Make Use of the Commute With Some Scientific Training On The Train

I am one of those people who has set up her life to spend as little of it as possible commuting.

I grew up with a father who commuted two hours a day traveling to the car plant in Oshawa, Ontario, leaving the family back home with two hours less of our father each day. He even bought a special car for the long haul to save money on gas.

Working from home and interviewing via the telephone or Skype, when I travel, I am not the kind who’ll sit with an iPod plugged into my head unless there is a really good Bob Boilen NPR podcast waiting for my ears. When I am on the train, plane or bus, I like to work. It’s hard for me to waste time, especially during the day. Now, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has given me a good reason to get out of the house and use the train more often.

They have developed a lecture series on the train, so morning commuters can learn from Israeli academics and get “training” while on the way to work.

Despite the fact that there is no realistic way to get to Jerusalem and the Hebrew University by train (and the train that is is proposed to be built will cut through a natural zone), it’s a step in the right direction. When the train line is finally built and ready, I hope to hear that the Hebrew U will make their lecture series a regular thing. It would make an interesting TV show.

Find the Hebrew U scientists on the Modiin-Savidor line. Their initiative, which is being run in cooperation with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Israel Railways, will open with a lecture on ‘Einstein’s love letters’ by former Hebrew University president Prof. Hanoch Gutfreund next Wednesday, November 4.

This will be the first in a series of lectures by leading experts from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for passengers on different Israel Railways lines across Israel over the coming year, under the title: ‘Scientists on the Trains’.

According to Prof. Gutfreund, “The love letters between Albert Einstein and his first wife Mileva and the love letters to his second wife Elsa teach us about the emotional and intellectual development of the greatest scientist of the 20th century. In later years, he wrote to Elsa almost every day when he was traveling away from home. Those were no longer love letters, but they are interesting because they convey his impression of the places he visited, from people he met to events that occurred around him.”

For those on board: the “Scientists on the Trains” series will begin on Wednesday, November 4, departing from Modiin Central to Tel Aviv Savidor at 9.04 a.m., and back from Savidor to Modiin at 10.26 a.m.

More on the trains in Israel:
Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Train To Cut Through Precious Nature Reserve
The Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Train Is A Long Journey Through Greenness
Israel Railway Teams Up With Better Place Electric Cars

Image via david55king.