Professor Hawking at the Weizmann Institute: received a fragment of the particle accelerator

This is a component of a system built by researchers at the Weizmann Institute for the new accelerator in Sarn (and additional information from his visit)

Professor Stephen Hawking visited the Weizmann Institute of Science on Sunday, and was received by the institute's president, Prof. Daniel Zeifman, who reviewed the areas of scientific activity at the institute.

Afterwards, a dinner was held in his honor, with the participation of all the vice presidents of the institute and the deans of the faculties. Two scientists from the institute reviewed their fields of activity before Hawking. Physicist Prof. Mordechai Milgrom reviewed a unique theory he developed, according to which a certain modification of Newton's laws creates a match between the rate of mass seen in the universe and the speed of movement of stars and galaxies, without the need for the accepted assumption regarding the existence of eclipsing matter. Prof. Uri Alon, who is one of the pioneers of the emerging science called systems biology, reviewed before Hawking the new horizons of using physical tools in life science research.

The president of the institute, Prof. Daniel Zeifman, presented Hawking with a piece of the particle detector that was designed and built at the Weizmann Institute by physicists Prof. Giora Mickenberg, Prof. Ehud Duchovani and Prof. Elam Gross. This particle detector is activated in the particle accelerator at the European Laboratory for the Study of Particle Physics, Saran, on the border of Switzerland and France, with the aim of discovering the "Higgs" particle, the discovery of which will shed light on the mass formation mechanism of all matter particles and force-carrying particles in the universe.

Amir Barnett, the messenger of the science site for the event at the Weizmann Institute adds:

At the end of a long day, the renowned physicist Prof. Stephen Hawking arrived at the Weizmann Institute of Science and met with its president. After giving a lecture to high school students in Jerusalem in a lecture that was broadcast online, the professor met with Prime Minister Mr. Ehud Olmert, and concluded the day with a meeting and a celebratory dinner at the Weizmann Institute with the participation of His Excellency Tom Phillips, British Ambassador to Israel, the new president of the Weizmann Institute, Prof. Daniel Zeifman, and the vice presidents . After Prof. Hawking's arrival, he talked lightly with Prof. Zeifman about the institute's activities and its role not only as a place of academic research but also for the advancement of knowledge in the community. Prof. Hawking was interested in the research topics at the institute and its funding methods, after which the professors, accompanied by students, and staff members from the British Embassy went to eat.

Prof. Hawking has days full of lectures and meetings with scientists and youth throughout Israel and in the Palestinian Authority. This is Prof. Hawking's second visit to Israel, in 1988 he visited on the occasion of receiving the Wolf Medal from the country's president Haim Herzog.
Prof. Hawking also appeared in the only interview with the Israeli media on Yair Lapid's TV show. A significant part of the interview was dedicated to his illness and its consequences, and Hawking laughed at this and said "at least I'm not wasting my time with all kinds of committees". He also said that he tries to live a full life with his family and the only drawback is that he is known and cannot blend in with the crowd in the places he travels to.

After Lapid tried to get an answer out of him to the question of whether he believed in God, Hawking replied that even God, if he existed, would have to obey the laws of nature, otherwise they would not be laws. According to him the universe has always existed and will always exist, however in its current version (in the Big Bang AB) it was created from the void.

Tonight (Monday) Hawking was hosted for dinner at the Israel Academy of Sciences. Tomorrow evening he will be hosted at Tel Aviv University.