1948 - War of Independence. The day after the State of Israel was declared, five Arab armies advanced on the new state. The IDF is established and the whole of Israel is mobilized as the country fights for its existence. Israel repels the attack and a cease-fire is reached in 1949.

1948 - During the War of Independence, Shaare Zedek serves as a military hospital. The Department of Surgery, the only one functioning in Jerusalem while other parts of the city are under siege, works around the clock.

1949-50 - The IDF emerges as a people's army with universal military service and a reserve system. The Israel Defense Forces help integrate the masses of new immigrants into Israeli society. The IDF teaches soldiers Hebrew in transit camps. The IDF helps the nation's nascent economy by growing produce on military farms. The IDF's involvement in nation building continues till today.

The early professional infrastructure of the State of Israel -- its lawyers, physicians, teachers, scientists, economists and others -- was largely composed of graduates of the Hebrew University, the only comprehensive institution of higher education in existence prior to the establishment of the state.

1954 - Weizmann Institute mathematician Professors Haim Pekeris used the WEIZAC computer,

The WEIZAC Computer

built at the Weizmann Institute in 1954 and one of the world's first computers, to calculate the spectrum of a helium atom, a problem involving three bodies which was considered a highly complex task.

1954 - Technion Aeronautical Engineering Department (now Aerospace) established. The new department was to house the first supersonic wind tunnel in Israel, a cornerstone of Israel's aircraft industries and its airforce.

1956 - Sinai campaign. Undertaken to put an end to repeated terrorist incursions from Egypt and lift the Egyptian blockade on Eilat.

1963 - Innovative tactile controller developed by Technion aeronautical engineers to regulate the flight of drones - unmanned aircraft - by remote control.

1967 - Six Day War. Arab armies, led by Egypt mass their troops on Israel's borders. Israel preempts an Arab offensive with a well-orchestrated attack against Arab air forces. In a war fought only six days on three fronts, against Egypt, Jordan, and Syria, Israel succeeds in capturing the West Bank, Sinai, the Golan Heights, and unifies its capital, Jerusalem.

1967 - During war Shaare Zedek is a front-line Military Hospital, treating 450 wounded in 70 hours and performing over 200 operations. Shaare Zedek is lauded by military and civilian authorities for its outstanding achievements.

1969 - Innovation comes to the aid of antiquity - Technion Civil Engineers designed and built a giant concrete buttress, based on research in design and materials, in order to protect the Southern Wall of the Temple Mount, which had been weakened by excavations.

1970 -- New technique developed by Technion Agricultural Engineers to construct paved roads over swampland. - the first of its kind - during the War of Attrition with Egypt. In less than three months in 1970, 29 Kilometers were paved over deep, boggy swamps in the Suez Canal region The method was later adopted around the world.

The Steven Spielberg Jewish Family Archive at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem contains the world's largest and most complete collection of films and videotapes on Jewish topics. Researchers, film producers and news networks, both Israeli and foreign, often make use of this valuable archival material.

The "50 Israeli Achievements" have been kindly provided by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Israel Defense Forces Information Division, Shaare Zedek Medical Center , the Technion - Israel Institute Of Technology, and the Weizmann Institute of Science. For more information on any of these organizations please see their sites.