The Technion Timeline
Scroll through to see Technion's 100 years of achievements
Major General Moshe Dayan, then Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, visited the Technion just before he left for England to open a fundraiser for the Technion there.
In 1954, a celebratory dinner was held under the auspices of the Technion in honor of the Prime Minister of England, Winston Churchill, with the participation of important figures in English Jewry. Mrs. Churchill signs the foundation scroll at the cornerstone laying ceremony for the Churchill Auditorium in Technion City.
A legend stands behind the establishment of the Department of General Studies, later called the Department of Humanities and Arts. The story goes that in 1962 the vice president of the Technion, Professor Haim Hanani, who was a mathematician, was very disturbed by the state of Technion students’ education. The reason for his concern was not the technical level of the students, but their lack of understanding of the broad philosophical and cultural contexts of their work. To convince the Senate of the necessity for a department that would be dedicated to broad humanistic studies, he conducted an experiment in…Read More
Eleanor Roosevelt, the widow of American President Franklin Roosevelt, visits the Technion. Eleanor Roosevelt was accompanied by her granddaughter, Nina; they toured the student dormitories, met with lecturers at the Technion and signed the guest book. Roosevelt, who was a social activist and a fighter for the rights of women, children, and youth, visited Israel several times (without her husband the president) and served as World Patron of Youth Aliyah.
In 1959, the Technion’s graduation ceremony was held for the first time on the new campus, on Mount Carmel.
In the early 1950s, the Technion changed its course and became a research-oriented university, and in 1953 it established a science department consisting of three units: mathematics, physics and chemistry. In 1957 the first graduate in mathematics was awarded an academic degree and in 1962 the departments became independent faculties.
The Technion’s dance troupe was established in 1956, and continues to operate successfully to this day! In 1960, it made its second tour to Europe, on which it was written: “The urban dance troupe of the Technion students went on a European tour last week, and made its first appearance in Bollory, in France, at a gathering of hostels – Youth, held there, on August 21, 1960. The band, numbering 18 people, made its way on the “Adrias” ship, where the passengers enjoyed their time with Hebrew poetry. The band toured Western Europe and performed, among other things, at the…Read More
Uziah Galil is one of the pioneers of Israeli high-tech industry and Elron is the first Israeli company to become international. Elron was established as an electronics company, and later became the holding company, which is the technology investment arm of the IDB Group. The companies it owns are engaged in medicine, cleantech, information technology and semiconductors.
The Technion awarded Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion an honorary Doctor of Architecture for his role as prime mover in creation of the State of Israel’s.
Tage Erlander was the prime minister of Sweden for 23 years. In 1962 he made a visit to Israel, together with his wife, during which they visited the Technion. During the 1950s and 1960s, warm relations existed between Israel and Sweden, and they were reflected in this visit and in Sweden’s declared support for Israel throughout the Six Day War in 1967.
For the first 30 years of its existence, the Technion did not have separate scientific departments. However, basic education in physics is considered vital and was therefore included in the curricula. Prof. Aharon Tcherniavsky took upon himself the sole responsibility of teaching physics to all students at the Technion. In those days luxuries such as laboratory equipment were obtained only thanks to donations. In 1952, the Department of Physics was established as part of the Faculty of Sciences. The first head of the physics department was Prof. Nathan Rosen, Einstein’s last assistant. In 1958, the physics department moved from the…Read More
In the early 1950s, the Technion changed its course and became a research-oriented university, and in 1953 it established a science department consisting of three units: mathematics, physics, and chemistry. The head of the mathematics unit was Prof. Jeremias Grossman. In 1957 the first graduate in mathematics was awarded an academic degree and in 1962 the Faculty of Mathematics became an independent unit oriented towards academic research. In 1988, the Institute for Advanced Studies in Mathematics (CMS) was established. Today, the Faculty’s researchers are at the forefront of theoretical and applied mathematical research.
Dalia Atlas taught outstanding singers and instrumentalists in the Department of Humanities and Arts at the Technion. She founded the Technion Orchestra and the Technion Choir, which are still active today.
Robert Burns Woodward was an American organic chemist, winner of the 1965 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his many achievements in the field of understanding organic molecular structure and organic synthesis, including the formulation of Woodward’s laws. A year after winning the prize, he visited the Technion, where he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree by the Technion.
Prof. Ludwig Erhard was chancellor of West Germany in 1966-1963. During his visit to Israel, he was welcomed at Technion City by Technion President Alexander Goldberg.
In the early 1960s, activity in the field of materials engineering began within the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. A lecturer named Ariel Taub from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering established a laboratory that included an optical microscope, a table with a polishing and cooking device and one oven, which formed the basis of today’s Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering. In 1962 the Institute of Metals was officially established and in 1968 the Department of Materials Engineering was established in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. In 1980, the department became an independent unit at the Technion, which awarded only graduate…Read More
“Elscint” (from the words “electronic” and “scientific” in English) was founded in 1969 by Dr. Avraham Suhami, who was a lecturer in nuclear physics at the Faculty of Physics at the Technion at the time. He was encouraged by Uzia Galil, the founder of Elron, to apply his scientific and technical knowledge for commercial use. Elscint became a subsidiary of Elron and engaged in the development, production and marketing of solutions for medical imaging, nuclear medicine, computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and was a world leader in its field. In fact, Suhami was the first in Israel…Read More
When Israel gained control of the Western Wall in the Six Day War, HaKotel HaMa’aravi became a site visited by thousands every day. In 1969, the need arose to strengthen various walls in the Temple Mount area. Following the intensive archaeological excavations that began after the war, there was concern about the stability of the findings, especially the Western Wall. The engineers of the Faculty of Civil Engineering got involved in the task of strengthening the Western Wall and other walls in the area and built supports that hold up to this day! The task of maintenance in the heart…Read More
The Faculty of Biology had its beginning in the biochemistry course of study founded by Dr. Ruth Ben-Ishai in 1958, at that time under the auspices of the Chemistry Department. In 1963, biochemist Dr. Yoram Avi-Dor joined the Technion faculty and was appointed head of the Biochemistry Unit. The Technion was then located on the old campus in Hadar and had very limited facilities for biology research. With the move to the Neve Sha’anan campus, the situation improved. In 1971, the unit was separated from the Chemistry Department and the Technion’s Senate announced the establishment of the Biology Department. In…Read More
In 1972, the faculty moved from the historic campus in Hadar Hacarmel to a new and spacious but half-built building in Technion City. In 1973, after receiving a gift from the Wolfson Foundation to enable finishing the construction of the major part of the building, the department was given its current, and 12th name: The Wolfson Faculty of Chemical Engineering.