Inside the Inaugural Ceremony for the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in Israel

The Blavatnik Family Foundation hosts the first Blavatnik Awards Ceremony in Israel in collaboration with The New York Academy of Sciences and the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Take a look at the spectacular occasion.

The Blavatnik Family Foundation in collaboration with the New York Academy of Sciences and the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, hosted the Inaugural Ceremony and Gala for the Blavatnik Awards in Israel at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem on February 4, 2018.

This spectacular occasion marked the Blavatnik Awards’ first year in Israel.  Prominent leaders across Israel, including from academia, business and philanthropy, attended this remarkable event. Dana Weiss, Chief Political Analyst and host of Israel’s “Saturday Night with Dana Weiss,” presented the Blavatnik Awards as Ceremonial emcee.

The evening began with a vocal performance by one of Israel’s most celebrated singer/songwriters, Ronan Kenan.  A short opening film entitled “Start-up nation” was shown, highlighting Israel’s entrepreneurial spirit that drives innovation and discovery in the country. Both President Nili Cohen of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and President Ellis Rubinstein of the New York Academy of Sciences gave opening remarks for the inaugural ceremony.

The evening honored three of Israel’s leading young scientists: Dr. Charles Diesendruck, a chemist reviving the field of “Mechanochemistry” from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology; Prof. Anat Levin, a computer scientist working in the field of computational photography who is also from the Technion; and Dr. Oded Rechavi, a geneticist from Tel Aviv University studying non-DNA-based inheritance.

These three Laureates were chosen by a distinguished panel of judges from across Israel  and selected from 47 nominations that were submitted by eight of Israel’s top universities and independent research institutions.  Before each Laureate was announced, a short film introducing each scientist and the significance of their particular research areas were shown:

Blavatnik Family Foundation Founder and Chairman Mr. Len Blavatnik awarded each scientist with their personalized medal. The scientists were given the opportunity to present in-depth overviews of their current research to the audience. Nobel Laureate, Israel Prize Winner, and Distinguished Research Professor of the Faculty of Medicine at Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Prof. Aaron Ciechanover, was the keynote speaker for the evening. The Anchor Choir of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance concluded the ceremony with a vocal performance.

Learn more about the 2018 Blavatnik Laureates in Israel.