Chaim Weizmann, son of Oizer and Rachel Weizmann, was born on Nov. 2,
1874, in Motele, Russia. After receiving a religious education, Chaim
was admitted to the gymnasium of Pinsk, where he continued his Hebraic
studies. At the age of 18, he received his baccalaureate. He majored
in chemistry at the universities of Darmstadt and Berlin, and he
received his doctor of science degree from the University of Freiburg
in 1900. From 1900 to 1904 Weizmann was a lecturer in chemistry at the
University of Geneva and from 1904 to 1916 a lecturer in biochemistry
at the University of Manchester.

While in Switzerland, Weizmann joined the active Zionist leadership.
He participated in all Zionist congresses after 1898 and was a
delegate after 1901. He urged a synthesis of settlement, cultural
work, and political propaganda to secure international recognition of
Zionist goals in Palestine. He opposed the British proposal for Jewish
settlement in Uganda. As an exponent of cultural Zionism, Weizmann
suggested the creation of a Hebrew University in Palestine. The
university opened in Jerusalem in 1925. In appreciation of his efforts
in building the university, he was elected its honorary president.

During World War I, Weizmann, because of his connections with British
authorities, emerged as the leader of the Zionist movement.

As a result of his efforts, the British government issued on Nov. 2,
1917, the Balfour Declaration, in which it declared its support of the
establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine. As the head of a
Jewish delegation, Weizmann appeared before the Paris Peace Conference
in 1919 and submitted the Zionist claims to Palestine. These claims
were recognized by the League of Nations, and the British government
was appointed to further Jewish settlement and to assist the
development of a Jewish national home there.
In 1921 Weizmann was elected president of the World Zionist
Organization, a post he held until 1931 and later from 1935 to 1946.
When the Jewish Agency for Palestine was established in 1929, he
served simultaneously as its president. In this dual capacity, he
cooperated with Great Britain except for a time in 1930, when he
resigned from his Zionist post in protest against the new British
policy curtailing Jewish immigration to Palestine. After 1946, in
spite of his unofficial position, Weizmann served with the Jewish
Agency's delegation before the United Nations Special Committee for
Palestine in October 1947. When Israel was proclaimed an independent
state, he was elected the president of its Provisional Council of
State. After the elections to the Parliament, he was elected, on Feb.
17, 1949, as Israel's first president, and he was reelected on Nov.
19, 1951.

In addition to his political activity, Weizmann also engaged in
scholarly scientific work. He founded the Sief Research Institute in
Rehovoth and served as its director from 1932 to 1952. This institute
was later enlarged and named the Weizmann Institute of Science.

During his terms of office as president, he was in poor health and
could not perform many of his official duties. He died in office on
Nov. 9, 1952.