In the last three years, cuts have increased in higher education, especially in the Technion, and an atmosphere has been created that the researchers are the enemies of the mother. Prof. Aployd hopes that the award will change the situation. Ignoring Livnat and Sharon is just a symptom
Avi Blizovsky
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In the first interview after the award to an Israeli media outlet, Technion President Prof. Yitzhak Apluig says that today we are reaping an investment of 25 years ago, but stopping the ability to accept people returning from postdoctoral studies today will prevent future Nobel Prizes. Prof. Apluig was specially interviewed for the website Hedan. Prof. Apluig is currently in New York for the Technion Friends Association conference, a conference that may now take a turn.
According to him, this is indeed a big day for the Technion: "It is indeed a happy holiday. For the Technion this is the biggest day. It is of course a particularly happy holiday for the prize winners, the Technion and the entire State of Israel that for the first time Israeli scientists win the Nobel Prize in Science and this is a certificate of honor for Israeli science."
That was expected?
"Yes, it was expected for several years, also in light of other awards the two received for the same work, because the discovery by Hershko and Chechanover is a discovery of enormous significance for many fields related to biology and medicine, and the truth is that we have been expecting it for several years. The truth is, we expected the award to be given in medicine, but we are happy that it was given in chemistry at the end of the day. Jokingly, it can be said that since I myself am a professor of chemistry, I am happy that the award given is an award in the field of chemistry. Their work is of course work based on biochemistry - chemistry of molecules - proteins. They discovered the mechanism that signals the proteins in the cell that are about to be broken down and then recreated, and by this the cell system prevents the accumulation of proteins that contain genetic errors or errors as a result of radiation damage. This system, called ubiquitin marks them for death and then there is a whole machine of chemical mechanisms that break down the proteins into their building blocks and the cell can then use the building blocks again to build proteins that are built properly and without genetic defects.
What will be the impact of such an award on the Technion?
"Of course, this award was given for work that started about 25 years ago. This is a work that has developed in these 25 years and the success of the prize for genius and creativity and the unusual scientific ability of these two people is based on investments and the attitude to the higher education system that has been in the last 20 years. Unfortunately, today's situation of the higher education system and the Technion in particular is completely different. "
"I think one of the main messages that should come out of this mosaic is that if the State of Israel wants to continue to remain at the forefront of science and technology, and if it wants to have Nobel Prizes for Israeli researchers who work and work in the State of Israel, such as Hershko and Cchanover, and not just for Israeli researchers who live in the United States, the attitude towards the education system The higher must change."
"In the last three years, there have been huge cuts by the government in the budgets of the higher education system, and this, of course, is what affects young scientists who can do today. They are the scientists who can make the breakthroughs that will lead to Nobel Prizes in the years to come. In addition to the massive budget cuts, in the last three years there has been a relentless attack on the universities in which they try to portray the universities as inefficient, elitist institutions. The whole atmosphere caused by the politicians in the public is a completely wrong atmosphere and it seriously damages the motivation of the people and in particular the motivation of young people to join the system. Unfortunately, there are many talented young researchers who prefer to continue their academic career in the US and not return to Israel. This thing is a disaster for the State of Israel in the future."
"I hope that the fact that Hershko and Czechnovar received the Nobel Prize for the first time in Israel will help us with the political system to explain to them the needs of the higher education system and the Technion alone. The Technion is one of the institutions most affected by the recent cuts. The political system will understand that if there is an appropriate investment and an appropriate atmosphere in the State of Israel, then such successes will return in the coming years because the State of Israel has a tremendous potential of bright young people who can compete with people anywhere in the world, they just need the means and the appropriate atmosphere in the State of Israel so that they feel that they are doing Important work and that what they do is appreciated because in the atmosphere that has existed in the country for the past three years they have almost been portrayed as enemies of the public."
What does such an investment involve?
Just to demonstrate, for an average young researcher in the fields of science or technology that we receive today at the Technion, setting up a laboratory for him costs between 300 thousand and half a million dollars. Luckily for us, there are still funds coming to us from outside resources or donors. If we relied on what we receive from the State of Israel, we would not be able to establish even one laboratory for young faculty members who usually return from the USA after a post-doctoral period. The message is very clear - if there is no suitable investment and a suitable atmosphere, the people will not be in Israel. The world is open, and most people have tempting job offers from prestigious institutions in the US. I hope that it will be possible to use the extraordinary achievement of Hershko and Chechenover to use it as leverage regarding the Israeli government's policy regarding higher education.
What about the education of the winning on the willingness of potential donors to direct funds to the Technion?
Hershko and Chechenover's award is an excellent example of donor assistance. In this case it is about the Faculty of Medicine where they both work. Bruce Rapoport is a former Israeli and still an Israeli at heart. He and his wife Ruth had the vision to help us establish over 30 years ago the Faculty of Medicine at the Technion, which is something quite unique - we are one of the only engineering-technological institutions in the world that has a medical school. The vision was that a combination of medicine and engineering would be an important combination in the future and it has proven itself as you see now and it will prove itself in the future as well. They made the initial contribution to the establishment of the school and continued to support it financially. Over the years, this already amounts to tens of millions of dollars, without which none of these achievements would have been possible.
In other areas as well, practically all the development that has been done at the Technion in recent years has been done with donation money. If the donations were to stop tomorrow morning, God forbid, the Technion would not have a single penny to invest in its development. All the money would go only to pay salaries and there would be nothing left for the development of the Technion.
Is it true that the Technion is in the top ten of the technological universities in the world, at least during my studies there was it acceptable to say so?
"Even today this thing is true. There are international evaluation committees that come every year to two other departments and evaluate the academic level - both research and teaching. Without exception, all the committees that have been in recent years have said that the departments they scanned are among the 10 best departments in the world. There was a committee in electrical engineering, in computer science, in industry and management, in civil engineering. They all praised the academic and educational level of the Technion and wrote it explicitly in their reports. In some areas, they even said that these are the best departments they surveyed, but I emphasize that this thing is built on what we did 15 and 20 years ago, that today we are reaping the fruits, and today we are worried about what will happen in 10-15 years in the system if there is not a quick and noticeable change in the order of priorities of the State of Israel in terms of the attitude to higher education."
What do you think about the fact that more than a day after the announcement of the award, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Education did not call?
I guess this thing reflects something related to the previous words about the priorities. I am certainly disappointed that the Prime Minister and the Minister of Education did not see fit to immediately call and congratulate them on this tremendous achievement.
A Nobel Prize scholar
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