The Racah Institute of Physics

The Racah Institute of Physics is an institute at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, part of the faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences on the Edmund J. Safra Campus in the Givat Ram neighborhood of Jerusalem, Israel.

The Institute is the center for all research and teaching in the various fields of physics at the Hebrew University. These include astrophysics, high energy physics, quantum physics, nuclear physics, solid state physics, laser and plasma physics, biophysics, non-linear and statistical physics, and nanophysics. Both experimental and theoretical research is carried on in these fields.

In 1913, before the opening of the Hebrew University, first steps towards physics research in Jerusalem were taken by Chaim Weizmann. Weizmann, the President of the Zionist Organisation, and the major figure in the planning and founding of the Hebrew University contacted Leonard Ornstein, the known physicist from Utrecht, the Netherlands, to prepare plans for physics research at the upcoming university. After the University was officially opened, he became the chairman of the physics group for several years, acting from his seat at Utrecht. In the year 1923, two years before its official opening, Albert Einstein gave a talk on Mount Scopus, the first campus of the University, on his Theory of Relativity. This talk was considered by many as the opening talk of the Hebrew University. Einstein, who supported actively the foundation and development of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem since 1919 and throughout his entire life, was particularly active in helping to establish a good physics institute. The known mathematician, Abraham Fraenkel, who was on the governing board and served later as dean and rector of the University, invested great efforts looking for an excellent physicist to take the chair of theoretical physics in Jerusalem. He corresponded extensively with Einstein on this matter, seeking advice on the various possible candidates.

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