In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “professor of chemistry at hebrew university in jerusalem”. Today it says “polish -born israeli organic chemist”.
Found by software in Wikipedia's own edit history. Not yet read by hand. The quoted words are Wikipedia's.
Compared with the live article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2010 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2010
Israel Shahak ( ; born Himmelstaub, April 28, 1933 – July 2, 2001) was a Polish -born Israeli professor of chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem , known especially as a radical political thinker, author, and civil rights activist. Between 1970-1990, he was president of the Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights and was an outspoken critic of the Israeli government. Shahak's writings on Judaism have been a source of widespread controversy.1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 369858732.
The opening as it stood in 2005
Israel Shahak (1933–2001) was a Professor of Chemistry at Hebrew University in Jerusalem , and an outspoken critic of the Israeli government and of Israeli society in general.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 16002937.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Israel Shahak ( ; born Himmelstaub, April 28, 1933 – July 2, 2001) was a Polish -born Holocaust survivor and Israeli professor of chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem , known especially as a liberal secular political thinker, author, and civil rights activist. Between 1970–1990, he was president of the Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights and was an outspoken critic of the Israeli government. Shahak's writings on Judaism have been a source of widespread controversy.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 666131225.
The opening as it stood in 2020 3 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Israel Shahak ( ; born Israel Himmelstaub , 28 April 1933 – 2 July 2001) was an Israeli professor of organic chemistry , at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a Holocaust survivor, a public intellectual of Liberal political bent, and a civil-rights advocate and activist on behalf of Jew and gentile.As a public intellectual, Shahak's works about Judaism proved controversial, especially the book Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years (1994).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 962562743.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Israeli professor, Holocaust survivor, and civil-rights activist (1933–2001) Israel Shahak ( ; born Israel Himmelstaub , 28 April 1933 – 2 July 2001) was an Israeli professor of organic chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem , a Holocaust survivor , an intellectual of liberal political bent , and a civil-rights advocate and activist on behalf of both Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews). As a public intellectual, Shahak's works about Judaism proved controversial, especially the book Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years (1994).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1150896394.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Israeli professor, Holocaust survivor, and civil-rights activist (1933–2001) Dr. Israel Shahak ( Hebrew : ישראל שחק ; born Israel Himmelstaub , 28 April 1933 – 2 July 2001) was an Israeli professor of organic chemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem , a Holocaust survivor , an intellectual of liberal political bent , and a civil-rights advocate and activist on behalf of both Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews). As a public intellectual, Shahak's works about Judaism proved controversial, especially the book Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years (1994).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1294669707. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “professor of chemistry at hebrew university in jerusalem”. Today it says “polish -born israeli organic chemist”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
professor of chemistry at hebrew university in jerusalem
Now
polish -born israeli organic chemist
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.