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The Einstein Institute of Mathematics () is a centre for
scientific research The scientific method is an empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has been referred to while doing science since at least the 17th century. Historically, it was developed through the centuries from the ancient and medieval world. The ...
in
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 ...
at the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...
, founded in 1925 with the opening of the university. A leading
research institute A research institute, research centre, or research organization is an establishment founded for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research. Although the term often implies natural ...
, the institute's faculty has included recipients of the
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...
,
Fields Medal The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of Mathematicians, International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place e ...
,
Wolf Prize The Wolf Prize is an international award granted in Israel, that has been presented most years since 1978 to living scientists and artists for "achievements in the interest of mankind and friendly relations among people ... irrespective of natio ...
, and
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 ...
.


History

About a year before the official inauguration of the Hebrew University, a Jewish-American philanthropist, Philip Wattenberg, endowed the new university with $190,000 (equivalent to $ million in ) for a research institute in the name of theoretical physicist
Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...
. The Einstein Mathematics-Physics Institute was established in 1925. Its inaugural lecture was given by
Edmund Landau Edmund Georg Hermann Landau (14 February 1877 – 19 February 1938) was a German mathematician who worked in the fields of number theory and complex analysis. Biography Edmund Landau was born to a Jewish family in Berlin. His father was Leopo ...
(on problems from
number theory Number theory is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and arithmetic functions. Number theorists study prime numbers as well as the properties of mathematical objects constructed from integers (for example ...
), the first lecture in higher mathematics to be delivered in
modern Hebrew Modern Hebrew (, or ), also known as Israeli Hebrew or simply Hebrew, is the Standard language, standard form of the Hebrew language spoken today. It is the only surviving Canaanite language, as well as one of the List of languages by first w ...
. The Institute moved to the Philip Wattenburg Building in 1928, designed by Benjamin Chaikin and Sir
Frank Mears Sir Frank Charles Mears LLD (11 July 1880 – 25 January 1953) was an architect and Scotland's leading planning consultant from the 1930s to the early 1950s. Life and work Born in Tynemouth he moved to Edinburgh in 1897 when his father, Dr ...
, where it remained until the Hebrew University lost access to
Mount Scopus Mount Scopus ( ', "Mount of the Watchmen/ Sentinels"; ', lit. "Mount Lookout", or ' "Mount of the Scene/Burial Site", or "Mount Syenite") is a mountain (elevation: above sea level) in northeast Jerusalem. Between the 1948 Arab–Israeli ...
in 1948.
Edmund Landau Edmund Georg Hermann Landau (14 February 1877 – 19 February 1938) was a German mathematician who worked in the fields of number theory and complex analysis. Biography Edmund Landau was born to a Jewish family in Berlin. His father was Leopo ...
served as the university's first Professor of Mathematics, and negotiated the transfer of
Felix Klein Felix Christian Klein (; ; 25 April 1849 – 22 June 1925) was a German mathematician and Mathematics education, mathematics educator, known for his work in group theory, complex analysis, non-Euclidean geometry, and the associations betwe ...
's
private library Private libraries are library, libraries that are privately owned and are usually intended for the use of a small number of people, or even a single person. As with public libraries, some people use bookplates – stamps, stickers or embos ...
from
Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...
to Jerusalem, which served as the basis for the new mathematical library in Jerusalem. Other early faculty members included Binyamin Amirà,
Abraham Fraenkel Abraham Fraenkel (; 17 February, 1891 – 15 October, 1965) was a German-born Israeli mathematician. He was an early Zionist and the first Dean of Mathematics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is known for his contributions to axiomatic ...
, and
Michael Fekete Michael (Mihály) Fekete (; 19 July 1886 – 13 May 1957) was a Hungarian-Israelis, Israeli mathematician. Biography Michael Fekete was born in Zenta, Austria-Hungary (today Senta, Serbia). He received his PhD in 1909 from the University ...
. A number of researchers arrived at the institute during the rise of the
Nazi regime Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...
in Germany, such as
Issai Schur Issai Schur (10 January 1875 – 10 January 1941) was a Russian mathematician who worked in Germany for most of his life. He studied at the Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Berlin. He obtained his doctorate in 1901, became lecturer i ...
and Otto Toeplitz. The ''
Israel Journal of Mathematics '' Israel Journal of Mathematics'' is a peer-reviewed mathematics journal published by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem ( Magnes Press). History Founded in 1963, as a continuation of the ''Bulletin of the Research Council of Israel'' (Section ...
'' was founded at the institute in 1963 as a continuation of the ''Bulletin of the Research Council of Israel'' (Section F). A division for
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, ...
was formed within the institute in 1969, which became the independent Institute for Computer Science in 1992.


