A Research Institute in Mandatory Palestine: The Roots of the Weizmann Institute of Science in the Daniel Sieff Research Institute, 1934–1944

Abstract

Abstract

This article examines the search for an appropriate managerial structure at the Daniel Sieff Research Institute in Mandatory Palestine between 1934 and 1944. It argues that two competing managerial models – a centralistic model rooted in the German research university tradition and a pluralistic model based on collective governance – shaped the Institute’s early development and generated tensions that influenced its scientific trajectory. Drawing on archival sources and situated within the sociology of science and higher education, the study analyses how these models affected not only institutional governance but also the training of scientists, the formation of research culture and the pursuit of scientific excellence in a peripheral setting. By situating the Institute within broader processes of migration, knowledge transfer and nation-building, the article contributes to the historiography of science by demonstrating how managerial structures interact with cultural and geopolitical conditions to shape the development of scientific institutions.