The Israeli Delegation of 10th Japan-Israel Joint Committee Meeting on Cooperation in Science and Technology visited KEK

Three members of the Israeli Delegation of 10th Japan-Israel Joint Committee Meeting on Cooperation in Science and Technology and three members of the Embassy of Israel in Japan visited Tsukuba Campus, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) on January 14, 2025.

Prof. Avi Domb (front row, second from the right), Dr. Alon Stopel (front row, third from the right),Dr. Shoji Asai, Director General, KEK (the center of front row), Dr. Naohito Saito, Director of IPNS (front row, third from the left), Dr. Nobumasa Funamori, Director of IMSS (front row, second from the left) in the Main Conference Room of the KEK Administration Building.

During the welcome session, Dr. Shoji Asai, Director General, KEK, gave an overview on KEK and research collaborations between Israel and KEK. On behalf of the delegation, Prof. Avi Domb, Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology and Dr. Alon Stopel, Chairman of the Israel Innovation Authority, expressed their gratitude for receiving the delegation and introduced Israel’s situation on international cooperation in the field of high-energy physics. It was also added that the bilateral cooperation is not only important for Israel but also for the promotion of basic science, and therefore it was very beneficial to learn about the progress of science through this visit.

After these exchanges, Dr. Naohito Saito, Director of the Institute of Particle and Nuclear Studies (IPNS), gave an overview of IPNS and Israel’s contribution to the Belle II Experiment, and Dr. Nobumasa Funamori, Director of the Institute of Materials Structure Science (IMSS), gave an overview of IMSS and introduced that Dr. Ada Yonath, Professor of the Weizmann Institute of Science and Honorary Supreme Professor of KEK, a female Israeli researcher and Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 2009, was one of the first users of a protein crystal structure analysis beamline at the Photon Factory, IMSS.

Following the welcome session, the delegation took a facility tour of Tsukuba Experimental Hall, where the Belle II detector is installed. Guided by Prof. Shohei Nishida, IPNS, the delegation visited the first-floor exhibition hall and the third basement control room.

The delegation then moved to the Photon Factory (PF). Guided by Prof. Noriyuki Igarashi, Head of PF, IMSS, the delegation visited the exhibition hall on the second floor and the experimental hall on the first floor.