The chairman of the committee MK Meir Shtrit said at the beginning of the discussion that "the topic of science suffers from low "sex appeal" in the press in general. Science is a low priority in the media and this is a disadvantage politically since the media dictates the national agenda"
On the occasion of National Science Day, Einstein's birthday, celebrated today, members of the Knesset's Science Committee visited the Hebrew University to discuss the state of science in Israel, hear about new research and tour the research laboratories. The chairman of the science committee, MK Meir Shtrit, MK Daniel Ben-Simon, MK Rachel Adato, Minister of Science Prof. Daniel Hershkowitz, President of the Hebrew University Prof. Menachem Ben-Shashon, Vice President of the University for Research were present at the committee meeting. and the development of Shay Arkin and the Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences Prof. Gad Marom.
The chairman of the committee MK Meir Shtrit said at the beginning of the discussion that "the topic of science suffers from low "sex appeal" in the press in general. Science is a low priority in the media and this is a disadvantage politically since the media dictates the national agenda." However, MK Shetrit pointed out that Israel invests almost twice as much as the OECD countries in science. After the scientists presented their work, MK Shatrit said "I envy the scientists who come to work every day".
The Minister of Science Prof. Daniel Hershkovitz said in the discussion that "You can never allocate enough to science, but when there are not many resources it poses challenges. The narrow scientific specialization has a disadvantage because you don't see the overall picture, but the compensation is going in the direction of multidisciplinarity and the brain research center established at the Hebrew University is an example of this.
Prof. Hanoch Guttfreund, the academic chairman of the Einstein Archive at the Hebrew University, spoke about Einstein's scientific legacy and claimed that Einstein was always averse to the idea of nuclear weapons: "Einstein is the father of the principle that says mass can be turned into energy, but from there to nuclear weapons there is a long way to go. Einstein was not a partner in the development of the weapon, and when the bomb fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and his name was associated with it, he was very upset by it." Prof. Gutfreund said that in the last week of his life, Einstein signed a document called the Russell-Einstein Manifesto calling on all humanity to refrain from nuclear weapons.
The president of the university Prof. Menachem Ben-Shashon noted that "the modern pioneers of the State of Israel and the significance of the Zionist enterprise are to promote science, this is our mission." At the end of the tour of the laboratories, the president joked and said that as part of the university's efforts to return "runaway minds" to it, it would also consider offering MK Shitrit, who has a degree in chemistry, to return to the academy.
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At least he can always try.
Regarding the last sentence....:
At the end of the tour of the laboratories, the president joked and said that as part of the university's efforts to return "runaway minds" to it, it would also consider offering MK Shitrit, who has a degree in chemistry, to return to the academy.
Even as a joke, this is a worse joke than anything else...
The talk about repatriating brain drains is all talk. There is nothing behind it. The number of academic staff is very limited and there are departments where there are maybe two academic staff members of a "young" age (40 and over) and the rest are about 65 years old - meaning in about a year they are about to retire. And that means that within a year or two the department will be left with only two faculty members and the situation is not going to change. And that is the real situation. And that they will not work on people. Because that's the way it is. And they don't bring back fleeing minds and it's all a job in the eyes. But the banknote is offered - because it is closed and the closed ones want it.
A Class D politician (like Sheetrit) underestimates the opinion of the public, as it is represented by Class A scientists (like Ada Yonat and Adi Shamir, in the matter of the biometric database). After the fact, he still has the audacity to express himself on science issues!