computer science

History of IBM research in Israel

History of IBM research in Israel is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand History of IBM research in Israel rather than just read about it. In short: The history of IBM research in Israel dates from 1972 with the establishment of the IBM Haifa Research Lab. The research lab is located in a custom-built complex on the University of Haifa campus, with branches in Haifa and Tel Aviv.

Key takeaways

History of IBM research in Israel belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect History of IBM research in Israel to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of History of IBM research in Israel from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The history of IBM research in Israel dates from 1972 with the establishment of the IBM Haifa Research Lab. The research lab is located in a custom-built complex on the University of Haifa campus, with branches in Haifa and Tel Aviv. The staff at the IBM Haifa Research Lab works on projects connected to the topics of healthcare, cloud computing, formal and image and video analytics among others.

Overview At the IBM Haifa Research Lab, 25% of the technical staff have doctoral degrees in computer science, electrical engineering, mathematics, or related fields. Employees are actively involved in teaching at Israeli higher education institutions such as the Technion (Israel Institute of Technology) and supervising post-graduate theses. Many employees have received IBM awards for achievements and excellence. Over the years, the IBM Haifa Research Lab in Israel described itself as attempting to strike a delicate balance between applied (relatively short-term) and long-term industrial research. While contributing to product development on many levels, the Lab also maintains close ties to the academic world. The Lab aims to simultaneously meet the needs of the present day while helping shape the future of information technology. Since its establishment in 1972, the IBM Haifa Research Lab described itself as trying to be responsive to both the research goals of IBM and the specific needs of Israeli industry – from medical non-invasive diagnosis projects, to computer-controlled irrigation, scheduling El Al flight crews, and Hebrew voice recognition. Today, its contributions play a role in emerging technologies such as IBM's eLiza project for self-managing computer systems, iSCSI for the IBM TotalStorage IP Storage 200i, the InfiniBand high bandwidth network protocol, Enterprise Storage Systems, and information retrieval engines. In addition, verification tools developed in Haifa are used throughout IBM labs to verify and test software and hardware.

Beginnings In 1971–73, Dr. Alfred Inselberg (AI) from the IBM Los Angeles Scientific Center was on sabbatical leave at the Technion's new department of Applied Mathematics. In 1972, Shimon Yagil contacted AI explaining that IBM Israel was looking for ways to increase IBM's presence in Israel. He asked AI to make presentations on IBM's Scientific Centers and write a proposal for such a Scientific Center in Israel. David Cohen, general manager of IBM Israel, and others attended the presentations and enthusiastically endorsed the proposal which eventually IBM World Trade accepted. This was the genesis of the idea. Prof. Phillip Rabinowich lobbied for IBM's center to be at the Weizmann Institute. However, the Scientific center was established at the Technion, as promoted by Shimon and AI, so that the undergraduate and graduate students there will learn about IBM's scientific activities. The concept of establishing a research center for IBM in Israel was the idea of the late David Cohen, then general manager of IBM Israel, and the late Prof. Josef Raviv, an Israeli computer scientist who headed a research group at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center in New York City. Raviv was active in the growth of the IBM Haifa Research Lab in Israel. In 1971, Raviv spent a year on sabbatical in Israel, where he met with Cohen. They convinced IBM management to open a center in Israel, modeled after the Scientific Centers in the United States, England, Germany, France and Italy. These centers described themselves as non-profit organizations whose goals were to promote the development of computer science and utilize advanced technology to solve problems critical to the local community. Raviv, Cohen and IBM said that with its international reputation for scientific research, a pool of talented researchers, and the support of advanced research institutions, Israel offered an attractive environment for research and development operations. This was a groundbreaking step. At the time, beyond the military industry, the field of hi-tech seemed to be almost non-existent in Israel, and computing appeared to be just starting to gain momentum in academic institutions. In 1972, the IBM Israel Scientific Center opened its doors in the Computer Science Building of the Technion, with a handful of employees: Raviv as manager, three researchers, and one programmer.

Joint Ventures across the Oceans In the late 1970s, Raviv began searching for ways to expand the Scientific Center's activities. He approached other Scientific Centers in Europe about conducting joint research projects. One of these was a project in farm management, in collaboration with the Madrid Scientific Center. This allowed the Haifa team to buy their first computer. It was a 5110—a portable computer roughly the size of a suitcase. The research team implemented algorithms on this machine and carried it from one kibbutz (collective farm) to another, to solve their individual irrigation problems. An important project was the development of an ultrasound system for the early detection of liver cancer, in conjunction with IBM Austria and Israel's Sheba Hospital. Although today ultrasound equipment is routinely used in a wide range of medical applications, at the time it was a relatively new technology. Haifa's expertise in signal processing was key to the development of this project. Another important project appears to have been computer assisted medical diagnosis – a computer-based system to aid physicians in their diagnostic and treatment decisions in different medical fields. The project, headed by Bezalel Gavish, developed new artificial intelligence methods (production systems). The first area tested was endocrinology and infertility done in cooperation with the Sheba medical center, Tel hashomer. The project was later tested with a group at the Rotschild hospital in Haifa, Dutch Hospitals in the Netherlands. It was extended to other fields of endoctinology, to Congenital malformation, and to heart related issues. Due to collaborative projects such as these, the Scientific Center quickly became recognized as a focal point for research and development in engineering and scientific computing for IBM's European Scientific Centers. This facilitated the growth of the Center from fifteen to twenty-two employees. To accommodate its expansion, the Scientific Center moved to newer and larger premises in the Technion's Andre and Bella Meyer Advanced Technology Center in 1982.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with History of IBM research in Israel

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what History of IBM research in Israel claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to History of IBM research in Israel before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about History of IBM research in Israel ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of History of IBM research in Israel

In research: History of IBM research in Israel appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses History of IBM research in Israel in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: History of IBM research in Israel is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Economic history of Israel, History of computer companies, IBM, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for History of IBM research in Israel outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “History of IBM research in Israel” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study History of IBM research in Israel in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what History of IBM research in Israel means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain History of IBM research in Israel out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is History of IBM research in Israel in simple terms?

Why does History of IBM research in Israel matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study History of IBM research in Israel?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on History of IBM research in Israel.