Haim Weizman

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Haim Azriel Weizman
Haim Weizman

Harry S. Truman and Haim Weizman, May 25, 1948


In office
February 16, 1949 – 9 November 1952
Preceded by None
Succeeded by Yitzhak Ben-Zvi

Born November 27, 1874
Motal', Russian Empire
Died 9 November 1952
Spouse Vera Weizman

Haim Azriel Weizman (Hebrew: חיים עזריאל ויצמן, also known as Chaijim Weizmann or Chaim Weizmann, November 27, 1874November 9, 1952) was a chemist, statesman, President of the World Zionist Organization, first President of Israel (elected February 1, 1949, served 1949 - 1952) and founder of a research institute in Israel which eventually became the Weizmann Institute of Science.

Weizman was born in a small village Motol (Motyli, now Motal') near Pinsk (Russian Empire, now in Belarus) and graduated in chemistry from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland in 1899. He lectured in chemistry at the University of Geneva (1901-3) and later taught at the University of Manchester.

He became a British subject in 1910, and in World War I he was (1916-19) director of the British Admiralty laboratories. He became famous because he discovered how to use bacterial fermentation to produce large quantities of desired substances and is nowadays considered to be the father of industrial fermentation. He used the bacterium Clostridium acetobutylicum (the Weizman organism) to produce acetone. Acetone was used in the manufacture of cordite explosive propellants critical to the Allied war effort (see Royal Navy Cordite Factory, Holton Heath). Weizman transferred the rights to the manufacture of acetone to Commercial Solvents Corporation in exchange for royalties.

In 1917, he worked with Lord Balfour on the Balfour Declaration. A founder of so-called synthetic Zionism, Weizman supported grass-roots colonization efforts as well as higher-level diplomatic activity. Siding with neither Labour Zionism on the left or Revisionist Zionism on the right, Weizman was generally associated with the centrist General Zionists.

1918. Emir Feisal I and Haim Weizman (left, also wearing Arab garb as a sign of friendship)
1918. Emir Feisal I and Haim Weizman (left, also wearing Arab garb as a sign of friendship)

On January 3, 1919, he and the future King Faisal I of Iraq signed the Faisal Weizman Agreement establishing the relations between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East. After 1920, he assumed leadership in the world Zionist movement, serving twice (1920-31, 1935-46) as president of the World Zionist Organization. In 1921, Weizman went along with the well-known Jewish physicist Albert Einstein for a fund-raiser to establish a Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

In World War II, he was an honorary adviser to the British Ministry of Supply and did research on synthetic rubber and high-octane gasoline. (Formerly Allied-controlled sources of rubber were largely inacessible due to Japanese occupation during World War II, giving rise to heightened interest in such innovations.)

He met with United States President Harry Truman and worked to obtain the support of the United States for the establishment of the State of Israel. Weizman became the first president upon the foundation of Israel in 1948. At Rehovot, where he lived, Weizman founded a research institute (now the Weizman Institute of Science). He wrote many papers for scientific journals. His nephew Ezer Weizman also became president of Israel.


Presidents of Israel

Haim Weizman Yitzhak Ben-Zvi Zalman Shazar Ephraim Katzir Yitzhak Navon Haim Herzog Ezer Weizman Moshe Katsav
1949‑1952 1952‑1963 1963‑1973 1973‑1978 1978‑1983 1983‑1993 1993‑2000 2000-Present

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Preceded by
David Ben-Gurion
Chairmen of the Provisional State Council
May 17, 1948 - February 17, 1949
Succeeded by
ceased to exist