List of Israeli inventions and discoveries

Israeli inventions and discoveries have received worldwide attention since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. Several of the discoveries included in this list were made by Israelis while staying at overseas research institutes.

Science

Chemistry

• Discovery of Quasicrystals by Dan Shechtman of the Technion^[1]
• Discovery of the role of protein Ubiquitin by Avram Hershko and Aaron Ciechanover of the Technion Institute (together with the American Jewish biologist Irwin Rose). The discovery led them to receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.^[2][3]

Physics

• Prediction of Quarks by Yuval Ne'eman of Tel Aviv University (together with the American physicist Murray Gell-Mann).^[4]
• Discovery of the Aharonov–Bohm effect by Yakir Aharonov and David Bohm.^[5]
• Formulation of Black holes Entropy by Jacob Bekenstein of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.^[6][7]

Medicine

• Eshkol-Wachman Movement Notation - a notation system for recording movement on paper that has been used in many fields, including dance, physical therapy, animal behavior and early diagnosis of autism.^[8]
• Development of the Copaxone immunomodulator drug for treating multiple sclerosis. It was developed in the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel by Michael Sela, Ruth Arnon and Deborah Teitelbaum.^[9][10]
• Development of the Interferon proteins by Michel Revel from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.^[11]
• Development of the "Pillcam" by Given Imaging, the first Capsule endoscopy solution to record images of the digestive tract. The capsule is the size and shape of a pill and contains a tiny camera.^[12]

Economics

• Work of Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem explaining irrational human economic choices.^[13]
• Developments in Game theory. Israel Aumann of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem received the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work in this field.^[14]
• The Rubinstein bargaining model, one of the most influential findings in game theory, refers to a class of bargaining games that feature alternating offers through an infinite time horizon. The proof is from Ariel Rubinstein 1982.^[15]

Biotechnology

• Nanowire - an conductive wire made of a string of tiny particles of silver, a thousand times thinner than a human hair. developed by Uri Sivan, Erez Braun and Yoav Eichen from the Technion.^[16]
• World's smallest DNA computing machine system - "the smallest biological computing device" ever constructed, according to Guinness Book of Records, which is composed of enzymes and DNA molecules capable of performing simple mathematical calculations and which uses its input DNA molecule as its sole source of energy it was developed in 2003 in the Weizmann Institute of Science by professor Ehud Shapiro and his team.^[17][18]

Theoretical computer science

• Michael O. Rabin introduced the concept of nondeterministic finite automatons.^[19]
• Amir Pnueli introduced temporal logic into computing science.

Defense

• Uzi Submachine gun - invented by Uzi Gal. The development was completed in 1955.^[20][21]
• Gabriel - a sea-skimming anti-ship missile.^[22]
• Arrow - a family of operational anti-ballistic missiles. Jointly funded and produced by Israel and the United States.^[23][24]
• IAI Lavi - an ambitious Israeli production of a modern fighter aircraft. The production of the plane was carried out at Israel Aircraft Industries. The production of the plane was disbanded when the Israeli government concluded it could not finance production on its own.^[25]
• Protector USV ia an unmanned surface vehicle, developed by the Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. It is the first of its kind to be used in combat.^[26]
• Python - a family of air-to-air missiles (AAMs) built by the Israeli weapons manufacturer Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.^[27]
• Unmanned aerial vehicles - an aircraft that flies without a human crew on board the aircraft. Their largest uses are in military applications. Developed by Israel Aircraft Industries.^[28]
• Nautilus laser system - a laser developed for military use. Jointly funded and produced by Israel and the United States.^[29][30]
• Iron Dome - a mobile air defense system in development by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems designed to intercept short-range rockets and artillery shells. On April 7, 2011, the system successfully intercepted a Grad rocket launched from Gaza, marking the first time in history a short-range rocket was ever intercepted.^[31]
• Barak - a surface-to-air missile designed to be used as a point-defense missile system on warships, defending against aircraft, anti-ship missiles, and UAVs. Jointly produced and developed by Rafael and Israel Aircraft Industries.^[32]
• MUSIC (Multi Spectral Infrared Countermeasure) - a system that counter surface-to-air heat-seeking missiles. It is manufactured by Elbit Systems.^[33]
• MagnoShocker - combines a metal detector and a taser which could be used to neutralized immediately a dangerous person. It was developed by the mathematician Amit Weissman and his colleagues Adir Kahn and Zvi Jordan.^[34]
• Reconnaissance satellite TecSAR - developed and built by Israel Aerospace Industries.^[35]
• Tavor TAR-21 assault rifle - a modern assault rifle designed with the aim to be used as the IDF's standard assault rifle. The rifle was the developed by "Magen", the small arms division of the Israel Military Industries (IMI). The development of Tavor was completed in 2001. In 2005 Magen was sold to the Israeli company Israel Weapon Industries (IWI) which continues to develop and produce the rifle. The MTAR-21 (Micro Tavor) was recently selected as the future assault rifle of the Israeli Defense Forces, and within the next few years it will become the standard Israeli infantry weapon.^[36]
• Technion Satellite - launched into space in July 1998, it is one of the smallest satellites in the world. Cube-shaped satellite which has 45 centimeter-long sides and weighs 48 kilograms and has an extremely low power consumption. The Technion satellite began as a student project of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, supervised by Haim Eshed and initiated by Giora Shaviv, former head of the Asher Space Research Institute (ASRI) at the Technion.^[37][38]
• Wall radar - a unique radar which utilizes Ultra Wide Band (UWB) to allows users to see through walls. Developed by the Israeli company Camro.^[39]

