Ayelet was named the new Franz Ollendorf Chair (Donated by Octav and Marcella Botnar) at the Technion.
Franz Ollendorf
Franz Ollendorf was a physicist and educator, a founder of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Technion, and a pioneer of the field in Israel. Ollendorff also established the electricity and radio majors in the first technological high school in Israel. He was interested in the philosophy of science, promoted translational research into clinical treatments, and opposed the registration of patents, thinking that scientists must apply their inventions for the greater good.
Ayelet is thrilled, and not only for professional reasons: “In the early 1930s Ollendorf was a lecturer at the University of Berlin and was later active in the Hebrew youth movement in Berlin, before coming to Israel in 1937 and joining the Technion. My late grandfather studied for his doctorate at the University of Berlin and was also active in the Hebrew youth movement in those years, so the two likely knew each other. For me, the chair is not only an important reminder of the enormous contribution of scientists to education and society but also a farewell greeting from grandfather.”