Prof. Jacob Klein obtained a 1st Class Honours degree in Physics (1973) from Cambridge University. He completed his Ph.D. studies in Physics at the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University (1977). In 1977, he joined the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, where he was appointed Professor in 1987, headed its Polymer Research Department in 1989–1991, and chaired its Scientific Council during 1999–2000. Concomitantly, from 1980 to 1984, he was a University Demonstrator in Physics and a Fellow of St Catharine’s College, at the University of Cambridge. In 2000, he was appointed the Dr Lee’s Professor of Chemistry and Head of the Department of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry at the University of Oxford; and in 2008, he returned full-time to the Weizmann Institute, where he is the Herman Mark Professor of Soft Matter Physics. He has held visiting professorships in several universities including the University of California at Santa Barbara, the École Polytechnique in Lausanne, the École Supérieure de Physique et Chemie in Paris, etc. He is a recipient of the Tribology Gold Medal (the world’s highest award in friction research) and is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.