Iranian Missiles Destroy Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science

The conflict that began last week—when Israeli drone and missile attacks destroyed nuclear facilities and killed top officials and weapons scientists in Iran—has also devastated one of Israel’s top scientific institutions, the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Eli Kintisch reported for Science.

Among the destroyed research materials, the most scientifically valuable were more than 2,000 carefully bred transgenic Drosophila lines. I Photo: Niv Wikimedia Commons

Retaliatory missile strikes by Iran on June 15 caused catastrophic damage to two major campus structures: a new facility for chemistry and materials science labs that was scheduled to open this year, and an existing building housing life and computational sciences.

Hundreds of scientists at the university have lost a year or more of research in the rubble.

“Clearly we are a target,” said physicist Roee Ozeri, Weizmann’s vice president for development and communications. Although dozens were killed by Iranian missiles elsewhere in Israel and hundreds have died in Iran, there were no reported injuries at the prestigious institute, which maintains about 500 housing units on campus for visiting faculty, postdocs, and students.

While Weizmann is best known for its work in the life sciences, it also engages in research connected to the Israeli military—particularly in computer science, energy, and medicine—which some on social media suggested may have made it a target.

Neuroscientist Oren Schuldiner said, “The lab is gone. There’s nothing to save.”

Among the destroyed research materials, the most scientifically valuable were more than 2,000 carefully bred transgenic Drosophila lines. “It will take three or four years to rebuild,” he added, noting the loss also included countless bacterial and DNA samples. “It’s heartbreaking.”