Introduction of The Israel Chemical Society

发布时间：2016年05月06日 来源：中国化学会

Introduction of the Israel Chemical Society

President:  Prof. Arnon Shani
Secretary:  Prof. Haim Cohen
Treasurer:  Prof. Reshef Tenne

Address: The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, P.O. Box 4040, Jerusalem 91040, Israel. 
Tel 972-2-5676222, Fax 972-2-5666059

Address of the President: Department of Chemistry, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, 84105, Israel. Tel. 972-8-6461196, Fax 972-8-6472943
Email: ashani@bgumail.bgu.ac.il 

"The Israel Chemical Society" (henceforth "the Society") is legally registered in Israel as a non-profit organization dedicated to nurturing and representing pure and applied chemistry in Israel and abroad. 

The aims of the Society are as follows:

1. To affiliate as members chemists resident in Israel as well as chemists resident abroad wishing to join the Society.
2. To foster and promote the science of chemistry and its applications.
3. To represent the members of the Society in scientific institutions and entities in Israel and other countries and to maintain relations with these entities.
4. To issue publications that contribute to progress in chemistry.
5. To foster the teaching of chemistry.
6. To initiate scientific encounters.
7. To contribute to the prestige of chemistry in the eyes of the public at large.
8. To undertake any other activity that could contribute to fulfilling these aims.
9. To collect contributions and grants for the purpose of advancing the aims of the Society.

The Society traces its origins to the "Association of Chemists in the Land of Israel", founded in Tel Aviv in 1933 to promote the absorption of the hundreds of outstanding Jewish chemists who fled Germany after the Nazis rose to power. After the State of Israel was declared (1948), the association was registered legally as an "Ottoman association" under the name "Union of Chemists in Israel". Fifteen years later it was legally transformed into an Israeli non-profit organization offering full membership to all Israeli and non-Israeli chemists irrespective of sex, religion or nationality.

The Society is administered by an Executive Committee composed of representatives of the chemistry departments of institutions of higher education (more on these below), representatives of the chemical industry, teachers, and officers of the Society (president, secretary and treasurer). The President and the members of the Executive Committee are elected for a three-year term by the members of the society. The general assembly of the members approves the budget and financial reports. The Executive Committee selects the secretary and the treasurer from among its own members.

The Society counts among its members over 600 chemists active in academia, the chemical industry and related industries, and the educational system in all its aspects. A significant portion of the members are research students in Israeli universities, and they represent the professional reserve of talent of the various branches of chemistry. Also affiliated with the Society are more than 40 chemical industries, including major firms in the fields of basic and fine chemistry, petrochemistry, fertilizers, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, polymers, flame retardants, intermediate substances for industrial use, sophisticated materials, dyes and more (more details below).

The Society is organized into the following sections: Analytic Chemistry; Computational Chemistry; Chemistry Teaching; Inorganic and Bioinorganic Chemistry; Industrial Chemistry; Medicinal Chemistry; Organic Chemistry; Bioorganic and Physical Organic Chemistry; Physical Chemistry; Solid-State Chemistry; Theoretical Chemistry.

Every year a scientific conference is held at which all the sections are represented. The annual conference is organized in turn by one of the chemistry divisions of the six academic institutions in Israel: the Chemistry Department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, the Department of Chemistry of Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, the Faculty of Chemistry of the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, the Faculty of Chemistry of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, the Institute of Chemistry of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the School of Chemistry of Tel-Aviv University. In addition the different sections organize conferences in their own individual field. The annual conferences are attended by eminent scientists from the world's leading universities, who may deliver lectures in plenary session or participate in the deliberations of the sections. In recent years participants have included chemists from Columbia University in New York, Cambridge University in England, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.

A one-day seminar is held once a year in honor of the recipients of the Wolf Prize for Chemistry, which is awarded at a Knesset ceremony by the President of Israel on behalf of the Wolf Foundation. The seminar is organized under the auspices of the Society by a member of the faculty of one of the universities with links to the topic of the prize.

