Israeli Ingenuity

The Jews continue to enrich humanity with their innovations and inventions. Israel's enemies continue to contribute murder, mayhem and destruction. Yet who does most of the world side with?

Israel's top 45 greatest inventions of all time

By Abigail Klein Leichman
September 26, 2011


A new exhibit pays homage to Israeli ingenuity behind gadgets like the Disk-on-Key, PillCam, solar windows and a space camera.


Photo courtesy of Bloomfield Science Museum
“Inventors for a Day” tap into their creative side at the Inventions, Inc. exhibition at Jerusalem’s Bloomfield Science Museum.
One of Israel's sources of pride is the enormous number of inventions and innovations that have taken root on its soil over 63 years -- despite challenges of geography, size and diplomacy. The ever-churning Israeli mind has brought us drip irrigation, the cherry tomato, the electric car grid, the Disk-on-Key and much more.

Through December at the Bloomfield Science Museum in Jerusalem, 45 indispensable Israeli inventions are being displayed and demonstrated. Curator Varda Gur Ben-Sheetrit tells ISRAEL21c that hundreds of ingenious inventions were considered for Inventions, Inc., which offers visitors a chance to learn more and try their own hand at coming up with something new.


She emphasizes that many other Israeli inventions are deserving of being included. "We were, of course, constrained by space limitations, and also not every company we invited to exhibit responded," she says.


Another feature of the exhibition is the Transparent Studio, where graduates of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design conduct a course on innovation in the area of light and lighting design. Visitors can observe their work-in-progress and share their ideas and suggestions with the designers.

Here, ISRAEL21c gives Israel's top 45 inventions highlighted at the exhibition, in no particular order.

1. Given Imaging, a world leader in developing and marketing patient-friendly solutions for visualizing and detecting disorders of the GI tract, is best known for its PillCam (aka capsule endoscopy), now the gold standard for intestinal visualization.


Photo courtesy of Bloomfield Science Museum
Visitors watch how the PillCam shows doctors what's going on in the gut.
2. Netafim is a worldwide pioneer in smart drip and micro-irrigation, starting from the idea of Israeli engineer Simcha Blass for releasing water in controlled, slow drips to provide precise crop irrigation. The kibbutz-owned company operates in 112 countries with 13 factories throughout the world.

3. Ormat Technologies designs, develops, builds, owns, manufactures and operates geothermal power plants worldwide, supplying clean geothermal power in more than 20 countries.

4. Pythagoras Solar makes the world's first solar window, which combines energy efficiency, power generation and transparency. This transparent photovoltaic glass unit can be easily integrated into conventional building design and construction processes.

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