On Tuesday, August 31, 2021, the President of the State of Israel, Mr. Isaac Herzog, signed the appointment of Prof. David Harel, an Israel Prize laureate and world renowned expert in the field of computer science at the Weizmann Institute of Science, as President of The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Prof. Harel will begin his term on September 6, 2021, the first day of the Hebrew year 5772.

 

On June 15, 2021, by the authority vested in it by the Law of The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the General Assembly of the Academy elected Prof. David Harel as the Academy’s eleventh President and recommended his appointment to the President of the State, who signed the letter of appointment in accordance with the law. Prof. Harel has served as the Academy’s Vice President for the past six years. He will take the place of retiring President Prof. Nili Cohen, who has concluded her six-year term.

 

The President of the State spoke with Prof. Harel and congratulated him upon his appointment. Prof. Harel thanked the President for the appointment and declared his intention to lead The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities with statesmanship, for the greater good of Israel’s entire academic community.

 

On the eve of entering into his role as President of the Academy, Prof. Harel stated: “The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities has the potential to make a highly significant contribution to the State of Israel and its intellectual, scientific and technological resilience, and to the visibility of these traits, in the state and throughout the world.”