Haim Hanani (; as Chaim Chojnacki– 8 April 1991) was a Polish-born Israeli mathematician, known for his contributions to
combinatorial design theory, in particular for the theory of
pairwise balanced designs and for the proof of an existence theorem for
Steiner quadruple systems.
He is also known for the
Hanani–Tutte theorem
In topological graph theory, the Hanani–Tutte theorem is a result on the parity of edge crossings in a graph drawing. It states that every drawing in the plane of a non-planar graph contains a pair of independent edges (not both sharing an end ...
on
odd crossings in
non-planar graphs.
Life
Hanani (Chojnacki) was born in
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
, studied in Vienna and Warsaw, and graduated with an M.A. from the
University of Warsaw
The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public university, public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well ...
in 1934. He emigrated to the
British Mandate of Palestine, later to become
Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
, in 1935 and in 1938 received the first Ph.D. in Mathematics from 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. ...
.
In 1955 he was appointed to the faculty at
Technion Institute of Technology and from 1969 to 1973 he served as the rector of
Ben-Gurion University
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) (, ''Universitat Ben-Guriyon baNegev'') is a public research university in Beersheba, Israel. Named after Israeli national founder David Ben-Gurion, the university was founded in 1969 and currently has f ...
in
Beersheba
Beersheba ( / ; ), officially Be'er-Sheva, is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the centre of the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in Israel, the eighth-most p ...
. In 1980 he was awarded the title of Professor Emeritus at that institution.
[
His early research led to the proof of the theorem devised by Richard M. Wilson on pairwise balance designs.][
He wrote scholarly papers with ]Andries Brouwer
Andries Evert Brouwer (born 1951) is a Dutch mathematician and computer programmer, Professor Emeritus at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). He is known as the creator of the greatly expanded 1984 to 1985 versions of the roguelike compute ...
, Paul Erdős
Paul Erdős ( ; 26March 191320September 1996) was a Hungarian mathematician. He was one of the most prolific mathematicians and producers of mathematical conjectures of the 20th century. pursued and proposed problems in discrete mathematics, g ...
, Alexander Schrijver
Alexander (Lex) Schrijver (born 4 May 1948 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch mathematician and computer scientist, a professor of discrete mathematics and optimization at the University of Amsterdam and a fellow at the Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica in Am ...
, and Richard M. Wilson, among others.Discrete Mathematics
Discrete mathematics is the study of mathematical structures that can be considered "discrete" (in a way analogous to discrete variables, having a bijection with the set of natural numbers) rather than "continuous" (analogously to continuous f ...
'', the ''Journal of Combinatorial Theory
The ''Journal of Combinatorial Theory'', Series A and Series B, are mathematical journals specializing in combinatorics and related areas. They are published by Elsevier. ''Series A'' is concerned primarily with structures, designs, and applicati ...
'', the ''European Journal of Combinatorics
The ''European Journal of Combinatorics'' is an international peer-reviewed scientific journal that specializes in combinatorics. The journal primarily publishes papers dealing with mathematical structures within combinatorics and/or establishing ...
'', and the ''American Mathematical Monthly
''The American Mathematical Monthly'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal of mathematics. It was established by Benjamin Finkel in 1894 and is published by Taylor & Francis on behalf of the Mathematical Association of America. It is an exposi ...
''.[
]
Academic papers
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanani, Haim
20th-century Polish mathematicians
Polish emigrants to Mandatory Palestine
20th-century Israeli Jews
20th-century Israeli mathematicians
1912 births
1991 deaths