An innovation of the last few years is the annual "Chimiada" - a chemistry tournament organized for high-school students by the Faculty of Chemistry of the Technion. Details about the tournament can be found at the Chimiada site (in Hebrew), www.technion.ac.il/chimiada/olympiad. (Chemistry teaching in Israel is discussed in detail below.)
Three or four times a year the Society issues a journal called "Chemistry in Israel". It also has an internet site listing links to the various universities and departments of chemistry in Israel:http://www.weizmann.ac.il/ICS. 

In the framework of its annual conference, the Society awards prizes to outstanding chemists and students. These include: Prize awarded to outstanding chemist(s) for groundbreaking work or in recognition of a lifetime of accomplishments at the international level; Outstanding young chemist prize (up to 40 years of age); Scholarship awarded to outstanding research students (with the participation of the chemistry departments of institutions of higher education); Prizes to high-school students. The recipients of the Israel Chemical Society Award to outstanding chemists(s) in the three years since it was established come from a wide range of fields, reflecting the rich diversity of chemistry research in Israel: 

* 1999: Prof. Meir Lahav and Prof. Leslie Leiserowitz from the Faculty of Chemistry of the Weizmann Institute of Science, joint prize for pioneering and creative research throughout the years and for contributions to the science of stereochemistry and crystallography of organic substance

* 2000: Prof. Sason Shaik from the Institute of Chemistry of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, for his seminal work in the area of qualitative predictivity in chemical reactions; Prof. Moshe Shapiro from the Faculty of Chemistry of the Weizmann Institute of Science, for innovative work on control over the dynamics at the molecular level

* 2001: Prof. Uzi Even from the School of Chemistry of Tel Aviv University, for discovering and making use of mesoscopy, the coherent behavior of supercooled (0.4°K) systems of molecular clusters, and the generation of superfluidity by spectroscopic means; Prof. Itamar Willner from the Institute of Chemistry of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, for his distinguished scientific achievements in widening the boundaries of functional surface chemistry towards biology and nanotechnology

The Society also plays an active role in establishing new chemical terminology. In collaboration with members of the Academy of the Hebrew Language, Hebrew chemical terms relating to inorganic, coordinate and organic chemistry were developed in conformity with the nomenclature established by the International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). 

The Society is a member of IUPAC (one of the Society's members, Prof. Joshua Jortner of Tel- Aviv University, has served as President of IUPAC), as well as of various international chemical bodies: the Federation of European Chemical Societies, the Federation of Asian Chemical Societies, the International Society for Heterocyclic Chemistry, the European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry, the World Association of Chemists Oriented towards Theoretical Chemistry, and the International Confederation for Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry.

As a consequence of its affiliation with IUPAC and the organizations named above, the Society organizes international symposia in Israel on various topics relevant to these federations.

Chemistry departments in Israeli institutions of higher education

As mentioned above, the active members of the Society include among their numbers chemists associated with institutions of higher education in Israel. The chemistry divisions of these institutions prepare chemists for all three academic degrees, B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D., with the notable exception of the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Casali Institute of the Hebrew University, which only offer master's and doctoral degrees.

The table below presents data for the year 2001:

Chemistry divisions at Israeli Universities are organized as departments or as institutes and faculties comprising several departments. In the Weizmann Institute, for instance, there are five departments in a faculty framework: Organic Chemistry; Chemical Physics; Structural Biology; Materials and Interface; Environmental Sciences and Energy Research. 

The topics researched at Israeli institutions of higher education range over the entire territory of chemistry, as well as extending in biological and medical directions and touching upon physical and technological aspects (including sophisticated industrial applications). Collaborative efforts between university investigators and the chemical industry have led to the development of new industrial products and processes designed for the international market.

Many chemists hold academic positions in other university departments (biochemistry or biological chemistry for example), in schools of pharmacy, in applied research institutes, in government institutions (e.g. affiliated to the Ministry of Agriculture, Defense and the Health Ministry), and in police criminal investigation divisions. Chemists play a role in the economic system of the country as managers, marketing staff, patents and intellectual property, environmental topics and professional consultants, and managers of industrial 'greenhouses'. 

