Simon Litsyn

Co-inventor of the USB flash drive, Prof. Simon Litsyn was born in Kharkiv, now Ukraine, in 1957, and made aliyah in 1991. Professor of the faculty of engineering at Tel Aviv University, he is the inventor of X4 technology which increased the density of flash memory, for which he was awarded the Innovation of the Year Award in 2005. Prof. Litsyn is the recipient of the prestigious 2015 IEEE Award in Storage Technologies for pioneering contributions in flash-based memory design. He is a founder of two start-ups in the areas of communications and nanotechnologies.

Michael Pechatnikov

While Michael Pechatnikov was born in St. Petersburg, he spent much of his life in Israel after immigrating at 9 years old in 1992. He established himself in the programming world at the uncanny young age of 12. Under his father’s guidance, he developed a payload simulator that would be used to direct an AMOS-1 satellite function for several years. Pechatnikov founded three start-ups by the age of 33, including Telmap, a technology for transmitting maps on the Internet and on mobile phones, which was started in 1999. In 2004, he started VisionMap, which allows for military-grade high-resolution photography. Telmap and VisionMap were sold to Intel and Rafael, respectively. Today, Pechatnikov is CEO and managing partner of Sharpe Alpha Capital, which uses algorithms to analyze more than 10,000 funds all over the world.

Kira Radinsky

Kira Radinsky is only 32, but she is already a well-known breakthrough researcher in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). In 2013, when she was 27 years old, she was chosen by MIT to be included in their annual list of “35 Innovators Under 35.” Born in Ukraine in 1986, Radinsky moved to Israel at four years old. She currently works as the data science director at eBay. She also works as a researcher and visiting professor at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, where she completed all her degrees. In June, Radinsky was appointed by Finance Minister, Moshe Kahlon, as a member of the Israel Securities Authority’s board of directors. She also serves as director and adviser to various corporations.

Victor Vaisleib

Talpiot graduate and laureate of the Israel Defense Award in 1999, Victor Vaisleib was born in Odessa, Ukraine, in 1965 and came to Israel in 1973. There, he spent 15 years at the Electronic Research Department, a top research and development unit of the Israel Defense Forces, before founding Passawe, a semiconductor start-up in the field of optical broadband communications. In 2006, Passawe was sold to PMC Sierra for around $300 million, a more-than 20-fold return on investment. Today, Victor Vaisleib is CEO at Wi-Charge, which provides wireless power delivery to various devices.

Meir Vinnik

The chemical engineer and founder of Israel's first wine laboratory, Meir Winnik was born in 1885 in Odessa. He is also one of the founders of the Mikveh Israel School, the founder of the Rishon Lezion Technological Station and the founder of the first station for agricultural research in Israel, which focuses on irrigation issues. He also set up an agricultural research station close to his home and his work is presented in Beit Winnik, in Mikveh Israel. He received the Israel Prize for his achievements. As a renowned expert in the field of soil research and agriculture, Winnik addressed the Congress of Soil Researchers in Washington, in what was then Leningrad and in Moscow. He died in 1966.

Alexander Zarchin

Alexander Zarchin was born in 1897 in Ukraine to a religious-Zionist family. In 1934, he was arrested by the Ukrainian authorities for the crime of Zionism. Zarchin is best known for being an engineer and inventor, having invented a process for sea water desalination. He patented a chemical process using magnesium, naming it “LCLA,” an acronym for “l’man Tzion lo achsheh” (“for the sake of Zion I will not hold my peace”), a quote about the resettlement of the land found in the Book of Isaiah. He immigrated to pre-state Israel in 1947. He was a leading researcher in the areas of sea water desalination, petroleum production from bitumen stone, wind-operated generators and other related areas until his death in 1988.

Michael Zinigrad

The Israeli chemist, Michael Zinigrad, who specialized in materials science, materials engineering and nanotechnology, was born in Altai Krai, Russia, in 1945 and immigrated to Israel in 1992. Soon after the move, he was invited to teach at Ariel College, which only had about 200 students at the time. Partially under his leadership, the college evolved into a university with six small faculties and thousands of students. Mostly known for his works on modeling and simulation of metallurgical processes at high temperatures, Zinigrad is the initiator and the Chairman of the Conference on Mathematical Modeling and Computer Simulation of Metal Technologies. He is the author of more than 200 scientific papers, six patents and 22 textbooks. He also heads the Committee for Scientific Research between Israel and Russia.