To: Ed Beck, President Emeritus, SPME You will remember that the SPME sent a message urging UK-based members to help with Israel Science Day. I am glad to say that the boycott appears to have failed (see below, from the ZF). Thanks for your help. Howard Kahn
Heriot-Watt University
Edinborough, Scotland
SPME-UK Co-Coordinator

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IsraelDay of Science – 1000 SCHOOL STUDENTS AT SCIENCE LECTURES BY ISRAELI ACADEMICS.

After the highly successful event on Tuesday at the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry, year 12 and 13 school pupils heard lectures today at London’s Science Museum, as follows:

– Dr Gabi Nakache of Tel Aviv University on Genetics

– Ohad Zohar of Haifa’s Technion on Nanotechnology

– Dr Michael Lazar of the University of Haifa on Marine Geosciences

– Professor Eliam Gross of the Weitzmann Institute and CERN on The Large Hadron Collider.

– Dr David Passig of Bar Ilan University on Futurology

– Professor Alon Tal of Ben Gurion University on Israel‘s Water Management

– Dr Amir Amedi of the Hebrew University on Bionic Man: Dream or Reality?

The day was introduced by Professor Raymond Dwek FRS of the University of Oxford. He spoke about three of the milestones in Israeli Science: the first successful analysis of amniotic fluid in 1948, by Leo Sachs, formerly of Cambridge where he received his PhD; endoscopy; and Interferon, used in the treatment of Multiple Sclerosis and Hepatitis C. Professor Michel Revel cloned the gene responsible. Professor Dwek mentioned the close collaboration between Oxford and Ben Gurion University in Beersheba. Professor Dwek closed with a story related by Thomas Friedman in the New York Times in June 2007:

“Lucien Bronicki is one of Israel’s foremost experts in geothermal power, but when I ran into him last week at Ben Gurion University, in Israel’s Negev Desert, all he wanted to talk about was oil wells. Israel, he told me, had discovered oil. Pointing to a room full of young Israeli high-tech college seniors, Mr. Bronicki remarked: “These are our oil wells…. These are oil wells that don’t run dry. “ “

The school students were also able to visit a ZF exhibition stages at the Science Museums about Israeli innovations including in the areas of solar power, the memory stick, the mobile phone camera, the diagnostic camera, the MRI scan, computerised library system, cherry tomato, drip irrigation, Arava R+D, and the Medfly project – a collaboration with Jordanians and Palestinians (under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Authority and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation) to protect fruit crops by releasing sterilised male fruit flies.

The scientists also discussed their research last night at a public meeting at the Hampstead Town Hall, chaired by JC Editor Stephen Pollard as well as speaking at various schools during the week

The ZF is very grateful to the Science Museum and to the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry for (as one of the lecturers put it) “not blinking” in the face of pressure to cancel the events.

The ZF notes that there were only a handful (less than 20) protestors at the Science Museum at 9:30am and that by 10:30 they had all dispersed.

The feedback from the school students was very positive. The lecturers were clearly able to communicate their enthusiasm for their subjects. Like Manchester, the London event was highly successful.

IsraelDay of Science in the Media – The Israel day of science had lots of coverage of in the media. See some of the articles below:

BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7921703.stm

BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7921824.stm

The Times http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/article5841342.ece

The Times http://timesonline.typepad.com/oliver_kamm/2009/03/anti-intellectu.html

Independent http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/israelis-react-with-fury-to-british-boycott-call-1636842.html

Independent http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/scientists-rally-behind-museums-israel-day-1637711.html

Independent http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/science-museum-accused-over-links-to-israel-1635887.html

Nature http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2009/03/protests_greet_israel_day_of_s.html

Jewish Chroniclehttp://www.thejc.com/articles/top-thinkers-blast-plan-block-israeli-scientists

JerusalemPost http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1236269359246&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Jewish News http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/national/c-11331/israel-bashers-crossed-the-border-to-insanity/