Nobel Prize winner Dan Schechtman announces candidacy to run for Israeli presidency

Israel’s 2011 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry says his lack of political experience does not mean he doesn’t have a vision

By i24 News

 

 

Nobel Prize winning scientist Dan Schechtman announced plans to run for president of Israel on Channel 1 news on Friday.

Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner Dan Schechtman announced his intentions to run for Israeli presidency in the 2014 elections ( nobelprize.org )

Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner Dan Schechtman announced his intentions to run for Israeli presidency in the 2014 elections – Photo: nobelprize.org

Israel’s current president Shimon Peres will step down on July 27 and elections will be held this summer. The current confirmed candidates are Likud MK Reuven Rivlin, who lost to Peres seven years ago, and Labor MK Benjamin Ben-Eliezer. Hatnua faction chairman Meir Sheetrit also announced plans to run.

Schechtman is a Professor of Materials Science at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and was awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for “the discovery of quasicrystals,” making him the fourth Israeli to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in under a decade.

When asked about his lack of political experience during his Channel 1 news interview, Schechtman responded that a lack of experience does not mean he doesn’t have a vision for the future of Israel and added his desire to be president stems from being a Zionist.

Shechtman was born 1941 in Tel Aviv, and earned his Ph.D. in Materials Engineering from the Technion in 1972, where he also obtained his B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering in 1966 and M.Sc. in Materials Engineering in 1968.

Candidates for the Israeli presidential elections need to announce their candidacy and submit the signatures of 10 Members of Knesset who support them two weeks before the race. If elected, Shechtman will be the first president not to be elected out of the Knesset.

 

View original i24 News publication at: http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/politics/140118-nobel-prize-winner-to-run-for-israeli-presidency