Less than two months after an Israeli took home the Nobel Prize for chemistry the country is celebrating a new scientific breakthrough.

The officials at Guinness World Records have confirmed that it is the new record holder for having staged the largest chemistry lesson.

A total of 4,207 gathered in 13 classrooms in September to carry out an experiment first undertaken in space. The original experiment was performed by Ilan Ramon, the Israeli astronaut who was killed in 2003 when the Columbia space shuttle disintegrated as it re-entered the earth's atmosphere

Last year an Israeli chess player set a new world record for playing the highest number of games at one time in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square.

Israel's Science and Technology Ministry director Menachem Greenblum said the record showed that Israel was "a scientific powerhouse".