Itamar Procaccia (; born September 29, 1949, in Tel Aviv) is an Israeli physicist and chemist who has made contributions to areas in

statistical physics In physics, statistical mechanics is a mathematical framework that applies statistical methods and probability theory to large assemblies of microscopic entities. Sometimes called statistical physics or statistical thermodynamics, its applicati ...

nonlinear dynamics In mathematics and science, a nonlinear system (or a non-linear system) is a system in which the change of the output is not proportional to the change of the input. Nonlinear problems are of interest to engineers, biologists, physicists, mathem ...

soft matter Soft matter or soft condensed matter is a type of matter that can be deformed or structurally altered by thermal or mechanical stress which is of similar magnitude to thermal fluctuations. The science of soft matter is a subfield of condensed ...

, and

turbulence In fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is fluid motion characterized by chaotic changes in pressure and flow velocity. It is in contrast to laminar flow, which occurs when a fluid flows in parallel layers with no disruption between ...

. Procaccia studied chemistry at the

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli 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. It is the second-ol ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

with and obtained a bachelor's degree in 1973 and obtained a doctorate in theoretical chemistry in 1976. From 1977 to 1979, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

. Since 1979 he has been at the Weizmann Institute, where he became a professor in 1985. With Peter Grassberger, he introduced the

correlation dimension In chaos theory, the correlation dimension (denoted by ''ν'') is a measure of the dimensionality of the space occupied by a set of random points, often referred to as a type of fractal dimension. For example, if we have a set of random points on t ...

as a measure of

fractal dimension In mathematics, a fractal dimension is a term invoked in the science of geometry to provide a rational statistical index of complexity detail in a pattern. A fractal pattern changes with the Scaling (geometry), scale at which it is measured. It ...

in 1983 (often referred to as the Grassberger–Procaccia algorithm). He has held guest appointments at the

City University of New York The City University of New York (CUNY, pronounced , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven ...

, the

Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques The Institut des hautes études scientifiques (IHÉS; English: Institute of Advanced Scientific Studies) is a French research institute supporting advanced research in mathematics and theoretical physics (also with a small theoretical biology g ...

Nordita The Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics, or NORDITA, or Nordita (), is an international organisation for research in theoretical physics. It was established as Nordisk Institut for Teoretisk Atomfysik in 1957 by Niels Bohr and the Swedish ...

, the

Isaac Newton Institute The Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences is an international research institute for mathematics and its applications at the University of Cambridge. It is named after one of the university's most illustrious figures, the mathematician ...

Rockefeller University The Rockefeller University is a Private university, private Medical research, biomedical Research university, research and graduate-only university in New York City, New York. It focuses primarily on the biological and medical sciences and pro ...

, the

École normale supérieure de Lyon École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

, and

the University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, near the shore of Lake Michigan about fr ...

, among others. He is a fellow of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...

, the

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based not-for-profit learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, physics research, research and applied physics, application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide ...

and a member of the Leopoldina and the

Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters ({{Langx, da, Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab or ''Videnskabernes Selskab'') is a Danish academy of science. The Royal Danish Academy was established on 13 November 1742, and was create ...

. In 2009 he received 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 ...

for physics. In 2017 he received the

EPS Statistical and Nonlinear Physics Prize The EPS Statistical and Nonlinear Physics Prize is a biannual award by the European Physical Society (EPS) given since 2017. Its aim is to recognize outstanding research contributions in the area of statistical physics, nonlinear physics, comple ...

Selected publications

* Peter Grassberger, Itamar Procacci
Measuring the Strangeness of Strange Attractors
''Physica D'', 9, (1983), 189–208 * Peter Grassberger, Itamar Procacci
Characterization of strange attractors
Physical Review Letters, 50, (1983), 346–349 * Thomas C. Halsey, Mogens H. Jensen, Leo P. Kadanoff, Itamar Procaccia, and Boris I. Shraiman
"Fractal measures and their singularities: The characterization of strange sets"
Physics A, 33 1141 (1986)

References

External links

Itamar Procaccia's home page at the Weizmann Institute
{{DEFAULTSORT:Procaccia, Itamar 1949 births Living people Israeli physicists Israeli chemists Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni Israel Prize in physics recipients Academic staff of Weizmann Institute of Science Fellows of the American Physical Society Fellows of the Institute of Physics Weizmann Prize recipients