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 future of humanity.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/the-world-s-first-photonic-router/
Jul 14, 2014...
Dr. Barak Dayan in the quantum computing lab where the photonic router was developed.
REHOVOT, ISRAEL—July 14, 2014—Weizmann Institute of Science researchers have, for the first time, demonstrated a photonic router – a quantum device based on a single atom that enables routing of single photons by single photons. This achievement, as reported in Science magazine, is another step toward overcoming the difficulties in building quantum computers.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/one-atom-two-photons-quantum-computing-switch/
Jul 11, 2014...
Photo: Weizmann Institute of Science
A scheme that uses a single atom to switch the direction of a single photon could pave the way toward quantum computers much more powerful than today’s machines.
The setup is described this week in the online issue of Science by researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. In simple terms, the atom can be in one of two states, either “left” or “right.” If the atom is in the left state, a photon that strikes it from the left will continue on in the same direction, as if it hadn’t hit the atom at all. A photon coming from the right, however, will be reflected back in the direction it came from, and at the same time the interaction will cause the atom to flip from left to right. Left and right can stand in for the 1s and 0s of digital logic.
Nov 23, 2018...
A panel from “… And the Invisible” based on the research of Weizmann Institute physicist Ulf Leonhardt, illustrated by Thomas Gosselin. Photo courtesy of ERC
“Our comic is set in a phantasmagorical laboratory of physics inhabited by an invisible man, composed of rooms called the Microcosm, the Invisibility Pool and the Inner Forest. Complex polygons of love among the researchers accompany us in the story, as we dive into the science of invisibility.”
Feb 24, 2020...
If you’re Jewish and observe kosher dietary restrictions, you likely have never looked into a shrimp’s eye.
However, if you have, you might have noticed that it gleams in low light. That is because the shrimp has a reflector underlying its retina (a “tapetum”) made up of tightly packed nanoparticles that allow the eye to collect more light underwater.
This was discovered by scientists from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, central Israel.
Jun 20, 2019... ‘This is the first time anyone has been able to control the spatial orientation of chiral molecules with light,’ says Ilya Averbukh from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. His theory group teamed up with Valery Milner’s experimental team from the University of British Columbia, Canada, to build a laser setup called an optical centrifuge that can spin chiral molecules depending on their handedness.
Mar 01, 2014... Smaller, lighter, faster to build, easier to launch and one-tenth the cost of today’s big space telescopes: That is the idea behind a unique collaboration between Weizmann Institute scientists and researchers in California, Israeli, and American industry, and NASA. The proposed project, says Institute astrophysicist Prof. Eli Waxman, could lead to a new era of research based on a number of small, special-purpose telescopes that will expand the boundaries of astrophysical research. Among other things, they might enable us to understand how black holes grow, or solve such mysteries as the sources of high-energy cosmic radiation.
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/brain-research-gets-a-boost-from-mosquitos/
May 11, 2021... REHOVOT, ISRAEL—May 11, 2021—Can a protein found in a mosquito lead to a better understanding of the workings of our own brains? Prof. Ofer Yizhar and his team in the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Department of Neurobiology took a light-sensitive protein derived from mosquitos and used it to devise an improved method for investigating the messages that are passed from neuron to neuron in the brains of mice. This method, reported in Neuron, could potentially help scientists solve age-old cerebral mysteries and pave the way for new and improved therapies to treat neurological and psychiatric conditions.
May 11, 2021...
Israeli scientists have developed a way to switch off connectors that link different parts of the brain, in an advance they say could prove key to treating neurological disorders like epilepsy.
The innovation, which relies on a light-sensitive protein from mosquitos, was reported on Tuesday in the peer-reviewed journal Neuron. The breakthrough has been discussed in medical circles for several weeks, and dozens of neurobiology teams around the world are already ordering the protein and using the protocol in their own labs.
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.”
https://weizmann-usa.org/news-media/in-the-news/nasa-to-cooperate-on-israeli-astrophysics-mission/
Jan 25, 2023...
WASHINGTON — The United States and Israel are finalizing an agreement that would see NASA contribute to an upcoming Israeli astrophysics mission.
The focus of the agreement, which could be signed as soon as later this month, involves a mission called Ultrasat under development by Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science with support from the Israel Space Agency and German research center DESY.
As part of the agreement, NASA would provide the launch of Ultrasat, which will operate in geostationary orbit. NASA will likely arrange to fly Ultrasat as a secondary payload on a commercial GEO launch, said James Rhoads, NASA project scientist for Ultrasat, during a session of the 241st Meeting of the American Astronomical Society Jan. 11.
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