for their remarkable contributions to discrete mathematics and model theory with interaction notably with algebraic geometry, topology and computer sciences.
The Shaw Prize in Mathematical Sciences 2022 is awarded in equal shares to Noga Alon, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Princeton, USA and Ehud Hrushovski, Merton Professor of Mathematical Logic, University of Oxford, UK for their remarkable contributions to discrete mathematics and model theory with interaction notably with algebraic geometry, topology and computer sciences.
Noga Alon works in the broad area of discrete mathematics. He introduced new methods and achieved fundamental results which entirely shaped the field. Among a long list of visible results with applications, one can extract the following contributions. With Matias and Szegedy he pioneered the area of data stream analysis. With Milman he connected the combinatorial and algebraic properties of expander graphs.
Historians consider mathematics as one of the oldest branches of science, if not of all human intellectual activities. They date tally numbers back to 23,000 BCE. Several systems of numerals were developed by the Romans, the Indians, the Chinese, the Mesopotamians … till we adopted the Hindu–Arabic numeral system in the 14th century. The numbers {1, 2,…} are part of our everyday life. A collection of objects is called countable if we can count it as {1, 2,…}. Discrete mathematics is the part of mathematics which studies properties that can be counted, in opposition to continuous mathematics which studies continuous or differentiable functions on spaces, which was initiated by Leibniz and Newton in the 17th century. These days we often associate discrete mathematics with codes and computer science, e.g., in relation with breaking the German codes in WWII, or more recently in the development of smart phones.
Noga Alon was born in 1956 in Israel and is currently Professor of Mathematics at Princeton University, USA and Baumritter Professor Emeritus of Mathematics and Computer Science at Tel Aviv University, Israel. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and Tel Aviv University respectively. He later earned his PhD in Mathematics in 1983 from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. He joined Tel Aviv University in 1985 and was successively Senior Lecturer (1985–1986), Associate Professor (1986–1988) and was appointed Full Professor from 1988 until retirement. He had also served as the Head of the School of Mathematical Sciences (1999–2000). He moved to Princeton University in 2018, where he has since held the position of Professor. He is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the Academy of Europe. He is also an honorary member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
Ehud Hrushovski was born in 1959 in Israel and is currently Merton Professor of Mathematical Logic, University of Oxford, UK and a Fellow of Merton College, Oxford University, UK. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree and PhD in Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley, USA in 1982 and 1986 respectively. He was an Instructor (1987–1988) and Visiting Assistant Professor (1988–1989) at Princeton University, USA. He joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA where he was successively Assistant Professor (1988–1991), Associate Professor (1992–1994) and Full Professor (1994). While working at MIT, he also served as an Assistant Professor (1991–1992) and became a Full Professor (1994–2017) at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. He moved to the University of Oxford in 2016, where he has been appointed Merton Professor of Mathematical Logic (2016–). He is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
