Zvi Arad (; 16 April 1942, in

Petah Tikva Petah Tikva (, ), also spelt Petah Tiqwa and known informally as Em HaMoshavot (), is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv. It was founded in 1878, mainly by Haredi Judaism, Haredi Jews of the Old Y ...

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

– 4 February 2018, in Petah Tikva, Israel) was an Israeli mathematician, acting president of

Bar-Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, , ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic university institution. It has 20,000 ...

, and president of Netanya Academic College.

Biography

Zvi Arad began his academic studies in the Mathematics Department of

. He received his first degree in 1964 and after army service went on to complete a second and third degree in the Mathematics Department of

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 ...

Academic career

In 1968 Arad joined the academic staff at Bar-Ilan University as an assistant and in 1983 was appointed a full professor. During the years 1978/9 he held the position of visiting scientist at the

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

, and from 1982 to 1983 held the position of visiting professor at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

. Arad held a variety of senior academic posts at Bar-Ilan University. He served as chairman of the Mathematics and Computer Science Department, dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, rector and president of the university (succeeding

Ernest Krausz Ernest (Kopul) Krausz (Hebrew: ארנסט קראוס; August 13, 1931 - December 10, 2018) was an Israeli professor of sociology who served as rector and Acting President of Bar Ilan University. He also taught at Netanya Academic College. Biogr ...

, and followed by

Shlomo Eckstein Shlomo Raber Eckstein (; 1 November 1929 – 12 January 2020) was an Israeli economist, and President of Bar-Ilan University. Biography Eckstein was born in Wiesbaden, Germany. His family emigrated from Germany before World War II to Mexico, whi ...

). Together with Professor Bernard Pinchuk he founded Gelbart Institute, an international research institute named after Abe Gelbart, and the

Emmy Noether Amalie Emmy Noether (23 March 1882 – 14 April 1935) was a German mathematician who made many important contributions to abstract algebra. She also proved Noether's theorem, Noether's first and Noether's second theorem, second theorems, which ...

Institute (Minerva Center). Together with colleagues he established a journal, the Israel Mathematics Conference Proceedings, distributed by the

American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...

(AMS). From 1984–1985 he served as a member of the Council for Higher Education of the State of Israel. In 1982 he was elected a member of Russia's Academy of Natural Sciences. From 1994 he served on the editorial board of the ''Algebra Colloquium'', a journal of the

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS; ) is the national academy for natural sciences and the highest consultancy for science and technology of the People's Republic of China. It is the world's largest research organization, with 106 research i ...

published by

Springer-Verlag Springer Science+Business Media, commonly known as Springer, is a German multinational publishing company of books, e-books and peer-reviewed journals in science, humanities, technical and medical (STM) publishing. Originally founded in 1842 in ...

. He also serves on the editorial board of various international publications: ''South East Asian Bulletin of Mathematics'' of the Asian Mathematical Society, the ''IMCP of Contemporary Mathematics'' published by the American Mathematical Society, and the publication ''Cubo Matemática Educacional'',

Temuco Temuco () is a List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, commune, capital (political), capital of the Cautín Province and of the Araucanía Region in southern Chile. The city is located south of Santiago de Chile, Santiago. The cit ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. He initiated numerous agreements of cooperation with universities and institutions throughout the world including academic institutes in the former

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, universities and research centers in America,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, etc. He was a member of Israel's first official delegation to the former USSR, under the leadership of President

Ezer Weizman Ezer Weizman (, ; 15 June 1924 – 24 April 2005) was an Israeli major general and politician who served as the president of Israel, first elected in 1993 and re-elected in 1998. Before the presidency, Weizman was commander of the Israeli Air ...

. In an official address, President

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

mentioned Professor Arad's contributions towards the establishment of scientific communications between Israel and the former USSR. In an effort to advance cooperation in research he has headed delegations of scientists to Russia, China, and

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

newspaper (January 21, 1998) described him as one of the pioneers of higher education reform in Israel. The '' Encyclopaedia Hebraica'' lists Zvi Arad as "fulfilling a key role in the development and advancement of Bar-Ilan University and in the establishment of the University's regional colleges in

Safed Safed (), also known as Tzfat (), is a city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of up to , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and in Israel. Safed has been identified with (), a fortif ...

Ashkelon Ashkelon ( ; , ; ) or Ashqelon, is a coastal city in the Southern District (Israel), Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The modern city i ...

and the Jordan Valley)." For this achievement he was awarded a certificate of honor by the mayor of each city. The establishment of these colleges began in 1985 and went on to affect the whole of Israel. These colleges advanced the

Galilee Galilee (; ; ; ) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon consisting of two parts: the Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and the Lower Galilee (, ; , ). ''Galilee'' encompasses the area north of the Mount Carmel-Mount Gilboa ridge and ...

and Southern Israel and brought higher education to the peripheries of Israel.

Netanya Academic College

In 1994, at the request of the mayors of the city of

Netanya Netanya () () or Natanya (), is a city in the "Planet Bekasi" Central District (Israel), Setanyahu of Israel, Israel BAB ih, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between the Poleg stre ...

, Yoel Elroi and Zvi Poleg, Arad established the Netanya Academic College. He served as president of the college for 24 years. A partner in the initiation and establishment of the college was Miriam Feirberg, who at that time served as head of the Education Department of the City of

. Today the college is an accredited institute of higher education that grant first and second academic degrees in a variety of fields.

Published works

Together with his colleague Professor Marcel Herzog, Arad wrote ''Products of Conjugacy Classes'', published by Springer-Verlag. The book facilitated the basis of the establishment of mathematical theory and today forms part of the branch of

abstract algebra In mathematics, more specifically algebra, abstract algebra or modern algebra is the study of algebraic structures, which are set (mathematics), sets with specific operation (mathematics), operations acting on their elements. Algebraic structur ...

known as Table Algebras, and is attached to central branches in mathematics:

Graph theory In mathematics and computer science, graph theory is the study of ''graph (discrete mathematics), graphs'', which are mathematical structures used to model pairwise relations between objects. A graph in this context is made up of ''Vertex (graph ...

, algebra combinations, and theory presentation. Arad coauthored two other books on the subject of table algebra. In 2000 his book was published in the series ''American Mathematical Society Memoirs'' and in January 2002 another book on table algebras was published in the international publication, Springer. Arad was the editor of ''Contemporary Mathematics'', Volume 402.

References

External links