'Live wire' is the term that comes to mind when speaking with Israel Prize recipient Yonina Eldar, a prominent Israeli professor of electrical engineering.
Renowned for her significant contributions to signal processing and biomedical engineering, she is a professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Rehovot’s Weizmann Institute of Science, where she holds the Dorothy and Patrick Gorman Professorial Chair and heads the Center for Biomedical Engineering.
Since the inception of the Israel Prize in 1953, Eldar is one of only 14% of women to receive an Israel Prize in exact science. In fact, as of 2024, only 71 women, or 2% of Israel Prize recipients, have even received the award. Eldar is also one of the youngest recipients.
The prize is awarded annually to Israeli citizens or organizations that demonstrate excellence in various fields, such as the humanities, life and exact sciences, culture, and lifetime achievement, or who have made significant contributions to Israeli culture.
Eldar was described as “a pioneering scientist with an international reputation in signal processing and information processing” in the Education Ministry’s announcement. The announcement praised Eldar for her work on developing methods to process and analyze information more efficiently.
She focused on improving systems such as communication, radar, medical imaging, and AI. Her groundbreaking approach allowed for less data to be collected without losing important information, thus changing how many engineering systems are designed.
'Never take ‘no’ for an answer'
BREAKING THE mold comes intuitively to Eldar, who belonged to one of the founding families in Neveh Aliza, a neighborhood of Karnei Shomron, whose mantra is “Never take ‘no’ for an answer.”
Her parents, Rabbi Meir and Vicky Berglas, came from Toronto and traveled the United States to recruit 50 new residents for the hill that was plotted to become a Samarian neighborhood. With six daughters and two sons, Vicky said it wasn’t always easy, as each of her children, especially the girls, had very strong opinions.
Born in Toronto in 1973, Eldar made aliyah with her family in 1979, landing in Petah Tikva. But the family yearned to settle the land, so they joined a group that was planning to build new villages in Judea and Samaria.
“They took us to an empty hill and said, ‘This is where you are going to live,’” recalls Vicky. The family began building their home halfway up the dusty hilltop in 1982. “It caught on,” she chuckles. “We moved into Neveh Aliza in 1986.”
Very quickly, the barren hill became a block, and many other homes were built; roads were paved and families and many English speakers from all over the US and Canada began moving in.
The girls went to school in nearby Kedumim, but Eldar, who was in 8th grade and had a passion for puzzles, wanted to go to Ulpanit Tel Aviv, a Bnei Akiva school with a challenging curriculum. Her days were long, and the travel was arduous. She took buses, hitchhiked rides, and somehow got to and from Tel Aviv every day.
An excellent student, active member of Bnei Akiva, and popular with friends, after high school Eldar became a Komunarit (youth leader) for Sherut Leumi.
Eldar chose Tel Aviv University for her undergraduate degree, a decision that surprised her parents, as she had lived a sheltered life in Neveh Aliza. They suggested that she live in an apartment, not the dorm, and Eldar agreed. She was determined to achieve a dual degree in physics and electrical engineering simultaneously.
The night before she began classes, she came into her parents’ room and said, “I hope I am not making a mistake.”
Rabbi Berglas replied, “If you can’t do this, then we have failed.”
She got up the next morning and started her first day at Tel Aviv University.
Blazing her own path at Tel Aviv University
“DOING BOTH degrees had never been done before at Tel Aviv University,” Eldar explained. “It was challenging working with different curricula, some overlapping, two different departments, and different labs. The coordination with different professors from different departments was not easy.”
Once again, Eldar broke the mold. After she succeeded, Tel Aviv University created a dual major for physics and electrical engineering.
“It wasn’t intentional,” she explains. “They told me that first year it was never going to work. They said there was too much overlap. But I really wanted to study both subjects and didn’t see a reason why not.”
But telling Yonina Eldar that something won’t work is a surefire way to inspire her to make it happen. They agreed to let her try the dual curricula.
“It’s a good lesson for life,” she explains. “Never take no for an answer. If it makes sense to you and you think there’s a way to do it, there is no reason not to try to get it done! I didn’t try to change things. But just because it hasn’t been done is not a good reason not to do it.”
Vicky Berglas remembers her daughter’s graduation from Tel Aviv University.
“She was the valedictorian in a big hat and a long skirt. Everyone was wondering who this young, obviously religious girl was. She turned Tel Aviv heads as she swooped up the aisle to speak.
“When she received her doctorate in signal processing, her grandfather said, ‘Yoni, this is all very nice, but can you make cholent?” her mother recalls. “Incidentally, she is a very good cook and has five children.”
'My daughter would get the Nobel Prize someday'
ELDAR DESCRIBES her scientific calling as creative.
“Research is thinking about things that have not yet been addressed,” she explains. “You are trying to come up with new ways of doing things, new ways of building systems. That’s important in my own lab and research – finding new ways to process information and think about building the system. Not simply to take what exists and modify it a little, but to really think outside the box.”
According to her mother, MIT came to Tel Aviv University, specifically seeking her out.