The chemical industry in Israel
(Based on an article by Mr. Yossi Dancona of the Ministry of Industry and Trade)

The chemical industry plays an important role in the economy of the State of Israel. It accounts for some 14% of the total industrial output of the country. In 1999 chemical exports amounted to about 3.45 billion dollars (21% of Israel's industrial exports, does not include the diamond industry) and in 2000 to about 3.66 billion dollars (20%). Exports of the chemical industry make up about 43% of the chemical industry's total output. This figure gives a true idea of the contribution of Israel's chemists to the country's prosperity.

Israel's chemical industry focuses on the following areas:
1. Oil refineries and petrochemicals (Haifa Bay and Ashdod)
2. Fertilizers and chemicals based on local mineral resources - potash, bromine, magnesium, phosphates and derivatives (Negev, Dead Sea, Haifa Bay)
3. Plant protection substances, mainly made by "Makhteshim-Agan Industries" Ltd. (Beer-Sheva, Ashdod)
4. Pharmaceuticals, dominated by "Teva Pharmaceutical Industries" Ltd. (Netanya, Kfar Saba, Petakh Tiqva, Jerusalem, Beer Sheva)

Israel plays an important role on the world stage as regards production of certain of these minerals. In the areas of pharmaceuticals and plant protection substances, the Israelis are the world's largest generic producers ("Teva Pharmaceutical Industries", "Makhteshim-Agan Industries"). A sum equivalent to 4-5% of sales used to be dedicated to research and development, but this figure has declined in recent years. A distinctive feature of Israeli R&D is a preoccupation with the development of technologies for production of generic products rather with new products. 

Out of 18,000 industrial plants (not including diamonds), only some 400, or 2.2%, are related to chemistry. Nonetheless, as we saw, the chemical industry accounts for about 14% of the industrial output.

Export markets

Out of the chemical industry's export production - which, as noted, amounts to 43% of its total output - about 40% goes to Europe, about 30% to north America, 14% to Asia and Oceania, and 16% to other countries. In 2000, in view of the pre-eminence of Europe as an export market, many exporters of chemicals were hurt by the low rates of exchange of the European currency versus the Israel sheqel and the dollar. 

Human resources 

The complex production processes that typify the chemical industry make it imperative to employ a fairly high proportion of trained personnel (25% versus 17% for non-chemical industries). These include engineers, chemists, scientists and technicians. The number of workers employed in this branch at the end of 1999 was about 25 thousand - about 7% of all those employed in industry. This represents an increase of some 2.6% with reference to the end of 1998, and by 1.5% at the end of the year 2000. Israel's industry is relatively young, and the injection of massive sums of money in recent years has led to accelerated growth in the chemical industry. Average annual growth in this branch in the years 1991-1999 was 8.4% in dollar terms, versus an average growth in this period of about 3.0% in Europe, 2.1% in the US, and 1.8% in Japan.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths: 
* Natural resources - potash, bromine, magnesium; Israel is an international player as regards the extraction of these substances and enjoys certain advantages as regards their production 
* Remoteness of the production facilities from population centers - lower costs due to ecological considerations and thus increase their advantages 
* Israel's proximity to Europe and Asia lends it certain advantages in respect to cost of transportation relative to the countries of north America and north-western Europe 
* Superior products as compared with less developed countries
* Availability of skilled manpower, especially after the large immigration from the former Soviet Union
* Familiarity with advanced production technologies
* Trade agreements with the countries of north America and Europe and other countries. These agreements give Israel an export edge relative to leading competitors in developed countries
* Government support for investments and R&D, which includes grants and tax rebates
* Advantages of scale in the case of a number of companies regarded as leaders in certain markets or products
* Offshore deposits of natural gas - their exploitation will reduce the cost of the various types of energy

Weaknesses
* Lack of additional natural resources and scarcity of energy sources
* High salaries relative to developing countries
* Impossibility of achieving a critical mass as regards local demand for products 
* Disadvantages stemming from large scale of certain production facilities
* Competition from multinationals with vast resources
* Limited investment in R&D compared with developed industrial countries, which blocks significant advances
* Lower profitability of the local industry relative to chemical industries abroad
* Excessive reliance on primary products as opposed to added-value products 

