Dr. Yael Namirovski, one of the pioneers of the industry in Israel, spoke at an IEEE conference that dealt with the history of Israeli high-tech
"The microelectronics industry was established to provide Israel with an intelligence and military advantage following the trauma of the Yom Kippur War," explained Dr. Yael Namirovsky, from the Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at the Technion - which was one of the first microelectronics departments at Rafael, as part of a conference held last week by the International Union of the Electrical and Electronics Engineers, IEEE. The conference dealt with the history of Israeli high-tech and was organized by the Israeli branch of the organization, which has 1,300 members, in collaboration with ICOHTEC - the association for the study of the history of technology and its meanings, and with the assistance of Tel Aviv University.
Namirovski dedicated her lecture to the history of the Israeli microelectronics industry: "The industry in Israel was established in the early seventies, and at the beginning it was concentrated in the defense industries and mainly in Rafael. The rapid evolution was driven by the need to increase reliability and reduce the systems in aircraft and missiles and also the desperate need for advanced sensors. Following the Yom Kippur War, the need for specialization in the field of infrared sensors became clear, the sale of which was embargoed by the USA. This led to the establishment of a joint emergency project for the Technion and Rafael, which produced an array of sensors (Focal Plane Arrays) embedded on a dedicated chip capable of sensing photons (electro-optics) and a CMOS chip that includes a signal processor (microelectronics)."
Namirovsky went on to tell about the talented people who had already succeeded in Silicon Valley and the American academy and returned to Israel to establish the industrial infrastructure: "In 1971, Dan Sinai established the activity in the field of microelectronics at Raphael (he was also the one who recruited Namirovsky, AB) and later (in 1980) The company SCD - Semi Conductor Devices, Dov Prohman founded in 1974 the development center of Intel (Intel), and later in 1981 its first factory. In 1984, Dr. Giora Yaron established the National Semiconductor factory in Migdal Ha'Emek, which in 1993 became a tower."
Nemirovski also mentioned entrepreneurs such as Baruch Glick from SCD - and a company called Senso-Optic that developed imaging systems for infrared in the seventies: "The combination of a vital national need and the personal ambition of talented people who showed vision and motivation were the key to success. Both the decision-makers in the government, the ministries of defense, the economy and education, as well as large Jewish donors who helped the universities brought the funding that made possible the development of the field of microelectronics in Israel - both in industry and in academia, and even today this industry is developing and growing rapidly, and this time it is thanks to former students of the giant pioneers these". concluded Namirovski, who prepared the presentation together with Dan Sinai.
6 תגובות
The way the general public and politics in Israel work, Yossi is right. In order to improve the situation in the education system, we need to tell everyone that the Iranians will beat us in education in a moment and from there the road to the end is short.
Joseph,
If we read "between the lines" what you wrote, then it seems that you are trying to prophesy disaster. That Iran will be a scientific power, that Israel and other developed countries will follow Iran and not the other way around - before Iran.
I understand that your concern stems from the fact that: the Iranian education system is the reason for the rise of the brilliant "Iranian" scientists who grew up and were educated in Western countries (as was said in the comments).
I agree that specialization and investment and excellence in the field of physics is an excellent basis for starting specializations and investment in other fields such as computer chemistry, etc.
But don't forget that Iran has 78 million people. Most of them do not have access to the "excellent" education that the Iranian government provides to its citizens. "Excellent" in quotation marks because the question is how do you know that they have a better education than in Israel?
Annie claims that the education in Israel is particularly good and even better than in Iran.
Joseph,
As I wrote to you in response to another article, Nima Arkani Hamed is *not* a product of the Iranian state. He was born in Canada, raised in Canada, educated in Canada, studied in Canada, and has never visited Iran. Attributing some Iranian connection to his success is like saying that Barack Obama is a testament to Kenya's excellent education system.
Besides, if you want so much to look at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton as an example, let's not forget that the physics department has 4 seats. One Argentinian (Juan Maldesana), one Canadian of Iranian origin (Nima Arkani Hamed), one American Jew (Ed Witten), and one Israeli (Nati Zeiberg). And the Israeli is not an "American of Israeli origin", he is really Israeli.
I am not trying to say that there are no problems, that more needs to be done to promote the Israeli academy, or that our situation is deteriorating. But what you say seems like just an attempt to scare ("Look, the Iranians are defeating us!") and your example is incorrect and irrelevant because, apart from his parents' place of birth, Nima has nothing to do with Iran.
We are both right without contradiction.
Students who came to post-doc and excelled to such an extent that they were offered a position at Princeton, Harvard - indeed live in the USA.
Their origin is not forgotten, in the Iranian education system.
The fact that Nima received the Sackler Prize in Tel Aviv means that he knows Israel.
There was another famous scientist in quantum theory Masoud Alimohammadi who was eliminated in 2010 probably due to his involvement in the nuclear program. There is a list that includes about 200 academics of Iranian origin in US universities.
At the University of Religious Studies in Qom, the main city of Shia Islam, Babylonian Talmud is taught
http://www.albawaba.com/mena_voices/worlds-most-unlikely-place-study-jewish-scripture-736654
Because they cherish this book. This does not prevent them from later preaching the destruction of Israel. Adolf Eichmann studied Talmud at the university and became interested in Dr. Talmud. I would not underestimate such enemies.
To Yossi
Most of the Iranian scientists you describe are of Iranian origin living outside of Iran and do not identify with the tyrannical Ayatollah regime in Iran.
The universities should carry out an emergency five-year plan to find a way to regain their position in the world ranking. Think outside the academic box. In my opinion, there is no magic solution to this - simply a real investment by the state.
The development of infrared sensors and nanotechnology is important, but progress in Israel's existing knowledge axis is not good enough today.
In response to the article about the black hole, I mentioned two scientists of Iranian origin who are today at the top of theoretical physics and mathematics, and are generating rare revolutions in these fields, not the kind of continuous progress. I also stated that, in my opinion, their achievements regarding the nuclear agreement and Russian entry into the region, after the visit of shadow general Qassem Soleimani to Moscow, are on par with the scientific achievements of scientists of Iranian origin who work in the US. There are other scientists of Iranian origin in quantum theory, and there are gifted musicians and we are losing the battle of the minds.