Spotliht On Dimitris N. Chorafas Advisor, author, thinker, philanthropist
SPRING 2015 Spotliht On 10 11 Loss of a dear friend: Weizmann Maazine interviewed Dr. Dimitris Chorafas shortly before his passin in November. To honor his memory, we have left the article intact as he approved it. Dr. Dimitris N. Chorafas likes to say that the most expensive thin in life is low quality as it relates to industrial products and all sorts of services, includin social services. He would know, as an enineer and lon-time international financial advisor to some of the most prestiious lobal companies includin IBM, General Electric, and many European banks. But he s also careful to point out that that oes for education too. It is precisely this keen interest a preoccupation, really with educational excellence, conveyin knowlede and wisdom to the next eneration, and investin in the riht people at the riht time that characterizes Dr. Chorafas and which led him to the Weizmann Institute of Science. A native of Greece who now resides in Switzerland and France, Dr. Chorafas, who is 88, recently ave a transformational ift to the Weizmann Institute to establish the Chorafas Institute for Scientific Exchane. The new entity will fund about 10 scientific conferences every year at the Weizmann Institute in a wide variety of areas of investiation. The Chorafas Institute will amplify our capabilities to brin toether scientific leaders from around the world here at the Weizmann Institute, reinforcin and strenthenin the Institute as a hub of scientific research, says Prof. Israel Bar-Joseph, Vice President for Resource Development and Public Affairs, and Dean of Education. Chorafas s relationship with the Institute oes back nearly two decades, and the recent ift reflects a commitment to the Weizmann Institute that has rown and developed over that time. Bade of confidence In 1992, in collaboration with the Swiss Academies of Sciences, Dr. Chorafas established a foundation to reward the best scientists chosen by the correspondent academies of sciences in Western countries. Four years later, the Dimitris N. Chorafas Foundation of Switzerland bean awardin merit-based financial prizes to outstandin science students completin their doctoral studies at about two dozen academic institutions around the world. The concept was that the prizes would encourae cream-of-the-crop
Spotliht On The Lopatie Hall of Graduate Studies housin the Feinber Graduate School students at the best universities to invest themselves in science, expand our understandin of the world, and lay the roundwork for future discoveries. The Chorafas Foundation has distributed awards of up to $5,000 to hundreds of students at partner institutions in the US, UK, Canada, Japan, China, France, Germany, Italy, Greece, Switzerland and Israel. Today, it has 21 partner institutions; seven other institutions were partners in the past. What I found over the years was that, amon all these excellent students, the Weizmann students were really the most impressive. Dimitris Chorafas At home in Lausanne Dimitris Chorafas with his partner, Eva Maria Binder Nearly two dozen Weiz mann Institute doctoral candidates have received the Chorafas Prize since it was launched. It is considered one of the most prestiious prizes offered by the Feinber Graduate School. Past recipients include Dr. Shahal Ilani, Prof. Omer Reinold, Prof. Nirit Dudovich, and Prof. Ron Milo, all faculty members of the Institute today. What I found over the years was that, amon all these excellent students, the Weizmann students were really the most impressive, says Dr. Chorafas, who has historically reviewed the candidates profiles for selection himself, in cooperation with his board. In fact, for that reason, in recent years the Chorafas Foundation asked the Feinber Graduate School to serve as an official advisor to the foundation in its annual selection process of all candidates worldwide, in an effort to ensure the prizes o to the most promisin future scientists.
Spotliht On SPRING 2015 Such a reconition of the work done at Weizmann clarified to me that what we were doin here was on par with anywhere else in the world. Prof. Ron Milo 12 13 The oal of the prizes is to reward exceptional performance and encourae sinificant future contributions to science and technoloy. Gettin the Chorafas Prize as a youn student made me feel that I was now playin in the real leaue of the rown-ups, recalls Prof. Milo of the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, who received the award in 2004. Such a reconition of the work done at Weizmann clarified to me what we were doin here was on par with anywhere else in the world. It was the riht boost at the riht time for me and propelled me forward in decidin to make a career in basic science research. A vibrant, intellectual life Dimitris Chorafas was born in Greece in 1926. He volunteered for the overnment army durin Greece s civil war (1944 49). The army backed by Great Britain and the U.S. fouht aainst the military branch of the Greek communist party, which was backed by the Soviet Union and several eastern European countries. It was one of the first conflicts of the Cold War. To this day, Chorafas has 14 pieces of shrapnel in his body from a renade that exploded nearby him. His most salient memory was from Christmas niht in 1944, when he found himself and fellow volunteer Greek soldiers encircled in a factory near Athens with only provision bullets, whiskey and crackers. Communist forces were all around. Everyone in his roup was untrained. Chorafas said they survived thanks to downin the factory s whisky, which settled their nerves and ave them the uts to shoot. After the war, he received his bachelor s deree in electrical and mechanical enineerin from the National Technical University of Athens, and went on to be a Fulbriht Scholar. He received an MSc in computers from UCLA and a Doctor of Science in mathematics and loic at the Sorbonne in Paris. He did postraduate studies in bankin, finance and operations research at UCLA, the University of Denver, and Geore Washinton University. He joined the faculty of The Catholic University of America in Washinton D.C. Then he moved onto the business world, where he helped establish IBM s Applied Science departments in Europe and was Director of Manaement The Chorafas Prize The Chorafas Prize is one of the Feinber Graduate School s most prestiious prizes, awarded to the most outstandin students in any iven year. There is no doubt that in selectin the candidates for this award, we have always souht out the most promisin students and individuals, and we see years later that these exceptional students do become scientists who are leaders in their fields, says Prof. Irit Sai, Dean of FGS. Prof. Sai leads an FGS committee which serves as a formal advisory body to the Chorafas Foundation which reviews the candidates in all 21 partner institutions worldwide for the Chorafas Prize.
