A high-stakes donor wants to help the next generation pump up Israeli science. U.S. industrialist William Davidson last week made the largest individual gift ever to the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot: $20 million intended to enliven classroom science.
The Weizmann, a $180-million-a-year operation, already is the largest producer of science teaching tools for Israel's secondary schools. But the new Davidson Institute of Science Education aims to add new curricula and programs such as Perach, in which 25,000 undergrads tutor disadvantaged students in exchange for scholarships. The gift is an "investment in the future," says Davidson, CEO of Michigan's Guardian Industries and a partner in the Detroit Pistons basketball franchise.
Weizmann officials have their work cut out for them. According to Rami Rahimimoff, a former Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School dean, studies show outstanding Israeli students shunning science and "looking to get rich quick" in other fields.
