Prof. Segev from the Physics Faculty at the Technion also calls for the return of the best minds to Israel - it is impossible to guarantee them American salaries, but it is certainly possible to provide them with the ability to perform quality science
The Minister of Education, Shai Piron, announced today, Sunday, the winner of the Israel Prize in the field of chemistry research and physics research for the year XNUMX - Prof. Mordechai Segev, and congratulated him. The Minister of Education approved the recommendation of the award committee headed by Prof. Haim Harari.
In the reasoning of the committee, its members stated that: "Professor Mordechai Segev is a pioneering physicist in the field of optics and lasers. His important scientific discoveries deal, among other things, with innovative phenomena that are discovered when radiation comes into contact with matter and when liquids are moved by light. He is also engaged in the study of crystals that react to light, and in the effort to develop microscopes whose performance will exceed anything known so far.
In an interview with the Hidan website, Prof. Segev said that he wants to promote two goals for Israeli science, "First of all, we must strengthen science in Israel and bring back to Israel as many of our young people who are abroad as possible. There are now enough jobs and standards in all universities for the best of them. We hope they will leave behind the meat pot. We don't fall from places like Princeton - where I stayed, nor from MIT and Caltech. It is possible to do research at a very high level in Israel."
The second goal he wants to promote is increasing the pool from which those who excel in science and technology will come - the ultra-Orthodox sector: "Reiterating the words of Nobel laureate Prof. Dan Shechtman, who called not to give up on the ultra-Orthodox and to introduce core studies in the law - mathematics and science, and any school that does not respect this should not Not only to stop the funding but also to prosecute its managers, it is not possible for a single child to grow up in Israel who does not know mathematics."
More from the reasoning of the judges' committee headed by Prof. Haim Harari, with the participation of Prof. Itamar Wilner and Prof. Dan Shechtman: "Moti Segev's interests include optics, lasers, and interaction phenomena of radiation and matter, although he often finds interest in more demanding fields such as basketball and traveling nature. Scientifically, Muti and his students broke through a number of new fields and directions of research, and a large number of his works are today recognized as "classic" - ones that started new fields of research. "
More of the topic in Hayadan:
- Researchers at the Technion have developed a new device for transmitting light
- Max Born Award of the American Physical Society - to Prof. Moti Segev
- Prof. Segev - among those joining the National Academy of Sciences (2011)
"Professor Segev's groundbreaking contributions are a source of inspiration for the best physicists in the world and his scientific works are cited all over the world, in thousands of scientific articles. Many of his students are already serving as professors at leading universities in Israel and the world and also contribute to scientific education in the educational system in Israel. Professor Segev's scientific prowess and his in-depth knowledge constitute a growing source of revolutionary ideas and groundbreaking experimental results."
In the curriculum vitae attached to the announcement of the award, the award committee states that Moti Segev (Skajo) was born in 1958 in Romania, and immigrated to Israel in 1961, after his father had refused her for 11 years. The beginning of his childhood was in a distressed neighborhood (Stanton neighborhood in Haifa) and when the neighborhood was evacuated his family was moved to the "evacuee housing" at the edge of the Neve Shanan neighborhood in Haifa. His father, the late Shlomo Segev, supported the family by working as a cobbler, and his mother, Zelda, worked as a babysitter until the last few years. The family barely made a living, but the children's education (Moti and her younger sister Dina) was always a top priority.
After military service as an infantry officer in the Nahal, Moti enrolled at the Technion in the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, where he graduated with honors, while at the same time studying most of the undergraduate subjects in the Faculty of Physics. He did all this in 3.5 years, at the same time as a reserve service of more than 250 days during this period - the days of the First Lebanon War - in which he served as the commander of a patrol unit. After his bachelor's degree, Moti continued on a direct path to a doctorate at the Technion, which he completed at the end of 1990. From there he went on to a post-doctorate at the California Institute of Technology (CALTECH) and after about three years he got an assistant professor position at Princeton University in the USA. After two and a half years he was promoted to the position of associate professor and after another two years he became full professor at Princeton. In the summer of 1998 Motti returned to Israel and joined the physics faculty at the Technion, and in 2000 he resigned from Princeton after moving his laboratory and research group to the Technion. The Technion recognized Moti Segev's research excellence and in 2009 promoted him to the highest academic rank: distinguished professor, which is awarded for exceptional research excellence. Besides Moti, the Technion now has only five faculty members with the title of Research Professor and four retired faculty members with the title of Research Professor Emeritus.
Segev (originally Skajo) was born in 1958 in Romania, and immigrated to Israel at the age of 3 to the Stanton Mitzvah neighborhood in Haifa and after its evacuation - to the evacuee housing on Neve Shanan Road. His father earned a living as a cobbler and his mother as a babysitter, but even though the family barely made a living, his parents chose to invest in the education of their children (Moti and his sister Dina).
