70 Things You Might Not Know About Tel Aviv University
From unicorns and satellites to Supreme Court justices and Egyptian geese, TAU numbers tell quite a story
Behind every number is
- a person,
- a discovery,
- a moment that mattered.
From classrooms to labs,
courtrooms to startups,
these figures trace the extraordinary journey of a university that helped shape Israel and reaches far beyond it.
What does 70 years of Tel Aviv University look like?
235,000 alumni, more than 277,000 degrees, 43 unicorn companies, and 12 satellites launched into space. And that's just the beginning.
From Campus to the World
TAU graduates have made their mark on Israel and beyond. Among its alumni and faculty are 93 Israel Prize recipients, 28 Supreme Court justices, and 13 of Israel's Chief Scientists.
The University's influence starts early: 70,000 young people have participated in TAU's Youth University programs, with participants winning 100 medals at international academic Olympiads.
And it reaches around the world, through 280 academic partnerships in 46 countries and 30,000 graduates of the Lowy International School.
Big Ideas, Bigger Impact
TAU has helped power Israel's startup ecosystem. Its alumni have founded more than 1,000 companies, including 43 unicorns valued at $1 billion or more.
Behind these achievements is a research powerhouse: 400 laboratories, 3,500 active research projects annually, and 136,000 scientific publications that have attracted 4.2 million citations.
TAU researchers have also secured 202 European Research Council grants, bringing in €350 million in research funding.
Beyond the Lab
Not everything happens in a lab. TAU's legal clinics have handled 3,500 cases, its Film School has won 400 awards, and the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music has presented more than 12,000 concerts.
The University has also launched 12 nanosatellites, helped identify five ancient human species, and digitized 700 pages of Yiddish theater archives.
A Campus Full of Surprises
TAU's 870-dunam campus is home to 3,000 trees, a Botanic Garden with 3,500 plant species, and a zoological collection of 1,500 animals representing 120 species.
The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History holds six million specimens, including one dating back to 1822, and has welcomed more than one million visitors since opening in 2018.
And among all those impressive numbers? One pair of wild Egyptian geese that has made the campus its home.
Seventy years, hundreds of thousands of graduates, thousands of discoveries, and countless stories. From classrooms and courtrooms to startups, museums, and outer space, Tel Aviv University's impact continues to grow. Not bad for 70 years.
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