Computing

Computer hardware

• USB flash drive - a flash memory data storage device integrated with a USB interface. The Israeli company M-Systems (in partnership with IBM) developed and manufactured the first USB flash drives available in North America.^[40]
• Quicktionary Electronic dictionary – a tiny pen-sized scanner which is able to scan words or phrases and immediately translate them into other languages, or keep them in memory in order to transfer them to the PC. Developed by the Israeli company Wizcom Technologies Ltd.^[41]
• Laser Keyboard - virtual keyboard is projected onto a wall or table top and allows to type handheld computers and cell phones. Developed simultaneously by the Israeli company Lumio and Silicon Valley startup company Canesta .^{[42][43][44][45]} The company subsequently licensed the technology to Celluon of Korea.^[46]

Computer software

• Adi Shamir co-inventor of Differential cryptanalysis. Algorithms include Shamir's Secret Sharing.
• Lempel–Ziv–Welch algorithm - a universal lossless data compression algorithm created by Abraham Lempel and Jacob Ziv of the Technion institute together with the American Information theorist Terry Welch.^[47]
• Babylon - a single-click computer translation, dictionary and information source utility program developed by Amnon Ovadia.^[48]
• ICQ - an Instant Messaging software developed initially in 1996 by the Israeli company Mirabilis.^[49]

Agriculture

• Refinement of existing Drip Irrigation Systems by introducing a non-clogging plastic emitter. Invented by the Israeli engineer Simcha Blass and his son Yeshayahu in the early 1960s.^[50] This method was very successful and subsequently spread to Australia, North America, and South America by the late 1960s.^[51]

Energy

• Super iron battery - A new class of a rechargeable electric battery based on a special kind of iron. More environment friendly because the super-iron eventually rusts. It was developed by Stuart Licht^[52] of the University of Massachusetts.^[53]
• Energy tower - Purely theoretical alternative electricity generation and water desalination technology in low cost. The Energy towers spray water on hot air at the top of the tower, making the cooled air fall through the tower and drive a turbine at the tower's bottom. The brainchild of the American physicist Phillip Carlson which was expanded by Professor Dan Zaslavsky and Rami Guetta from the Technion.^[54][55]
• A unique technology for producing hydrogen in vehicles as an alternative fuel source. It is produced by the Israeli company Engineuity and was invented by Amnon Yogev and Eli Gmaazaon.^[56]
• Improvement of previously existing flat plate solar water heaters - A home facility which converts solar energy to thermal energy. Following the energy crisis in the 1970s, The Israeli law requires the installation of solar water heaters in all new homes. It was developed by Zvi Tavor.^[57]

Consumer goods and household appliances

• Epilator (originally "Epilady") - an electrical device used to remove hair by mechanically grasping multiple hairs simultaneously and pulling them out. It was developed by Yair Dar and Shimon Yahav and originally manufactured at Kibbutz HaGoshrim.^[58][59]
• Micronized coating instant hot water pipes - developed by A.C.T.^[60]
• Artificial gills - a special diving system, currently being developed by the Israeli company Like-A-Fish Technologies, which produces oxygen from water making the oxygen tanks unnecessary. This technology does not exist yet or is in early stage of being developed.^[61]

Games

• Rummikub - a tile-based game for two to four players invented in Israel by Ephraim Hertzano.^[62][63]
• Hidato - a logic puzzle game invented by the Israeli mathematician Gyora Benedek.^[64]
• Taki - an Israeli card game invented by Haim Shafir.^[65][66]

Foods

• Shkedei marak - small yellow crisp crouton squares used as a soup accompaniment.^[67]
• Bamba - peanut butter-flavored snack which has been manufactured by the Osem corporation since 1966. Bamba is one of the leading snack foods produced and sold in Israel.^[68][69]
• Ptitim - wheat-based baked pasta. It was initially invented during the austerity period in Israel when rice was scarce.^[70]

See also

• Science and technology in Israel
• Venture capital in Israel
• Yossi Gross
• Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle

References