Stuff you may not have known about Israel
Israeli research shows that we can find out more about what is buried beneath
the earth's surface by
launching a satellite
into the sky.
An Israeli company has unveiled a
blood test
that via the telephone diagnoses
The Israeli-developed
Ex-Press shunt
is providing relief for American glaucoma sufferers.
An Israeli research team has found that the combination of
electrical stimulation
and chemotherapy makes cancerous metastases disappear.
Israel has designed the first
flight system
to protect passenger and freighter aircraft against missile attack.
Jewish and Arab students at Hebrew University participate in the
'Billy Crystal
Workshops - Peace Through the Performing Arts' project.
Israel
has the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world.
Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation by a
large margin - 109 per 10,000 people - as well as one of the highest percapita
rates of patents filed.
In proportion to its population, Israel has the largest number of startup
companies in the world. In absolute terms, Israel has the largest number of
startup companies than any other country in the world, except the US (3,500
companies mostly in hi-tech).
Israel is ranked #2 in the world for venture capital funds right behind the US.
Israel has the highest average living standards in the Middle East. The per
capita income in 2000 was over $17,500, exceeding that of the UK.
Israel's $100 billion economy is larger than all of its immediate neighbors
combined.
On a per capita basis, Israel has the largest number of biotech start-ups.
Israel has the largest raptor migration in the world, with hundreds of thousands
of African birds of prey crossing as they fan out into Asia.
Twenty-four percent of Israel's workforce holds university degrees - ranking
third in the industrialized world, after the United States and
Israel is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East.
In 1984 and 1991, Israel airlifted a total of 22,000 Ethiopian Jews at risk in
Ethiopia to safety in Israel.
When Gold Meir was elected Prime Minister of Israel in 1969, she became the
world's second elected female leader in modern times.
When the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya was bombed in 1998, Israeli rescue teams
were on the scene within a day - and saved three victims from the rubble.
Israel has the third highest rate of entrepreneurship - and the highest rate
among women and among people over 55 - in the world.
Relative to its population, Israel is the largest immigrant-absorbing nation on
earth. Immigrants come in search of democracy, religious
Israel was the first nation in the world to adopt the
Kimberly process,
an international standard that certifies diamonds as "conflict free."
According to industry officials, Israel designed the airline industry's most
impenetrable flight security. U.S. officials now look to Israel for advice on
how to handle airborne security threats.
Israel's Maccabi basketball team won the European championships in 2001.
Israeli tennis player
Anna Smashnova
is the 15th ranked female player in the world.
Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers was produced by Haim Saban, an Israeli whose
family fled persecution in Egypt.
Israel has the world's second highest per capita of new books.
Israel is the only country in the world that entered the 21st century with a net
gain in its number of trees.
Israel has more museums per capita than any other country.
Israel has two official languages: Hebrew and Arabic.
Israeli scientists developed the first fully computerized, no-radiation,
diagnostic instrumentation for breast cancer.
An Israeli company developed a
computerized system
for
ensuring proper administration of medications, thus removing human error from
medical treatment. Every year in U.S. hospitals 7,000 patients die from
treatment mistakes.
Israel's
Given Imaging
developed the first ingestible video camera, so small it fits inside a pill.
Used the view the small intestine from the inside, the camera helps doctors
diagnose cancer and digestive disorders.
Researchers in Israel developed a new device that directly helps the
heart pump blood,
an innovation with the potential to save lives among those with congestive heart
failure. The new device is synchronized with the heart's mechanical operations
through a sophisticated system of sensors.
With more than 3,000 high-tech companies and start-ups, Israel has the highest
concentration of hi-tech companies in the world (apart from the
In response to serious water shortages, Israeli engineers and agriculturalists
developed a revolutionary drip irrigation system to
Israel has the highest percentage in the world of home computers per capita.
Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the
workforce, with 145 per 10,000, as opposed to 85 in the U.S., over 70 in Japan,
and less than 60 in Germany. With over 25% of its work force employed in
technical professions. Israel places first in this category as well.
The cell phone was developed in Israel by Motorola, which has its largest
development center in Israel.
Most of the Windows NT operating system was developed by Microsoft-Israel.
The Pentium MMX Chip technology was designed in Israel at Intel.
Voice mail technology was developed in Israel.
Both Microsoft and Cisco built their only R&D facilities outside the US in
Israel.
The technology for AOL Instant Messenger was developed in 1996 by four young
Israelis.
A new acne treatment developed in Israel, the
ClearLight
device, produces a high-intensity, ultraviolet-light-free, narrow-band blue
light that causes acne bacteria to self-destruct - all without damaging
surroundings skin or tissue.
An Israeli company was the first to develop and install a large-scale
solar-powered and fully functional
electricity generating plant,
in southern California's Mojave desert.
The first PC anti-virus software was developed in Israel in 1979.