Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén handed over a high state decoration to Professor Daniel Hershkowitz, former Israeli Minister of Science and Technology, in the Parliament Building, in recognition of his manifold and committed activities serving the intensification of Hungarian-Israeli academic and social relations.
Upon the recommendation of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, President of the Republic János Áder conferred the decoration Hungarian Order of Merit, Officer’s Cross, upon the scientist of Hungarian descent, President of the Ban Ilan University, and Honorary President of the Hungarian-Israeli Scientific Society.
Professor Daniel Hershkowitz was born in 1953 in Haifa to Hungarian parents. In addition to having served as the guest professor of internationally renowned universities and his scientific work, he is also active in public life, and likewise serves as the religious leader of one of the quarters of his home town. He is a member of international scientific societies, and also acted as president of some of them. He has received several prizes in mathematics. Professor Hershkowitz was Israel’s Minister of Science and Technology as of 2009, and in November 2011 he delivered a speech at the Budapest meeting of the World Science Forum.
As the President of the Israeli Bar Ilan University, he is working towards the establishment of high-level scientific and social relations between the homeland of his parents and grandparents and Israel. In order to promote these, he played an active role in the establishment of the Hungarian-Israeli Scientific Society which seeks to create a professional and cultural forum for Israeli researchers of Hungarian descent. As the Honorary President of the Society, his activities are characterised by an ongoing desire for and support of the development of bilateral social relations.
(Prime Minister’s Office)
