The Technion – Israel Institute of Technology is a public research university located in Haifa, Israel. Established in 1912 by Jews under the dominion of the Ottoman Empire, the Technion is the oldest university in the country.

The university offers degrees in science, engineering, architecture, medicine, industrial management, and education. It has 19 academic departments, 60 research centers, and 12 affiliated teaching hospitals. Since its founding, it has awarded more than 123,000 degrees2014–15 Welcoming the New Academic Year , Technion website and its graduates are cited for providing the skills and education behind the creation and protection of the State of Israel.Start-Up Nation Book. Start-Up Nation Book (18 January 2013). Retrieved on 5 October 2013.

Technion's 565 faculty members include three Nobel Laureates in chemistry. Four Nobel laureates have been associated with the university. The current president of the Technion is Uri Sivan.

The selection of Hebrew as the language of instruction, defeating German in the War of the Languages, was an important milestone in Hebrew's consolidation as Israel's official language.Jewish History . Jewish History. Retrieved on 5 October 2013. The Technion is also a major factor behind the growth of Israel's high-tech industry and innovation, including the country's technical cluster in Silicon Wadi.

History

The idea of a technical institute in the Land of Israel was first discussed during the Fifth Zionist Congress at the Stadtcasino Basel in Switzerland in 1901. Three Jewish intellectuals were pivotal to the proposal: the philosopher Martin Buber, the biochemist Chaim Weizmann, and the journalist Berthold Feiwel. In 1908 Paul Nathan, director of the German-Jewish Ezra Association, started a series of fundraising efforts for the institute that later became the Technion.

The Technikum was conceived in the early 1900s by the German-Jewish fund as a school of engineering and sciences. It was to be the only institution of higher learning in the then Ottoman Syria, other than the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem (founded in 1906). In October 1913, the board of trustees selected German as the language of instruction, provoking a major controversy known as the War of the Languages. After opposition from American and Russian Jews to the use of German, the board of trustees reversed itself in February 1914 and selected Hebrew as the language of instruction. The German name Technikum was also replaced by the Hebrew name Technion.

Technion's cornerstone was laid in 1912, and studies began 12 years later in 1924. In 1923 Albert Einstein visited and planted the now-famous first palm tree, as an initiative of Nobel tradition. The first palm tree still stands today in front of the old Technion building, which is now the MadaTech museum, in the Hadar neighborhood. Einstein founded the first Technion Society, and served as its president upon his return to Germany.

In 1924, Arthur Blok became the Technion's first president.

In the early 1950s, under the administration of Yaakov Dori, who had served as the Israel Defense Forces' first chief of staff, the Technion launched a campaign to recruit Jewish and pro-Israel scientists from abroad to establish research laboratories and teaching departments in the natural and exact sciences.When Israel Housed Top Scientists in a Transit Camp Deep in the Woods, Haaretz

Campuses

Haifa Technion City generally refers to the 1.2-square-kilometer site located on the pine-covered north-eastern slopes of Mount Carmel. The campus comprises over 300 buildings.About. www.technion.ac.il. Retrieved on 1 December 2022.

The Technion has two additional campuses. Its original building in midtown Haifa, in use by the Technion until the mid-1980s, now houses the Israel National Museum of Science, Technology and Space. The Rappaport Faculty of Medicine is located in the neighborhood of Bat Galim, adjacent to Rambam Hospital, the largest medical center in Northern Israel.

Recreational activities on the main campus include an Olympic-size swimming pool as well as gymnastics, squash, and tennis facilities.Sports Facilities. Ciar.technion.ac.il. Retrieved on 5 October 2013. The Technion Symphony Orchestra and Choir are composed mainly of Technion students and staff. Each term, the Orchestra offers a series of daytime and evening concerts. Films and live performances by leading Israeli artists take place on campus on a regular basis.

In April 2022, a cable car station of the Rakvalit was opened at the main campus, connecting the Technion to Haifa University (higher up on Mount Carmel) and to the HaMifratz Central Bus Station and public transit hub at the foot of Mount Carmel.

Tel Aviv Technion's Division of Continuing Education and External Studies has been operating in the Tel Aviv area since 1958. In July 2013, the Technion opened a satellite campus in Sarona. The Technion Sarona includes three buildings in a 1,800 sq. meter area, with a total of 16 modern classrooms. Among the programs that are taught at Sarona are the Technion's International MBA program, which includes students from around the world and guest lecturers from universities such as London Business School, Columbia University, and INSEAD.

Cornell Tech

On 19 December 2011, a bid by a consortium of Cornell University and Technion won a competition to establish a new high-tier applied science and engineering institution in New York City. The competition was established by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in order to increase entrepreneurship and job growth in the city's technology sector. The winning bid consisted of a state-of-the-art tech campus, built on Roosevelt Island, which had its first phase completed by 2017, with a temporary off-site campus opening in 2013 at the Google New York City headquarters building at 111 Eighth Avenue. The new school has been named the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute. Its Founding Director was Craig Gotsman, Technion's Hewlett-Packard Professor of Computer Engineering.

