September 28, 2022

Finest Hour 195, First Quarter 2022

Page 50

David Freeman, January 2022

The cornerstone for Technion—Israel Institute of Technology—was laid in Haifa 110 years ago, with instruction beginning twelve years later at what is now the oldest university in the country.

In honor of Winston Churchill’s long support for Zionism and his key role in helping open the way to the foundation of Israel, school officials decided in 1954 to name the university’s proposed new auditorium for the former prime minister.

Churchill happily accepted the proposal but was too frail to attend the dedication ceremony when the completed auditorium opened on 29 May 1958. In his place, Churchill sent his daughter Sarah. In the presence of Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and Albert Einstein’s son Hans, Sarah read out the adjacent letter from her father.