Billionaire John Paulson adds $19 million donation to Hebrew University's tech campus
The new gift brings the Paulson Family Foundation’s total contributions to $46 million, funding expanded research and teaching in electrical engineering, applied physics, and computer science.
The Paulson Family Foundation is making an additional donation of $19 million to the Hebrew University for expansion of a state-of-the-art research and teaching complex dedicated to STEM disciplines critical to Israel's high-tech future. Four years ago, the foundation donated $27 million for the construction of a computer science building. Together, the contributions bring the foundation’s total donation to the university’s high-tech study and research complex on the Edmond Safra Campus in Givat Ram to $46 million, one of the largest cumulative donations the Hebrew University has ever received.
The new building will support research and teaching in electrical engineering, applied physics, and computer science, further expanding the university’s science and engineering infrastructure.
Billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson, founder and chairman of the Paulson Family Foundation, said the decision to donate was driven in part by what he described as the Hebrew University’s efficiency in training students. According to Paulson, the total cost per student at the university is roughly 10% of that at comparable Ivy League institutions in the United States.
"Israel has stunned the world with its technological innovations. These gifts are intended to provide much needed support for educating the next generation of technological leaders in computer science and engineering," said John Paulson, Founder and Chairman of the Paulson Family Foundation.”
Founded in 1925 by Albert Einstein and other leading Jewish intellectuals, the Hebrew University is Israel’s leading institution of higher education and among the world’s most productive academic institutions. Its faculty and alumni have won more Nobel Prizes than all other Israeli institutions combined, and it is the only Israeli university whose researchers have been awarded both the Fields Medal and the Turing Award.
Paulson’s name surfaced in late 2024 as a potential candidate for U.S. Treasury Secretary in the administration of President Donald Trump. He has donated to, and helped raise significant funds for, Trump’s political campaigns, including a fundraising event hosted at his Palm Beach home that raised $50 million. Paulson served on Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers in 2016, and the two also share past business ties: in 2012, Trump purchased the Doral golf resort from Paulson for $150 million.
