The Weizmann Institute of Science, devoted to research and to graduate-level education in the natural and exact sciences, was inaugurated in Rehovot, Israel, in 1949. At that time, the Institute incorporated the Daniel Sieff Research Institute, which had been established in 1934. The Institute bears the name of Dr. Chaim Weizmann, scientist and statesman. Dr. Weizmann was the first President of the Weizmann Institute of Science; he was also the first President of the State of Israel.
The Institute includes 17 research departments (in five Faculties: Mathematics and Computer Science, Physics, Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Biology). The Department of Science Teaching, separate from the five Faculties, is incorporated within the Feinberg Graduate School. Thirty four research centers have also been established thus far: The Belle S. and Irving E. Meller Center for the Biology of Aging, The Nella and Leon Benoziyo Center for Neurosciences, The Murray H. and Meyer Grodetsky Center for Resarch of Higher Brain Functions, The Carl and Micaela Einhorn-Dominic Institute for Brain Research, The Yad Abraham Research Center for Cancer Diagnostics & Therapy, The Robert Koch Minerva Center for Research in Autoimmune Diseases, The M.D. Moross Institute for Cancer Research, The Willner Family Center for Vascular Biology, The Joseph and Ceil Mazer Center for Structural Biology, The Energy Research Center, The Fritz Haber Center for Physical Chemistry, The Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman Center for Biomolecular Structure and Assembly, The Sussman Family Center for the Study of Environmental Sciences, The Helen and Martin Kimmel Center for Archaelogical Sciences, The Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Minerva Center for Supramolecular Architecture, The Albert Einstein Minerva Center for Theoretical Physics, The Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Center for Submicron Research, The Minerva Center for Nonlinear Physics of Complex Systems, The Nella and Leon Benoziyo Center for High Energy Physics, The Mel Dobrin Center for Nutrition, The Avron Willstä tter Minerva Center for Research in Photosynthesis, The Charles W. and Tillie K. Lubin Center for Plant Biotechnology, The Dr. Josef Cohn Minerva Center for Biomembrane Research, The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Center for Plant Molecular Genetics Research, The Leo and Julia Forchheimer Center for Molecular Genetics, The Y. Leon Benoziyo Institute for Molecular Medicine, The Crown Human Genome Center, The Carl F. Gauss Minerva Center for Scientific Computation, The Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science, The Minerva Center for Formal Verification of Reactive Systems, The Dolfi and Lola Ebner Center for Biomedical Research, The Kekst Family Center for Medical Genetics, The Center for Genomic Disease Modeling and The Aharon Katzir-Katchalsky Center. The major scientific services units are: Biological Services, Chemical Services, Physics Services, Division of Information Systems, Research Services Division, Experimental Animals Center, and the Solar Facilities Unit.
The present scientific complement numbers about 665, including 366 scientists on staff, 135 long-term visiting scientists and post-doctoral fellows, and 164 research assistants directly serving the research programs. Approximately 791 graduate students are studying at the Feinberg Graduate School; they perform their research work in the laboratories of the Weizmann Institute.
With a technical staff of 763 and administrative and service personnel numbering 379, the total complement is approximately 2598.