Spotliht On The role of philanthropy is to step in and infuse funds into research so that societies can help themselves, says Dr. Chorafas. Information Systems at Booz, Allen and Hamilton International, the consultancy. Followin these affiliations, as an independent manaement consultant, he advised banks includin the Union Bank of Switzerland and corporations includin Honeywell, Univac, Nestlé, and the National Iranian Oil Company. Yet he always remained closely tied to academia, servin as a visitin professor at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and head of information systems at the École d Etudes Industrielles of the University of Geneva. One of the seminal themes in Chorafas s life has been his thirst for knowlede, and, in parallel, his quest to disseminate it. He is a voracious reader with a phenomenal memory, and an unusual ability to synthesize information and clearly analyze it. He is a prolific writer, havin published 165 books to date; his 166 th, on business ethics, is to be published in 2015. His titles focus on a wide rane of issues includin research and development, reliability enineerin, risk manaement and finance. His lifelon partner, Eva Maria Binder, who is from Germany, serves as his editor and proofreader, workin passionately and tirelessly on his behalf and servin as a liaison with publishers. Chorafas has a rare dexterity with names and sayins of philosophers, political leaders, and Prize student One of the most recent recipients of the Chorafas Prize is Dr. Liron Barak, who completed her PhD studies in physics under the uidance of Prof. Eilam Gross in the Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics. Dr. Barak, who is married and a mother of three, started a prestiious postdoctoral fellowship at CERN in Geneva as part of her research on the His boson. Prof. Gross, who played a leadin role in the 2012 discovery of the His boson at CERN, calls Dr. Barak an exceptional talent, and therefore it is very fittin that she is a recipient of the prestiious Chorafas Prize. Dr. Barak says it was a hue honor to be named a recipient of the prize, and it validated her chosen career path as a research scientist.
Spotliht On SPRING 2015 One of the seminal themes in Chorafas s life has been his thirst for knowlede, and, in parallel, his quest to disseminate it. 14 15 intellectuals. Amon those he appreciates most are Golda Meir and Abba Eban. He has distant Jewish roots, but he was drawn to Eban who was briefly President of the Weizmann Institute and Meir because of their words. (Chorafas s paternal randmother was Jewish, and his mother s lineae traces back to Spain, from which his ancestors fled to the Greek islands havin faced persecution durin the Inquisition.) An adamant proponent of self-responsibility and disdain for reliance on overnments, he says that Golda Meir said it best: that overnments cannot do everythin and they shouldn t do everythin. He worries about hih expectations from overnments to provide solutions in an era of dwindlin budets and bureonin deficits. The role of philanthropy is to step in and infuse funds into research, he says, so that societies can help themselves. Philanthropy is an enabler, layin the roundwork so people can learn, row, and create chane. Meanwhile, as a computer enineer, he developed a keen sense of the value of basic research as a foundation for applied science and technoloy. The Chorafas Institute for Scientific Exchane Chorafas s decision to fund intellectual exchane at the Weizmann Institute throuh the Chorafas Institute for Scientific Exchane was a natural outrowth of his own commitment to the pursuit and sharin of knowlede, and to basic research. Importantly, he adds, with the closure of major private, industrial research laboratories across the U.S. and Europe in recent decades, basic research is now bein carried out almost exclusively at academic institutions. A major source of basic research discoveries has nearly totally disappeared, and if research retreats, entire societies will retreat, he says. The Chorafas Institute will enable small conferences of up to 300 top-notch scientists, postdocs, and students, around a sinle scientific topic on campus. The ift funds conferences that will take place at The David Lopatie Conference Centre. One of his inspirations for establishin the Chorafas Institute was the Rothschild-Weizmann Proram for Excellence in Science Teachin at the Weizmann Institute. The proram offers MSc derees in science and math to experienced hih school teachers from all over Israel. The concept: a trickle-down effect that will benefit students. The conferences his new Institute will support will have a similar impact, he says, by eneratin knowlede that will be shared with others, and will positively affect science for decades, and enerations, to come. Prof. Ron Milo and Dr. Shahal Ilani are amon the previous recipients of the Chorafas Prize