When Dan Shechtman was awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry on Wednesday, he became the final member of a very special minyan. Israel's select group of 10 Nobel prize winners now consists of three public figures and six research scientists. Shechtman has a classic biography. At first, the scientific establishment scoffed at his landmark discovery and rejected it. He refused to back down. Then, as sometimes happens, the truth won out. His is a life story for the media to love. Twenty-nine years ago, Shechtman discovered a type of crystal, and since then has labored over their observation. This kind of story is often heard: In contrast to the politicians who earn the Nobel Peace Prize at the height of their careers, the scientists who receive the prestigious Nobel tend to have it awarded 30 years after revolutionizing something in their field. In keeping with this logic, those who are working in laboratories today can expect to reap the benefits sometime in the year 2040. Get the Israel Hayom newsletter sent to your mailbox! Are there still people like this? Will there be fewer or more people like this? Only someone who has enough patience to stay lucid until 2040 or 2050 will be able to report back and tell us. Aside from one fact, everything is questionable. In good times and in bad, for better or for worse, these prizes benefit Israeli science and society as a whole. The winners always accept their prize with modesty. Shechtman continued this tradition, saying that the Nobel Prize makes him very happy but that he is not the only recipient. It is, rather, a prize for Israel's entire scientific community. This community is spread out among various academic institutions, which were established almost immediately upon arrival to the holy land by those who settled the Yishuv [Jewish settlement in Palestine before the state of Israel]. The cornerstone of Hebrew University was laid 86 years ago. At the Technion, building began almost a century ago. Almost every one of the winners has made warning statements, saying education and learning have been pushed aside in the daily lives of the People of the Book in Israel. This is a major concern for our future. Not with respect to the minyan of Nobel laureates, of course, but regarding the success of the thousands of students and researchers who are the foundation, and even the rafters, of the few who reach the summit of fame. Funding the academic world, or reading and writing at age 3? Both are critical. But in my opinion, the academic institutions come first.
Immediately upon their establishment, the "language debate" took place: Would students learn the essentials of science in German, as was traditional, or in Hebrew, a language that did not yet have the appropriate professional terminology? Hebrew won out, as proven by the prizes awarded three Israeli professors, Aaron Ciechanover, Avram Hershko and now Daniel Shechtman.
The debate is two-fold. First, it is between those who seek to increase education budgets and those who want to be more stringent in their distribution of funds. Secondly, there is a debate between those who support broader investment in academic institutions and others who advocate allocating the funds mainly to early childhood education. Of course, the debate has no simple solution, but people consider it as purely theoretical.
