Israeli seeks Guinness record for smallest marriage proposal

Physics student Elad Dekel, 25, created smallest marriage proposal on back of 1 square centimeter gold coated chip

Aviel Magnezi|Published: 11.07.10 , 14:42

Many men spend weeks coming up with the most original way to propose marriage to their loved ones in order to ensure a positive response. For the most part, grand gestures are considered the safest bet, but Elad Dekel, 25, proved otherwise – the smallest wedding proposal in the world convinced his girlfriend to say "yes."

Last August, Dekel, a physics student at the Israel Institute of Technology, was sent to Dresden, Germany as part of an exchange program where he worked at a Nanotechnology research center developing miniature silicone chips.

Before leaving Israel, Dekel and his girlfriend, Chen Mendelowitz, agreed she would come visit him in Germany. He planned on using the opportunity to propose to her after seven years together.

Dekel in the Germany lab (Photo: Elad Dekel)

During his time at the research center, Dekel came up with the idea of "printing" his proposal on a 1 sq. centimeter titanium and gold coated silicone chip. He spent days working out a way to carry out his vision.

Dekel eventually came up with the winning formula and printed a marriage proposal over 0.0001 centimeters in Hebrew and German. He also added a photo of himself and Chen, the first ever printed in the German lab.

The picture and marriage proposal (Photo: Elad Dekel)

"I thought about engraving in on a ring but I knew this technology was well beyond what is on the market," he explained.

The big moment arrived when Dekel invited Chen for a tour of the lab during her visit to Germany and showed her his work on the chips. "Elad put the chip under the microscope lens and I started looking to see what was there," Chen related. "I looked for quite a while, zooming in and out, magnifying the image and finally detected a weird shape. I magnified it and slowly began to realize it was a photo of the both of us. I magnified it more and saw there was something written, and then I realized it said 'Chen, will you marry me? Elad'.

"Even before I said anything I got a sudden hot flash all over my body, and when I could finally speak I just said 'sure'."

The happy couple is back in Israel planning their wedding and working on entering the proposal in the Guinness Book of Records as the smallest marriage proposal in the world.

Anyone considering challenging Dekel should know that the cost of producing such a chip is estimated at 46,000 euros, in light of the great effort made into developing the technology.