President Shimon Peres visiting the Technion: It's lucky that the Technion was established 24 years before the establishment of the state - and thus laid the infrastructure for the state on the way

"The urgent thing to do today is peace with the Palestinians" I prefer imperfect peace to the lack of perfect peace

The President of the State, Shimon Peres, said during a visit to the Technion that the most urgent thing to be done today is peace with the Palestinians. "This will be the biggest revolution made since the establishment of the state. I prefer imperfect peace to the lack of perfect peace," he said in a special panel with three Nobel laureates from the Technion, moderated by Dr. Yossi Verdi.

The president's visit opened with the presentation of the formula car built at the Technion. The car, built by a group of students from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering under the guidance of Professor Reuven Katz, earned the group 19th place out of 57 in the Formula student competition - and first place among the groups that participated in the competition for the first time. The students Ahmed Omri and Doris Fitilon, who presented the car to the president, explained that it was a mixed group of Jews and Arabs. "So this is actually a car for two peoples," replied the president with a smile.

The president of the Technion, Professor Peretz Lavi, presented Mr. Peres with a plaque with photos from his visits and the visits of the first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, to the Technion. "There is no doubt that the vision of Morach and Rabbi Ben-Gurion to establish a world scientific center in our tiny country is the cream of the skin and sinews," said Professor Lavie. "The sense of mission that led to the establishment of the Technion accompanies us to this day. Thank you for the opportunity you gave us to present to you some of our scientific and engineering achievements."

The president was presented with a series of ground-breaking research being done at the Technion - the landing of drones on unmanned vessels (Professor Ehud Rivlin of the Faculty of Computer Science), an array of tiny satellites (Professor Finny Gorfil of the Faculty of Aeronautics and Space Engineering), an innovative method for treating cancerous tumors (Professor Emeritus Yoram Pelati), advanced membranes for water treatment (Professor Raphael Smit from the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Professor Morris Eisen from the Faculty of Chemistry) and prediction using artificial intelligence (Professor Shaul Markovitch from the Faculty of Computer Science and Dr. Kira Radinsky).

President Peres then met with the future generation of scientists. Sara Katzir, the head of the student advancement unit in the Dean of Students' Office, introduced to him young women and men from the Technion's various programs - "Technion Buds" (initiated by the President of the State - a program for outstanding people for the Druze sector in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and the association "Atidim"), "Scientists and Inventors of the Future" (also Yes, on the initiative of the President of the State - talented young men and women who study at the pre-academic preparatory school at the Technion and experience laboratory activities), ultra-Orthodox programs (this year 80 ultra-Orthodox are studying at the Technion preparatory school), "Futures for Industry" (army graduates from the periphery studying at the preparatory school with the support of the "Atidim" association).

Dana Makalada, 16 years old from Dalit Al Carmel, told the president that she and her friends come once a week to the Technion and receive enrichment programs.

Mater Rosen, 15, from Moshav Avirim in the Galilee, said she enjoys coming to study at the Technion. "If a geek is a desire to learn and invest, I have no problem being a geek," she said to the applause of the audience.

Chen Asher, 26 years old, from Acre, said that only thanks to the "Rossman - Futures for Industry" program did he arrive at the Technion.
Yehuda Morgenstern, from the program "Chalamish" (Orthodox learn applied professions) told about the shock of his transition from the yeshiva world to the Technion. "12-15 hours a day we sat and filled in gaps," he said. "We were different. When we came to the cafeteria, they told us that the kosher supervisors were already here today," he added to the laughter of the audience.

In a panel with the three winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Professors Avraham Hershko, Aharon Chachanover and Danny Shechtman, the President said that David Ben-Gurion once asked him to form a soccer team that would be world champions. "I didn't succeed, but the Technion can really be the champion of the Technions in the world," he said. "Ben Gurion was a big dreamer and allowed me to dream too," he added. "I am proud of the Technion. Science is our existential need. The world today is barely surviving, countries around us are falling apart. The future is in innovation, but if you don't find a way to control the fanatics or make them control themselves - the world will be a dangerous place. The State of Israel should also build relationships with large global companies, not only with countries. We are a small country in terms of territory and we have no choice but to be big in vision."

Professor Aharon Chachanover spoke about the personalized medicine revolution and said that it will change the face of medicine in the years to come. "We are now establishing institutes for personalized medicine in Israel," he emphasized. "Education for science and technology must be improved, but humanities must not be forgotten."

Professor Danny Shechtman said that the idea of ​​canceling the psychometric test is a good idea and recommended changing the name of the Ministry of Education to the "Ministry of Future Infrastructures". "The universities need more young men and women to study science and engineering," he said.

Professor Avraham Hershko talked about the importance of basic research. "The more we understand how the human body works, the more drugs we can develop," he said.

"During my visit to the Technion, I saw fascinating research and saw an impressive display of the young people of the State of Israel," President Shimon Peres concluded his visit.