'Build massive Israeli scientific research centers'

Shechtman addsthat if a child is prevented from receiving a basic general education, he “undergoes child abuse.”

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
Dan Shechtman, Reuven Rivlin, Daniel Herschkowitz 390 (photo credit: Israel Sun for the Technion)
Dan Shechtman, Reuven Rivlin, Daniel Herschkowitz 390
(photo credit: Israel Sun for the Technion)
“If you want more [Prof. Dan] Shechtmans, we must invest and create a suitable educational and scientific atmosphere in the country,” Knesset Speaker MK Reuven Rivlin said on Monday. Rivlin hosted Shechtman, who won the Nobel Prize for chemistry over a month ago, and was the 10th Israeli to become a Nobel laureate, at a joint meeting of the Education and Science and Technology Committees.
“We must carefully listen to Prof. Shechtman’s words on the need to strengthen the educational and higher-educational system. We must invest in research and development – not only in hi-tech fields, but also in other fields such as physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology and the humanities,” Rivlin said.
Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar said he restored 10,300 hours of science studies to the school system and is committed to do more.
Science and Technology Minister Daniel Herschkowitz added that Shechtman is a “model and inspiration for his ability to think out of the box.”
The laureate, who was accompanied by his wife and family, said that sadly “the chance of a Jew abroad to win a Nobel is 10 times greater than that of an Israeli Jew, and that he made his discovery on quasi-crystals while doing research abroad.
Shechtman added that he is trying to push for the establishment here of huge research centers like those in Europe, so that “another [chemistry Nobel laureate Prof.] Ada Yonath doesn’t have to go abroad to work. The required budgets are not astronomical.”
Shechtman also said that if a child is prevented from receiving a basic general education, he “undergoes child abuse.”
Lahav Harkov contributed to this report.