Weizmann, Chaim Azriel (1874–1952)

Zionist leader, the first president of Israel 1948–52. He conducted the negotiations leading up to the Balfour Declaration, by which the UK declared its support for an independent Jewish state.

Born in Motol in the Russian Empire (now Belarus), he became a naturalized British subject, and as a qualified chemist and director of the Admiralty laboratories 1916–19 discovered a process for manufacturing acetone, a solvent. He became head of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, then in 1948 became the first president of the new republic of Israel.