The Technion – Israel Institute of Technology is a leading technical university in Haifa, Israel, with a history dating back to the early 20th century.

Overview

Initiated with the help of increasing Jewish unity made possible by the new communication technologies of the Second Industrial Revolution,He who first shortened the labor of copyists by device of movable types was disbanding hired armies, and cashiering most kings and senates, and creating a whole new democratic world: he had invented the art of printing. (Thomas Carlyle, Sartor Resartus, 1833) the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology educated the engineers and brought the expertise to lay the infrastructure for the modern Israeli state. This included the fundamental infrastructure of electricity, water supplies and roads.

According to a leading British journalist, the Technion story is exemplary for other groups caught in the seemingly impossible task of creating an independent nation: "For more than two decades before the state was created, Technion (Israel Institute of Technology) helped to lay the foundations of the modern state of Israel. The identity of the country as a player in the field of science and technology can be traced to the vision of Technion."

Technion would grow rapidly, becoming a global pioneer in biotechnology, satellite research, computer science, nanotechnology and energy. In 2004, Technion professors won Israel's first Nobel Prizes in science. In 2011, Distinguished Prof. Dan Shechtman became Technion's third Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, for his discovery of quasicrystals, or Shechtmanite. It celebrated its cornerstone centennial in 2012 with 12,850 students and 80 graduate programs. In 2011, Technion partnered with Cornell University to submit a winning proposal to New York City to set up the Technion Cornell Institute of Innovation (TCII) on Roosevelt Island.

First plans From the outset, the Zionist movement had a vision of the creation of a Jewish University in the historic land of Israel.Alsberg, Avraham P. "The Hebrew Technical College," Zion (January–February 1950) Jews were often barred from technical or scientific training,Carl Alpert: Technion: the story of Israel's Institute of Technology. : p2. and these skills and a grounded education in engineering were seen as a key to building a Zionist nation.

In 1902, Theodor Herzl envisioned Haifa as "a great park....with an overhead electrical train.... a city of magnificent homes and public institutions all made possible by applied science, engineering and technology." (Altneuland) Herzl infused political Zionism with a new and practical urgency. By the fifth Zionist congress at the Stadtcasino Basel in Switzerland in 1901, the pressure was on to found a number of cultural institutions and a resolution was adopted for a "fundamental survey of the question of founding a Jewish university."Buber Martin, Berthold Feiwel and Chaim Weizmann: Bet Sefer Gavoa Yehudi: Geneva-Lausanne, 1902.

A group of three young men in their twenties: Martin Buber of Vienna, student of philosophy and Zionist; Berthold Feiwel of Berlin – political writer and editor and Chaim Weizmann – formed a caucus emphasizing the need for a Jewish university with a first objective of education in technology. They produced a document pointing out the difficulties of Jewish youth who sought admission to universities where they lived. The lack of opportunities for technical studies, they wrote, was much more serious for Jewish students than in other studies. The problem was "eminiently economic and social". It meant that in Russia, the Jews were practically excluded from technical professions with the result that they were pushed into commercial occupations.

The plan was to set up a preparatory Technikum, in part to train students for the university and in part to serve as an independent institution for the training of young people in technical, agricultural and similar professions. Graduates would be the basis for establishing and maintaining a Jewish industry.Zeev Sadmon: Die Gründung des Technions in Haifa im Lichte deutscher Politik, 1907–1920. Saur, München 1994, , p. 63–66.

In 1903, 60,000 Jews of Palestine had just held elections for the first national democratic assembly, the grandfather of the present Knesset (Israel's parliament). It was called the Knessiah Rishonah (1st assembly). This gathering was special as a first grass-roots attempt to set up the structures of Jewish self-government. Zionist leader Dr. Menahem Ussishkin used the occasion to deliver a keynote address in which he expressed the urgency for an institution of higher education in Palestine. The convention supported a resolution for the establishment of a polytechnical institute in Palestine and the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology (at least on paper) was born.

Paul Nathan of the Hilfsverein der deutschen Juden ("Relief Organization of German Jews"), played a central role in bringing together diverse Jewish groups under the Technikum umbrella, and in raising resources.Carl Alpert: Technion: the story of Israel's Institute of Technology. . p7

First funds

The Russian tea merchant Kalonymous Zeev Wissotzky left all his holdings in the family business, approximately 1 million rubles, to philanthropic causes. Among the executors was Ahad Ha-Am,Ahad Ha-Am. Essays, Letters, Memoirs. Translated from Hebrew. Ed. Leon Simon. Oxford, 1946. the distinguished Zionist philosopher. Ahad Ha-Am was able to recruit Wissotsky's son David to the Technikum plan, and a first contribution of 100,000 rubles was made.

