The Scientific Bridge: Fifty Years of Germany–Israel Diplomatic Relations

In 1960, a historic meeting between the German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and the Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion took place. This was the beginning of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Germany and Israel, which officially started 50 years ago. To commemorate this occasion, Angewandte Chemie is publishing a special issue with contributions from German and Israeli scientists, including Reviews by Lucio Frydman, Itamar Willner, Peter Schreiner, and David Milstein, and around 70 Communications covering a range of topics.

In their Editorial that introduces the issue, Helmut Schwarz, Technische Universität Berlin, Germany, Itamar Willner, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, and Ilan Marek, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, show how scientific and technological links between the two countries were established. Already in 1959, a collaboration between the Max Planck Society and the Weizmann Institute of Science had begun, and led to the establishment of many Minerva Centers, which are jointly funded by both countries.

Other scientific programs include the German–Israeli Foundation and the German–Israeli Project Cooperation. Symposia and exchange programs involving, among others, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, also contribute to strengthening scientific links between the two countries, and the 50th anniversary will be marked by a joint symposium between the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina that will be held later this year in Jerusalem, Israel.

The scientific and technological links between the two countries brought benefits both within and outside these fields, and the relations that have been established show how both science and culture can be used to overcome a difficult past.

• Special Issue of Angewandte Chemie: Fifty Years of Germany–Israel Diplomatic Relations,
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2015, 54 (42).
• The Scientific Bridge: Fifty Years of Germany-Israel Diplomatic Relations,
  Helmut Schwarz, Itamar Willner, Ilan Marek,
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2015.
  DOI: 10.1002/anie.201506694

Also of Interest

• Chemistry at Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
  Brian Johnson and ChemistryViews.org,
  ChemistryViews 2015.
  The Institute of Chemistry at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem was the first of its kind in the country
• Chemistry in Israel,
  Jonathan Faiz,
  ChemViews Mag. 2014.
  Ilan Marek discusses the historic reasons for Israel's success in chemistry, as well as its present and future