The Technion’s history begins in 1901, half a century before the establishment of the State of Israel, in the halls of the Stadtcasino Basle, where the Fifth Zionist Congress was held. There, three Jewish intellectuals – the philosopher Martin Buber, the chemist and future president of the country Chaim Weizmann, and the journalist Berthold Feiwel – brought to the attention of those present the need to adopt a program of Hebrew culture, including the establishment of an engineering education institute to support the development of the future state.