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Mercury, Jan/Feb 1995 Table of Contents

by Sara C. Beck, Tel Aviv University

(c) 1995 Astronomical Society of the Pacific

Israeli astronomers have come a long way on limited resources, but at least they don't have to spend much effort battling pseudoscience: public education is strong, and religion and science coexist peacefully.

Astronomy gained its foothold in modern Israel with the popularization efforts of Asher Ehrlich in British-controlled Palestine, but did not emerge as an academic discipline until the early 1970s. Today, five of the seven Israeli universities have astronomy programs. The Israeli astronomical community sees itself as a modern scientific establishment in the European or American model, but with some special problems shared with the less developed world.

Israeli astrophysicists concentrate on cosmology, gravitation, and compact objects; Tel Aviv University has observational programs into active and starburst galaxies, novae and cataclysmic variables, faint stellar companions, and solar-system research. In all, there are about 40 senior faculty and a similar number of graduate students. The annual budget for astronomy is about $2 million, mostly for faculty salaries. Support for students and expensive research comes from research agencies and private foundations, including the German-Israel Foundation and Israel-U.S. Binational Science Foundation.

The only professional observatory in Israel is the Wise Observatory in Mitzpe Ramon. Located in the northern Negev desert at an altitude of 900 meters (3000 feet), Mitzpe Ramon has about 240 usable and 170 excellent nights a year, with average seeing of 2 arcseconds. Although the 1-meter telescope is small by today's standards, for many programs -- monitoring variable stars and galaxies, wide-field searches, and collaborations such as the Whole Earth Telescope -- it has advantages: a large field of view, excellent instrumentation, large blocks of time, and a location 12 hours from Hawaii in a region with few large telescopes. For larger telescopes and non-optical wavelengths, Israeli astronomers apply for time at telescopes in Europe and the Americas. Still, the astronomical community agrees that it needs a larger telescope, perhaps through a joint-venture with Egypt in the Sinai.

One of the reasons for building a new telescope would be to attract back the Israeli astronomers who work overseas. Like other small countries of limited means, Israel loses good young scientists to wealthier countries: the ``brain drain.'' Faculty encourage recent Ph.D.s to go abroad so that the research community will not get ingrown, but many never return. In 1990-1991, Israel was on the receiving end of a brain drain: Thousands of technically educated people immigrated from the former Soviet Union. They experienced culture shock in adapting to Israeli science -- they had never heard of grant applications, for example -- but most, after some adjustment, found scientific or engineering jobs.

Stars of David

In other aspects, Israeli science outperforms that of many richer countries. Elementary and high schools teach mathematics and physics thoroughly; a high-school graduate has typically done as much as an American college freshman. Astronomy is usually taught outside of the formal physics curriculum, in special projects directed by dedicated astronomers. Young students enjoy the Skylab traveling planetarium and programs at the Perchai Meda ("Science Seedlings") center. High-school students can team up with university faculty on research projects, which are graded by the Ministry of Science and count towards extra credit in the baccalaureate exams. Keen public interest benefits astronomy greatly. The largest newspaper, Maa'riv, runs a full-page article on astronomical research every week (although they also carry an astrology column). Large audiences attend public lectures at the Tel Aviv Planetarium, and astronomers often appear at social clubs, veteran's organizations, and synagogues. Israel has an active Astronomical Society of mixed amateur and professional membership.

The interaction of science, religion, pseudoscience, and anti-science in Israel or any other society is complex, but there are clear differences from the United States. Religion plays a more dominant role in public and private life than it does in America, but usually coexists smoothly with modern science. Many rabbis, for instance, refuse to bless sick people until they agree to conventional treatment. Orthodox Jews are well represented in science, medicine, and engineering. Astrology is taken less seriously than in the United States, probably because traditional Judaism frowns on it. There are, however, certain days and months thought to be lucky or unlucky. When the collision of Comet Shoemaker-Levy with Jupiter started on the 9th of Av, the most unfortunate day in the Jewish calendar, people called the observatory wondering whether this "meant something." The struggle between biologists and creationists is largely avoided, because those who object strongly to the scientific picture are likely to live in isolated communities and run their own schools.

Israeli astronomers have always been active in international collaborations, partly because most have worked in other countries and have close ties with them, partly because astronomical projects are so demanding that no one country can support them. Israeli and Russian scientists are working together on the largest collaboration yet: the Tel Aviv University Ultra-Violet Explorer (TAUVEX), an ultraviolet imager on the Spectrum Roentgen Gamma satellite, due for launch from Kazahkstan in early 1996. Israelis and Russians visit freely back and forth, a sign that some things do change for the better in this world.

SARA C. BECK is a lecturer in the Department of Astronomy at Tel Aviv University in Ramat Aviv, Israel. She discovered the joys of infrared spectroscopy while a graduate student in Berkeley, Calif., and though she has worked at wavelengths from the ultraviolet to the radio, she still believes the most interesting astrophysics lives in the infrared. Her email address is sara@wise.tau.ac.il.