“Her professor at MIT told me my daughter would get the Nobel Prize someday,” Vicky proudly recalls.
Eldar was also the youngest person to get a full professorship at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. She transferred to Weizmann, where, according to her mother, she oversees a whole floor of labs and is in charge of millions of dollars of equipment.
“In the lab we look at the most efficient ways of processing data and information,” Eldar explains.
“We look at communication systems, radar systems, autonomous vehicles, [and] medical technology. Applications that may seem very different but have a common goal: building systems that can acquire the information and data in the most efficient way with the highest resolution, most sensitivity and using the least amount of resources. Then we can create small devices that don’t need a lot of power.”
The next step, she says, is to take technology from one domain to another. She uses radar systems as an example. Largely used in the military, Eldar is exploring how to use radar for medical applications.
“We ask, how can we change the waveform and algorithm for processing and redesign it to, for instance, measure vital signs for multiple patients in the same room without any contact?”
The systems Eldar has worked on are currently being tested at Schneider Children’s Medical Center, monitoring children in a non-invasive way that requires no wires or tethering, and at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv’s Sourasky Medical Center to monitor post-surgery patients in the recovery room.
“One radar on the ceiling can cover all the patients in the room,” Eldar explains.
“Until now, a lot of the work we did was based on coming up with more efficient ways to acquire and process information,” she explains. “Traditional methods are based on mathematical principles that are over 100 years old. We have developed new theorems that outperform existing designs, challenging the long-standing approaches used in system design.”
This started her interest in actually building systems from the ground up, she notes, instead of adapting old technology foundations to new thinking.
“When I hear ‘that’s nice in theory, but it’s never going to work,’ it is a challenge,” she continues. “All my students understand this today. We build prototypes in the lab to demonstrate the theory. Theory and math are just the starting point. Moving from theory to practice is never seamless. There are always limitations and hurdles.
“We take all feedback and challenges into account, iterating between theory and lab work to refine our systems. In the theory we incorporate all of the parts of the system along the way, from the first acquisition through the algorithms and applications, in order to change the way we approach both the problem and its solution.”
Another project in the works is the creation of compact ultrasound devices that can be used with a phone and a probe. These can be used in the field by first responders to give better monitoring and diagnostics. Eldar is in the process of forming a company that will bring it to market.
“On the one hand, everything is rooted in fundamental theoretical principles of math and physics. But ideas can develop so much more rapidly if you think about the principles and theorems in a creative way, rethinking the assumptions and adapting tools to enable new results.
“You can then come up with new theorems and processing methods and ways of applying them to different technologies. I encourage my students to ask themselves, ‘How can I have an impact on human lives?’ We focus a lot on defense and medical because by definition, these disciplines are all about improving life.”
“I ask them, how can you let more people use technology to have a positive impact on the world?”
Science is also about working in teams, she says.
“We work in teams with collaborators, people in industry, doctors, and the army. It’s also about the people – the diversity in teams: technical, gender, religious, and background diversity – are all part of the exciting process.
“It’s rewarding and gives us an opportunity to educate people from different backgrounds to have a positive outcome. Even if the specific project has less impact, the students and team are motivated by the process and see how much they can accomplish together.
“People think that scientists have a particular profile,” Eldar says, “but there are many different aspects to science and many ways to do science. Understanding human needs and wanting to change the world in a creative way – it’s not only about scientific ability but about the desire to have an impact and work together to make the State of Israel and the world a better place.”
'My job allows me to contribute to the State of Israel'
ELDAR SEES her job as not purely academic.
“It allows me to contribute to the State of Israel,” she explains. “I’ve had offers and opportunities from all over the world. My parents and my family made aliyah. Despite the sadness and challenges around us, this is our home, and we are committed to contributing to it.
There is no comfort for those who lost loved ones, but there are many people who deeply love this country and ultimately are contributing to the State of Israel in many different ways, including through science and technology.”
Eldar says that receiving the Israel Prize is humbling and deeply moving.
“Obviously it’s recognition to the collective effort of the labs as well as the many colleagues and students I had the honor and privilege to work with. It’s also a recognition of Israel’s contributions to the field – the ability to develop high-end engineering systems right here in this country. But beyond that, the Israel Prize is different from any other award.
“It’s not just another prize,” she explains. “Making aliyah is not easy, and this award represents what we can achieve within this country. Here, we are using science and technology to strengthen Israel, to make it better, and to bring people together through shared goals.”
Besides her titles at Weizmann, Eldar is a visiting professor at MIT, Princeton, and Tsinghua University in Beijing.
Her mother, Vicky, recalls that Eldar was on a plane about to take off for her posting in China when Iran began its first missile attack on Israel. Vicky called her, warning her to get off the plane immediately.
“She told me not to worry,” Vicky marvels. “She said she had plotted the trajectory of the missiles and the direction they were coming from, and, based on the science and the math, she was certain that her plane was safe and would be able to take off. And it did.”
The Israel Prize was presented to Yonina Eldar and other recipients on Independence Day, on May 1.
