Oded Goldreich (; born 1957) is a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

at the faculty of

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

and computer science of the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. His research interests lie within the theory of computation and are, specifically, the interplay of

randomness In common usage, randomness is the apparent or actual lack of definite pattern or predictability in information. A random sequence of events, symbols or steps often has no order and does not follow an intelligible pattern or combination. ...

and computation, the foundations of

cryptography Cryptography, or cryptology (from "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or ''-logy, -logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of Adversary (cryptography), ...

, and

computational complexity theory In theoretical computer science and mathematics, computational complexity theory focuses on classifying computational problems according to their resource usage, and explores the relationships between these classifications. A computational problem ...

. He won the Knuth Prize in 2017 and was selected in 2021 to receive the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize (; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History Prior to the Israel Prize, the most significant award in the arts was the Dizengoff Prize and in Israel ...

in mathematics. He is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

Biography

Goldreich received a DSc in computer science at Technion in 1983 under Shimon Even. Goldreich has contributed to the development of pseudorandomness, zero knowledge proofs, secure function evaluation, property testing,Oded Goldreich, Shafi Goldwasser, and Dana Ron. 1998 Property Testing and its connection to Learning and Approximation. ''Journal of the ACM'', pages 653-750. and other areas in

and computational complexity. Goldreich has also authored several books including: ''Foundations of Cryptography'' which comes in two volumes (volume 1 in 2001 and volume 2 in 2004), ''Computational Complexity: A Conceptual Perspective'' (2008), and ''Modern Cryptography, Probabilistic Proofs and Pseudorandomness'' (1998).

Awards

Goldreich received the Knuth prize in 2017 for "fundamental and lasting contributions to theoretical computer science in many areas including cryptography, randomness, probabilistically checkable proofs, inapproximability, property testing as well as complexity theory in general. Goldreich has, in addition to his outstanding research contributions, advanced these fields through many survey articles and several first class textbooks. He has contributed eminent results, new basic definitions and pointed to new directions of research. Goldreich has been one of the driving forces for the theoretical computer science community for three decades."

Israel Prize and controversy

In 2021 he was selected by committee to win the

in mathematics. Education Minister Yoav Gallant vetoed his selection over Goldreich's alleged support of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement ( BDS) against Israel. One of the reasons for the decision was a letter signed by Goldreich calling German parliament not to equate BDS with anti-semitism. However, according to Goldreich, he did not support BDS but instead signed a petition calling for the halt of EU funding for the Israeli Ariel University on the occupied West Bank. The prize committee petitioned to the Supreme Court of Israel to ensure that Goldreich will win the prize. On 8 April 2021 Israel's Supreme Court of Justice ruled in favor of Gallant's petition so that Goldreich could receive the prize that year, giving Gallant a month to further examine the issue. On 11 April 2021, a 2004 Israeli Prize winner, Professor David Harel, decided to share his award with Goldreich in protest of the government's decision to not award the 2021 prize for Professor Goldreich. In August 2021 the Supreme Court wrote, "we found appropriate at this stage to accept the position of the Attorney General that the Education Minister should be allowed to examine new information that he received only two days ago regarding a petition that Professor Goldreich signed that was publicized around two weeks ago." This meant that the matter should be resolved by the new Minister of Education Yifat Shasha-Biton. In November 2021, Shasha-Biton announced that she would block Goldreich from receiving the prize. In December 2021 Attorney General Mandelblit told the High Court that Prof. Goldreich should be given the Israel Prize in Mathematics, despite Education Minister Shasha-Biton's decision. In an editorial, the ''Jerusalem Post'' wrote that Goldreich's " lling for the boycott of professional colleagues... is a red line that shouldn't be crossed". A ''Haaretz'' editorial said that Shasha-Biton's decision meant "the most prestigious prize awarded by Israel will not be the mark of scientific excellence but of loyalty to the government". In March 2022 the High Court of Israel ruled that the 2021 prize had to be awarded to Prof. Goldreich.

Personal life

He is married to Dana Ron, who is a computer scientist at

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

, and has collaborated with Ron on approximation algorithms.

References

External links