Chemical education and the teaching of chemistry
(Based on an article by Dr. Nitza Barnea, superintendent of chemistry teaching for the Education Ministry)
Chemistry is taught in some 300 high schools in Israel. Students can choose chemistry among several elective courses of study. Two levels are offered: the standard chemistry program (three credit points, or 'units') or the advanced program (five credit points). The educational system employs about 600 teachers who prepare students for the matriculation examination. In the scholastic year 2000-2001 6,350 students took the examinations designed for the three-point program, while 5,800 were tested on the two supplementary points required for the advanced program.

The chemistry syllabus presently covers fundamental laws and principles at the level of the three-point program. The students learn about the structure of the atom, periodic Table, chemical bonds, various substances, and the relationship between the structure and properties of matter. In addition the following reactions are taught: acid-base, redox, and reactions of organic chemistry. The concepts of chemical energy and chemical equilibrium are also taught. The supplementary studies for the five-point program include two additional required topics - the chemistry of electric cells and thermodynamics - as well as three more topics, chosen by the students and teacher, from a range that includes, among others, polymers, proteins, sugars, topics relevant to the fertilizer or bromine industries, electrochemistry, and the interaction between radiation and matter. A small number of students opt for the laboratory examination in analytic chemistry, which may be taken instead of one of the above topics.

Two subcommittees of the Chemical Education Committee - whose members are drawn from academia, industry and education - one charged with updating the syllabus of the three-point program and the other with updating the two-point supplementary course of the advanced program - are now at work. The objectives are to adjust the study program to meet current needs, make it more relevant from the students' standpoint, and modify existing methods of evaluation.

A central concern of the committees is to introduce the laboratory as a full-point subject into the required learning material and evaluation protocol. The aim is to expose students to the methods of scientific research and to enable them to acquire a measure of expertise in research techniques and laboratory work. To this end programs offering a range of teaching/learning options are being developed at several centers for science teaching in Israel. The subjects being developed are: Chemistry from a research viewpoint, the computerized research lab, and the small scale laboratory. The intention is to offer students a choice of lab courses.

It appears that, in those schools where they are being tested, the experimental programs are arousing the interest and enthusiasm of students and teachers alike and are proving very successful. The "Chemistry from a research viewpoint" program - the oldest of the three - is being offered this year at some 50 schools. The "Computerized research lab" program will be tested for the first time this year in seven schools. The number of students who are being introduced to novel applications of the laboratory in chemistry is already close to 500.

The committee dealing with the three-point program has recommended a first stage of reforms designed essentially to impart an understanding of the concepts and do away with rote learning in two subjects: the reactions of organic chemistry and acid-base reactions. The student will not be required to memorize the reactions but rather will be given the formulation as part of the exam question. The committee is currently engaged in updating and adjusting the entire syllabus. The committee entrusted with updating the supplementary studies for the advanced program is dealing separately with each of the two points involved. The fourth point will be devoted to thermodynamics and kinetics and to acquiring chemical culture and the ability to read and understand a scientific article. All students will be required to take this single-point course. The fifth point will be constructed of two parts, both of them lab courses, or of one lab plus one unit of study, or - where the school still lacks a laboratory - two units of study in various subjects.

Chemistry teachers are introduced to changes in teaching and evaluation methods - such as the introduction of new study programs - at seminars held at the main Teachers' Center at the Weizmann Institute of Science, at regional Teachers' Centers scattered throughout the country, and at the Universities and the Technion.

The dawn of the new millennium is witnessing a flowering of subjects that rely on chemistry - biotechnology, materials science, macromolecular chemistry, biochemistry, nanotechnologies. It is to be hoped that the new teaching program, which has been revised to reflect the role of chemistry in a technological world - together with the inputs that may be expected from industry and academia - will spur a return to chemistry and recognition of its importance and paramount contribution.