Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918,[7] the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925.

Founding a university was proposed as far back as 1884 in the Kattowitz (Katowice) conference of the Hovevei Zion society, and by Hermann Schapira at the First Zionist Congress of 1897.

Seven years later, on 1 April 1925, the Hebrew University campus on Mount Scopus was opened at a gala ceremony attended by the leaders of the Jewish world, distinguished scholars and public figures, and British dignitaries, including the Earl of Balfour, Viscount Allenby, Winston Churchill and Sir Herbert Samuel.

The former party was afraid the very recent Modern Hebrew might not yet allow high-level academic discussions since it still suffered from a lack of specific technical terms in non-religious contexts.

Although this concern can not simply be dismissed as unreasonable, the representatives of this position underestimated the symbolic significance of Hebrew for many Jews, not least of all for those outside the academia.

[12] The question, what would define the specific Hebrew character of the university did not only regard the choice of an official language but also organizational aspects, as for example the establishment of departments and the definition of their respective research areas, and the outline of its overall academic profile.

Therefore, in 1919, Shmaryahu Levin inquired a number of prominent Jewish European scholars about their opinions on the subject.

One of the respondents was Ignaz Goldziher whose proposals were at least partly implemented: oriental languages, Jewish literature, and archaeology were among the first subjects studied at the university.

[15] The leader of the Arab forces in Jerusalem, Abdul Kader Husseini, threatened military action against the university Hadassah Hospital "if the Jews continued to use them as bases for attacks.

"[16] After the April 1948 Hadassah medical convoy massacre, in which 79 Jews, including doctors and nurses, were killed, the Mount Scopus campus was cut off from Jerusalem.

[17] British soldier Jack Churchill coordinated the evacuation of 700 Jewish doctors, students and patients from the hospital.

[18] When the Jordanian government denied Israeli access to Mount Scopus, a new campus was built at Givat Ram in western Jerusalem and completed in 1958.

[11] The Terra Santa building in Rehavia, rented from the Franciscan Custodians of the Latin Holy Places, was also used for this purpose.

According to the Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem, Israel confiscated 568 Dunams of land from the Palestinian village of Isawiya for the Hebrew University in 1968.

[citation needed] Avraham Harman was President of the university from 1968 to 1983, Don Patinkin from 1983 to 1986, Amnon Pazy from 1986 to 1990, Yoram Ben-Porat from 1990 to 1992, Hanoch Gutfreund from 1992 to 1997, and Menachem Magidor from 1997 to 2009.

[11] On 31 July 2002, a member of a terrorist cell detonated a bomb during lunch hour at the university's "Frank Sinatra" cafeteria when it was crowded with staff and students.

World leaders, including Kofi Annan, President George W. Bush, and the EU's High Representative Javier Solana issued statements of condemnation.

The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment[33] and the Koret School of Veterinary Medicine[34] are located in the city of Rehovot in the coastal plain.

Founded in 1892 as a world center for the preservation of books relating to Jewish thought and culture, it assumed the additional functions of a general university library in 1920.

Scopus; Roberta and Stanley Bogen Library of the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, Mt.

Since its formation Yissum has founded more than 80 spin-off companies such as: Mobileye, BriefCam, HumanEyes, OrCam, ExLibris, BioCancell, NewStem[49] and many more.

Yissum is led by Yaacov Michlin and other leaders in the business industry such as: Tamir Huberman,[50] Dov Reichman, Shoshi Keinan, Ariela Markel and Michal Levy.