(start of service navigation [to main navigation use key M, to content use key C])
Home | Contact | Deutsch | Sitemap | Imprint | Privacy | Search
(end of service navigation)
(start of service navigation [to main navigation use key M, to content use key C])
Home | Contact | Deutsch | Sitemap | Imprint | Privacy | Search
(end of service navigation)
In the week from November 16 to 21, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the Israeli Ministry of Science, Culture and Sport (MOST), and the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development (GIF) organized a number of events in Jerusalem, both as a highlight of the German-Israeli Year of Science and Technology and to mark the 20th anniversary of the GIF. Over two hundred renowned German and Israeli personalities from the spheres of industry, politics and society came to celebrate the special occasion.
The week of celebrations was kicked off with an opening event at the Konrad Adenauer Conference Center in Mishkenot Sha'ananim on the evening of November 16. Minister Galeb Majadle and Federal Minister Dr. Annette Schavan welcomed the guests to the week of celebrations, which focused on subjects including humanities and cultural sciences, technology transfer, migration and integration, and brain imaging.
Afterwards, Minister Schavan, on behalf of Federal President Horst Köhler, presented the Federal Cross of Merit (First Class) of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany to three personalities who had rendered special services to German-Israeli cooperation: Professor Heinz Hötzl, Dr. Miriam Waldman and Dr. Amnon Barak.
As part of the German-Israeli Year of Science 2008, a symposium entitled "From Basic to Applied Research" took place in Mishkenot Sha'ananim. Federal Minister Schavan presented Dr. Agnes Korn of the University of Frankfurt and Dr. Thamar Gindin of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem with the ARCHES award for German-Israeli teams of young researchers. She also announced the establishment of a new Minerva Humanities Center.
Schavan then met with 15 German and 15 Israeli students of various subjects who were taking part in a study trip under the motto "Germany and Israel: 60 Years of Shared History".
Subsequently, the Federal Minister officially opened the James Franck Symposium at the Israel Academy of Science. In the evening, the Federal Minister took part in a ceremony in which the Weizmann Institute conferred an honorary doctorate to Prof. Helmut Schwarz, President of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
Thomas Rachel, Parliamentary State Secretary at the BMBF, opened the 29th scientific GIF meeting on the subject of "Contemporary Migration" in Kibbutz Tzuba.
In the morning, Federal Minister Schavan and Minister Majadle opened the GIF anniversary festivities. The first specialist presentations were then given in the humanities and social sciences. In the afternoon, the Federal Minister took part in the opening of the SAP Research Center in Jerusalem. She ended her trip with a visit to Tel Aviv University.
In the morning, the 30th GIF meeting on "Brain Imaging" in Kibbutz Maale Hachamisha was opened by Parliamentary State Secretary Thomas Rachel. In the evening, the GIF hosted a large Gala Dinner for all participants of the week's event in the Hotel Sheraton Plaza. Numerous renowned personalities, including four Nobel Laureates (Prof. Harald zur Hausen, Prof. Aaron Ciechanover, Prof. Paul Crutzen and Prof. Bert
Sakmann) met to celebrate the GIF's successful history.
The festivities ended with a plenary assembly to mark the 20th anniversary of the GIF. Numerous researchers who had received GIF funding, members of the board, and alumni spoke about the cooperation and lasting friendships between German and Israeli families that had arisen from their work. This showed that science had literally become a diplomacy of trust.