In 2015, AOL announced an investment of $5 million in a video research project at the institute. Positive media coverage abounds, as well as some small scale protests from the margins of political and environmental activism.

Guangdong Technion Israel Institute of Technology

In September 2013 the Li Ka Shing Foundation and the Technion announced they would be joining forces to create a new institute for technology at Shantou University, Guangdong province, south-eastern China. The Li Ka Shing Foundation pledged a grant of US$130 million for the creation of the institute. The degrees taught, including Bachelors, Masters and Doctorates, will be accredited by the Technion. The total construction costs are $147 million. English will be GTIIT's language of instruction. GTIIT will comprise three units: the College of Engineering; the College of Science; and the College of Life Science. The goal is to have about 5,000 students eventually. The institute will eventually grant Technion engineering degrees at all levels - Bachelor, Masters and PhD. Initially the courses offered are Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology and Food Engineering, Materials Engineering. By 2020 the institute will start teaching other disciplines from Mechanics to Aerospace Engineering.

Faculties Aerospace Engineering

Founded in 1954, the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering conducts research and education in a wide range of aerospace disciplines. The Aerospace Research Center also consists of the Aerodynamics (wind tunnels) Laboratory, the Aerospace Structures Laboratory, the Combustion and Rocket Propulsion Laboratory, the Turbo and Jet Engine Laboratory, the Flight Control Laboratory and the Design for Manufacturing Laboratory.

Architecture and Town Planning The Technion Faculty of Architecture awards BSc in architecture degree after four years and March professional degree after six years of study. The faculty offers 4 programs: Architecture (under graduate and graduate), Landscape architecture (undergraduate and graduate), Industrial design (graduate) and regional and urban planning (graduate). Its undergraduate program in architecture and landscape architecture accepts about 100 students each year. Its graduate programs accepts about 70 students each year, and it accepts about 15 doctoral students, focusing on subjects related to it four programs.

Biology The Faculty of Biology was established in 1971. Advanced research is carried out in 23 research groups, focusing on a variety of aspects of cellular, molecular and developmental biology. The faculty has extensive collaborations with the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. The Faculty has around 350 undergraduate students and over 100 graduate students.The Technion Insider: Technion prospectus from 2007.

Biomedical Engineering Established in 1968, the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering has a multidisciplinary scope nurturing research activities that blend medical and biological engineering. Research projects have resulted in the development of patented medical aids. Recent research breakthroughs include the identification of a structured neurological code for syllables and could let paraplegics "speak" virtually through the connection of the brain to a computer.Siegel, Judy. (23 August 2012) Israeli research may help severely paralyzed speak | JPost | Israel News. JPost. Retrieved on 5 October 2013.

Biotechnology and Food Engineering Unique in Israel, the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering offers a blend of courses in engineering, life and natural sciences as well as joint degree programs with the Faculties of Biology and Chemistry. The Faculty houses biotechnology laboratories, as well as a large food processing pilot plant and a packaging laboratory. It currently has 350 undergraduates and more than 120 graduate students.

Civil and Environmental Engineering

In 2002, two of the original Technion Faculties – Civil and Agricultural engineering, were merged to create the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The Faculty is the home of Technion's expanding International School of Engineering. Mapping and geo-information are taught in the faculty in the framework of two study tracks: a four-year BSc and a three-year BA.

Chemical Engineering The Wolfson Faculty of Chemical Engineering is Israel's oldest and largest faculty in the field, educating the vast majority of chemical engineers in Israel's chemical industries. Research activities include materials, complex fluids, processing, transport and surface phenomena and process control.

Chemistry The Schulich Faculty of Chemistry offers a variety of joint programs, including with materials engineering, chemical engineering, physics, and food engineering. It also offers a joint degree with the Faculty of Biology leading to a degree in molecular biochemistry. Around 100 research projects at the faculty are sponsored by industry and national and international foundations. It also offers a variety of outreach and youth programs.

Coastal and Marine Engineering Research Institute (CAMERI) Held equally by the Technion and The Israeli Ports Company, The Israeli CAMERI is the leading applicative research Institute in Israel dedicated to Physical Oceanography, Marine Engineering and Coastal Engineering. Founded in 1976 it hosts two research facilities (wave-basin and wave-flume), both are the biggest of their kind in Israel. CAMERI has become with time a national authority in various data and research aspects related to the Israeli coastal and marine environments.

Computer Science

Founded in 1969, this is one of the largest Technion faculties, with over 1,800 undergraduate students and 300 graduate students.