Chaim Weizmann

The chemist who helped secure the Balfour Declaration, and the first President of Israel.

Life

Chemist

Weizmann was born into a Jewish family in Russia, studied chemistry in Germany and Switzerland, and later became a professor at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom. During World War I he invented a method of producing acetone by bacterial fermentation, solving a raw-material problem in Britain's manufacture of explosives.

Balfour Declaration

Using his influence in British politics, he helped persuade the British government to issue the Balfour Declaration in 1917, which expressed support for establishing a "national home" for the Jewish people in Palestine. Thereafter he long led the World Zionist Organization and founded the forerunner of the Weizmann Institute of Science.

First President

In 1949 he was elected the first President of Israel; he died in 1952.

Legacy

Weizmann was the leading figure of Zionist diplomacy; at the same time, the Balfour Declaration is seen by Palestinian Arabs as the starting point of the conflict that followed.

Major works & achievements

• Trial and Error

Did you know? Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science is a world-renowned research institution.

Key dates

• 1916Develops the acetone fermentation process (approx.)
• 1917Helps secure the Balfour Declaration
• 1920Becomes President of the World Zionist Organization
• 1949Elected President of Israel
• 1952Died