Notable members


Current members

* Karim Adiprasito (1988– ); New Horizons Prize, EMS Prize (2019) *
Robert Aumann Robert John Aumann (Yisrael Aumann, ; born June 8, 1930) is an Israeli-American mathematician, and a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences. He is a professor at the Center for the Study of Rationality in the Hebrew University ...
(1930– ); Israel Prize (1994),
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...
(2005) * Ehud de Shalit (1955– ) * Shaul Foguel (1931– ) *
Hillel Furstenberg Hillel "Harry" Furstenberg (; born September 29, 1935) is a German-born American-Israeli mathematician and professor emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and U.S. Natio ...
(1935– ); Israel Prize (1993),
Wolf Prize The Wolf Prize is an international award granted in Israel, that has been presented most years since 1978 to living scientists and artists for "achievements in the interest of mankind and friendly relations among people ... irrespective of natio ...
(2006), Abel Prize (2020) * Sergiu Hart (1949– ); Israel Prize (2018) * Gil Kalai (1955– ) * Yitzhak Katznelson (1934– );
Steele Prize The Leroy P. Steele Prizes are awarded every year by the American Mathematical Society, for distinguished research work and writing in the field of mathematics. Since 1993, there has been a formal division into three categories. The prizes have b ...
(2002) *
David Kazhdan David Kazhdan (), born Dmitry Aleksandrovich Kazhdan (), is a Soviet and Israeli mathematician known for work in representation theory. Kazhdan is a 1990 MacArthur Fellow. Biography Kazhdan was born on 20 June 1946 in Moscow, USSR. His father ...
(1946– ); Israel Prize (2012) * Ruth Lawrence (1971– ) * Nati Linial (1953– ) *
Azriel Lévy Azriel Lévy (; born c. 1934) is an Israeli mathematician, logician, and a professor emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Biography Lévy obtained his Ph.D. at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1958, under the supervision of Abr ...
(1934– ) * Elon Lindenstrauss (1970– );
Fields Medal The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of Mathematicians, International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place e ...
(2010) * Alexander Lubotzky (1956– ); Israel Prize (2018) *
Menachem Magidor Menachem Magidor (; born January 24, 1946) is an Israeli mathematician who specializes in mathematical logic, in particular set theory. He served as president of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, was president of the Association for Symbolic ...
(1946– ) * Abraham Neyman (1949– ) *
Eliyahu Rips Eliyahu Rips (; ; ; 12 December 1948 – 19 July 2024) was an Israeli mathematician of Latvian origin known for his research in geometric group theory. He became known to the general public following his co-authoring a paper on what is popularl ...
(1948– ); Erdős Prize (1979) *
Zlil Sela Zlil Sela () is an Israeli mathematician working in the area of geometric group theory. He is a Professor of Mathematics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Sela is known for the solution of the isomorphism problem for torsion-free word-hype ...
(1962– ) * Aner Shalev (1958– ) *
Saharon Shelah Saharon Shelah (; , ; born July 3, 1945) is an Israeli mathematician. He is a professor of mathematics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Rutgers University in New Jersey. Biography Shelah was born in Jerusalem on July 3, 1945. He is th ...
(1945– ); Erdős Prize (1977), Pólya Prize (1992), Wolf Prize (2001), Israel Prize (1998), Steele Prize (2013) * Benjamin Weiss (1941– ) * Tamar Ziegler (1971– ); Erdős Prize (2011)


Former members

* Shmuel Agmon (1922–2025);
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 ...
(1991) * Binyamin Amirà (1896–1968) * Shimshon Amitsur (1921–1994), Israel Prize (1953) * Dror Bar-Natan (1966– ) *
Jean Bourgain Jean Louis, baron Bourgain (; – ) was a Belgian mathematician. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 1994 in recognition of his work on several core topics of mathematical analysis such as the geometry of Banach spaces, harmonic analysis, ergodi ...
(1954–2018), Fields Medal (1994), Shaw Prize (2010), Breakthrough Prize (2017) *
Aryeh Dvoretzky Aryeh (Arie) Dvoretzky (, ; May 3, 1916 – May 8, 2008) was a Ukrainian-born Israeli mathematician, the winner of the 1973 Israel Prize in Mathematics. He is best known for his work in functional analysis, statistics and probability. He was t ...
(1916–2008); Israel Prize (1973) * Gregory Eskin (1936– ) *
Michael Fekete Michael (Mihály) Fekete (; 19 July 1886 – 13 May 1957) was a Hungarian-Israelis, Israeli mathematician. Biography Michael Fekete was born in Zenta, Austria-Hungary (today Senta, Serbia). He received his PhD in 1909 from the University ...
(1886–1957); Israel Prize (1955) *
Abraham Fraenkel Abraham Fraenkel (; 17 February, 1891 – 15 October, 1965) was a German-born Israeli mathematician. He was an early Zionist and the first Dean of Mathematics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is known for his contributions to axiomatic ...
(1891–1965); Israel Prize (1956) * Ehud Hrushovski (1959– ); Erdős Prize (1994) * Yael Karshon (1964– ) *
Jacob Levitzki Jakob Levitzki, also known as Yaakov Levitsky (; 17 August 1904 – 25 February 1956), was an Israeli mathematician. Biography Levitzki was born in 1904 in the Ukrainian city, Kherson, then part of the Russian Empire. In 1912 he emigrated to the ...
(1904–1956); Israel Prize (1953) * Yoram Lindenstrauss (1936–2012); Israel Prize (1981) *
Moshé Machover Moshé Machover (; born 1936) is a mathematician, philosopher, and socialist activist, noted for his writings against Zionism. Born to a Jewish family in Tel Aviv, then part of the Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate of Palestine, Machover move ...
(1936– ) *
Michael Maschler Michael Bahir Maschler (; July 22, 1927 – July 20, 2008) was an Israeli mathematician well known for his contributions to the field of game theory. He was a professor in the Einstein Institute of Mathematics and the Center for the Study of ...
(1927–2008) * Amnon Pazy (1936–2006), mathematician; president of the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...
* Michael Rabin (1931– );
Turing Award The ACM A. M. Turing Award is an annual prize given by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) for contributions of lasting and major technical importance to computer science. It is generally recognized as the highest distinction in the fi ...
(1976), Israel Prize (1995) * Yuval Peres (1963– );
Loève Prize The Line and Michel Loève International Prize in Probability (known as the Loève Prize) is an American mathematical award. It is awarded every two years, and is intended to recognize outstanding contributions by researchers in mathematical pr ...
(2001) * Esther Seiden (1908–2014)


Notes


References

{{Authority control 1925 establishments in Mandatory Palestine Hebrew University of Jerusalem Mathematical institutes Research institutes in Israel Schools of mathematics