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About the Israel Academy

Albert Einstein's Sculpture in the Academy's Building (Photo: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities)

Chartered by law in 1961, the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities acts as a national focal point for Israeli scholarship in both the natural sciences and the humanities. The Academy consists of approximately 115 of Israel's most distinguished scientists and scholars, who, with the help of the Academy's staff and committees, monitor and promote Israeli intellectual excellence, advise the government on scientific planning, fund and publish research of lasting merit, and maintain active contact with the broader international scientific and scholarly community.

As stated in the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities Law, the goals of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities are:

To enlist as its members distinguished scholars and scientists resident in Israel

To cultivate and promote scholarly and scientific endeavor

To advise the government on activities relating to research and scientific planning of national significance

To maintain contact with parallel bodies abroad

To ensure the representation of Israeli scholarship and science at international institutions and conferences

To publish writings calculated to promote scholarship and science

To engage in any other activity calculated to serve the aforesaid objectives.

The Israel Academy is divided into two sections, for the natural sciences and for the humanities & social sciences, which share equal responsibility in conducting the Academy's affairs. The Academy is administered by a Council consisting of the Academy's president, outgoing president (honorary member), vice president, the chairpersons of the Sciences and Humanities Sections, and the executive director. The president is appointed by the president of the State, upon the recommendation of the Academy. The governing regulations of the Academy are self-determined, in consultation with the Ministry of Education and Culture.

The Academy founded and provides administrative support to the Israel Science Foundation (ISF) and Israel's Focal Initiatives in Research in Science and Technology (FIRST) program. It also founded and provided initial administrative support to Israel's new National Council for Research and Development (NCRD).

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About the Israel Academy