Category Archives: Science & Technology

Jews in the World of Science and Technology

Jew of the Week: Dr. Chaim Weizmann

Chemist, Zionist, President

Dr. President Weizmann

Chaim Azriel Weizmann (1874-1952) The first president of Israel, Weizmann was a chemist by training and lectured in universities across Europe. He developed the ABE process – a way of producing acetone from bacteria – which was relied upon heavily by the Allies in World Wars I & II to make explosives. Before the formation of Israel, he was president of the World Zionist Congress, working tirelessly for the establishment of a Jewish state. He was one of the founders of Hebrew University and the Weizmann Institute (recently ranked the best research facility in the world). When asked what reward he wanted in exchange for his invaluable contributions to the Great War, he answered “There is only one thing I want – a national home for my people.” The famous Balfour Declaration was issued just weeks later.

Words of the Week

If we use our fuel to get our power, we are living on our capital and exhausting it rapidly. This method is barbarous and wantonly wasteful, and will have to be stopped in the interest of coming generations.

– Nikola Tesla

Jews of the Week: Carasso & Metchnikoff

Isaac Carasso

Elie Metchnikoff

Isaac Carasso (1874-1939) A Spanish doctor, he noticed many of his patients suffered from digestive and intestinal problems. He imported bacterial cultures from Bulgaria and mixed them with sour cream, perfected by Nobel Prize-winning scientist and Russian Jew Elie Metchnikoff (1845-1916). Thus was born modern yogurt, which was initially sold only at pharmacies as a medicine! In 1919, Carasso founded Danone, named after his son Daniel. Today, Danone is the world’s largest provider of dairy foods and bottled water (Evian and Naya are among their brands). Meanwhile, Metchnikoff discovered the white blood cells known as phagocytes, and is considered one of the fathers of immunology.

Words of the Week

It’s better to have a Jewish State that is hated by the whole world, than an Auschwitz that’s loved by it.
– Rabbi Meir Kahane

Jew of the Week: Julius Fromm

Inventor of the Condom

Julius Fromm

Israel “Julius” Fromm (1883-1945) a Polish Jew who immigrated to Berlin, he is the inventor of the modern condom. Until his invention in 1912, most condoms were made from animal intestines and bladders. Fromm liquefied rubber with gasoline, allowing for a thin, flexible and durable condom. He received the patent in 1916 and by 1922, the “Fromm’s Act” brand was mass-produced across Europe. Today in Germany, “Fromm” is still a slang word for condom.

Words of the Week

“There is no such country as Palestine. ‘Palestine’ is a term the Zionists invented. There is no Palestine in the Bible. Our country was for centuries part of Syria. ‘Palestine’ is alien to us. It is the Zionists who introduced it.”
– Auni Bey Abdul-Hadi, to British Peel Commission, 1937