planet’s clouds. This revelation is among the mission’s findings being presented at a NASA press conference tonight and published in Science and in Geophysical Research Letters.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/going-out-with-a-bang/
Jan 12, 2022...
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—January 12, 2021—In the not-so-distant past, the discovery of a supernova—or exploding star—was considered a rare occasion.
When Prof. Avishay Gal-Yam of the Weizmann Institute’s Particle Physics and Astrophysics Department was a doctoral student, he only located seven supernovas over the course of four years. But today, advanced measuring instruments and analytical methods make it possible to detect fifty such explosions daily. While these improved means may have made these celestial events somewhat less notable over the years, the greater number of observations has also increased the probability that researchers will spot rarer types of explosions that have so far existed only as theoretical constructs. Gal-Yam and his colleagues recently discovered a rare-type supernova that has never been observed before. Their findings are being published today in Nature.
Feb 21, 2022... “It is a scientific breakthrough project that will place Israel at the forefront of astronomical research, position it as a rising force in the field of scientific satellites and provide excellent exposure to the Israeli industry,” says Professor Eli Waxman, astrophysicist at the Weizmann Institute of Science, principal investigator of the ULTRASAT mission and one of the fathers of the first Israeli space telescope, which is planned to be launched in 2025. “The beautiful thing about this mission is that it is led by science. We have set goals that are at the forefront of science, and to achieve them we have to be the first and the best.”
Mar 14, 2022... Are we truly alone in the universe? The Weizmann Institute of Science has joined a global consortium of distinguished institutions engineering the world’s most powerful telescope. The Giant Magellan Telescope will be able to probe the atmospheres of planets beyond our solar system for any indication of life.
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