In 1908, the American philanthropist Jacob Schiff was visiting the "holy land".Adler, Cyrus. Jacob H. Schiff: His Life and Letters.Vol. II. New York, 1929. Schiff was affected by the poverty and destitution he found among many of the Jews of Palestine and was inspired by the idea of an institution that would provide technical training.

Back in Europe, interest in the new Technikum was kept high. In 1909 Dr. Chaim Weizmann, who would later become President of the State of Israel, reported to a Zionist conference in Manchester that things were going well with the "National Polytecnikum".Carl Alpert: Technion: the story of Israel's Institute of Technology. Chapter 2. Wealthy Jews from many lands were already promising generous support.

Choice of Haifa A campaign was mounted by the Jewish community in Jerusalem to host the Technikum, and a special committee was set up to put forward a case for Jerusalem. The case for Haifa proved stronger, and in the end won the day:Carl Alpert: Technion: the story of Israel's Institute of Technology. p-13

Haifa was destined to be the city of the future ... a great port center of industry and shipping. With the building of the Hedjaz railroad, it would be linked to Damascus and Baghdad and would become an important crossroads for land transport as well. The local Jewish community was not yet rigid in its organization and character, unlike Jerusalem, the center of Orthodoxy; or Jaffa, which was a hotbed of Jewish nationalism. The neutrality of Haifa would minimize conflicts, they argued. The local Jewish community was small, and its influence hardly felt in the city. The Technikum would give impetus to the expansion and growth of the Jewish population in the North.

1912: first cornerstone

In October 1909, Prussian Jewish architect Alexander Baerwald was asked to come up with a first plan for the new building. This architect – who used to play cello in a string quartet with Albert Einstein – was inspired by the idea of blending European form with Eastern elements. His design was approved by the Kuratorium, and in August 1910, Baerwald was assigned to draw up the detailed plans and supervise the execution. Aside from the stone, most of the other building material came from abroad. The lime was from France, the cement from Germany. Plumbing installations and various fixtures also came from Europe and to this day, visitors at the historic building can read the German manufacturers' inscriptions on floor plates and elsewhere in the building.

Digging of the well also created problems. First attempts could only reach 40 meters, at which point work was suspended due to a lack of skilled labor. A special permit to import the required dynamite was acquired, but it was only when a foreign expert was brought in that work on the well could finally be resumed and water was finally struck at 93 meters. The well was deepened to a 100 meters. The existence of a water source on the upper slopes of Mount Carmel would transform Haifa, becoming an elemental center for the sustenance of life for the following decades and for three invading armies. The well and its water would also become a vital source of income for the young, impoverished Technikum.

The Technikum completed construction on April 11, 1912.

War of the languages

An ongoing ideological conflict between the Hilfsverein – a global educational organization led by Jews from Germany – and the Zionist movement, escalated into an intense conflict over the planned language of instruction, known as the War of the Languages. Modern Hebrew was still in its infancy, and technical education was non-existent in the biblical tongue. A strong case was put forward for the Technikum to be run in German. A compromise of English was offered. Only the outcome of World War I and the diminished German influence in Palestine would finally resolve that Hebrew would be the official language of the Technion, and later the State of Israel.Carl Alpert: Technion: the story of Israel's Institute of Technology. Chapter two: The War of the Languages.

Albert Einstein and other supporters

The development of technical and scientific opportunities for the Jewish people and at the new Technikum in Palestine in particular was an issue Prof. Albert Einstein felt worth his investment. "The development of Palestine is of real tremendous importance for all of Jewry," he said at a testimonial dinner with the American Technion Society.At a 1940 testimonial dinner to Einstein, given by the friends of the Haifa Technion, Institute of Technology, quoted in Abraham Pais, Einstein Lived Here, Clarendon Press, Oxford U Press, 1994, pg 248 In 1923, Einstein visited the Technion. During his visit, he planted a now-famous first palm tree. The tree still stands today in front of the old Technion building in Hadar. Einstein returned to Germany to set up the first Technion Society, and served as its Chairman. He was later to tour America to raise funds for higher-education in Palestine,Einstein: A Centenary Volume, A. P. French, Harvard University Press (1979), p. 203 an issue he said he held "close to his heart". Einstein's motivation was not nationalistic, but humanistic. "I do what I can to help those in my tribe who are treated so badly everywhere," he said.Ronald W Clark, Einstein: The Life and Times, p. 383, William Morrow,

First classes

Arthur Blok, an electrical engineer, was the school's first President, assuming the position in 1924 until 1925. The Technion enrolled its first students in 1924, and its official opening ceremony took place in 1925. Its first class had 17 students, including one woman, who majored in civil engineering and architecture. Blok was succeeded as president by civil engineer Max Hecker (1925–27), Shmuel Pewsner (1927–29), Aharon Tcherniavsky (1927–29), and Joseph Breuer (1930–31).

World War II