Alexander Lubotzky
Encyclopedia
Professor
Alexander Lubotzky is an Israel
i academic and former politician. A former head of the Mathematics Institute at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
, he served as a member of the Knesset
for The Third Way
party between 1996 and 1999.
, Lubotzky studied mathematics at Bar-Ilan University
, gaining a BA
and PhD
. He worked as a professor of mathematics at the Hebrew University, becoming head of the department. He has been a visiting professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton
, Stanford
, and the University of Chicago
, with regular visits - nearly adjunct status - at Columbia
and Yale
.
. He is known for extensive contributions to geometric group theory
, the study of lattices in Lie group
s, representation theory of discrete groups and Kazhdan's property (T)
, the study of subgroup growth
, applications of group theory to combinatorics
and computer science
(expander graphs) and more.
Lubotzky received the Erdős Prize
in 1990.
In 1992 Lubotzky was a recipient of the Sunyer i Balaguer Prize from the Institut d’Estudis Catalans for his book "Discrete Groups Expanding Graphs and Invariant Measures" and again in 2002 with Dan Segal
for their book "Subgroup Growth".
Lubotzky was elected a foreign member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
in 2005. In 2006, he got an honourary degree from the University of Chicago
for his contribution to Modern mathematics
.
in March 1996, he chaired its secretariat and was elected to the Knesset in the May 1996 elections
. He served as a member of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee; Constitution
, Law
and Justice
Committee; Status of Women Committee and the Science
and Technology
Committee, and chaired the subcommittee on the Y2K Bug
.
As an MK, Prof. Lubotzky was mainly known for his compromise proposals on religious issues and pluralism
. He was actively involved in setting up a solution to the conversion bill crisis via the Ne'eman Commission, working to avoid a conflict between Israel
and the Jewish Diaspora
. Prof. Lubotzky also co-drafted a comprehensive proposal for a new covenant for religion-state affairs in Israel with MK Yossi Beilin
.
Prior to the 1999 elections he joined the Centre Party
, and was placed twelfth on its list. but decided to leave it before the election following a disagreement with the head of the party, and so left the political life.
Lubotzky married Yardena (Daughter of prof. Murray Roston
) in 1980. The couple had six children; the oldest, Asael, The author of From the Wilderness and Lebanon, was injured severely in The Battle of Bint Jbeil
in Lebanon
, while serving as an officer
in the Israeli Army in The 2006 Lebanon war.
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
Alexander Lubotzky is an Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i academic and former politician. A former head of the Mathematics Institute at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...
, he served as a member of the Knesset
Knesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
for The Third Way
Third Way (Israel)
The Third Way was a political party in Israel in the 1990s.- Background :The party was formed on 7 March 1996 towards the end of the thirteenth Knesset's term when two MKs, Avigdor Kahalani and Emanuel Zisman, broke away from the Labour Party...
party between 1996 and 1999.
Education
Born in Tel AvivTel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
, Lubotzky studied mathematics at Bar-Ilan University
Bar-Ilan University
Bar-Ilan University is a university in Ramat Gan of the Tel Aviv District, Israel.Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is now Israel's second-largest academic institution. It has nearly 26,800 students and 1,350 faculty members...
, gaining a BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
and PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
. He worked as a professor of mathematics at the Hebrew University, becoming head of the department. He has been a visiting professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, Stanford
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, and the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, with regular visits - nearly adjunct status - at Columbia
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
and Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
.
Mathematical career
Lubotzky holds a Maurice and Clara Weil Chair in mathematics at the Einstein Institute of Mathematics of the Hebrew University of JerusalemHebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...
. He is known for extensive contributions to geometric group theory
Geometric group theory
Geometric group theory is an area in mathematics devoted to the study of finitely generated groups via exploring the connections between algebraic properties of such groups and topological and geometric properties of spaces on which these groups act .Another important...
, the study of lattices in Lie group
Lie group
In mathematics, a Lie group is a group which is also a differentiable manifold, with the property that the group operations are compatible with the smooth structure...
s, representation theory of discrete groups and Kazhdan's property (T)
Kazhdan's property (T)
In mathematics, a locally compact topological group G has property if the trivial representation is an isolated point in its unitary dual equipped with the Fell topology. Informally, this means that if G acts unitarily on a Hilbert space and has "almost invariant vectors", then it has a nonzero...
, the study of subgroup growth
Subgroup growth
In mathematics, subgroup growth is a branch of group theory, dealing with quantitative questions about subgroups of a given group.Let G be a finitely generated group. Then, for each integer n define n to be the number of subgroups U of index n in G...
, applications of group theory to combinatorics
Combinatorics
Combinatorics is a branch of mathematics concerning the study of finite or countable discrete structures. Aspects of combinatorics include counting the structures of a given kind and size , deciding when certain criteria can be met, and constructing and analyzing objects meeting the criteria ,...
and computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
(expander graphs) and more.
Lubotzky received the Erdős Prize
Erdős Prize
- References :*...
in 1990.
In 1992 Lubotzky was a recipient of the Sunyer i Balaguer Prize from the Institut d’Estudis Catalans for his book "Discrete Groups Expanding Graphs and Invariant Measures" and again in 2002 with Dan Segal
Dan Segal
Daniel Segal is a British mathematician, currently a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford. He specialises in algebra and group theory....
for their book "Subgroup Growth".
Lubotzky was elected a foreign member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
in 2005. In 2006, he got an honourary degree from the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
for his contribution to Modern mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
.
Political career
A founding member of The Third WayThird Way (Israel)
The Third Way was a political party in Israel in the 1990s.- Background :The party was formed on 7 March 1996 towards the end of the thirteenth Knesset's term when two MKs, Avigdor Kahalani and Emanuel Zisman, broke away from the Labour Party...
in March 1996, he chaired its secretariat and was elected to the Knesset in the May 1996 elections
Israeli legislative election, 1996
Elections for the fourteenth Knesset were held in Israel on 29 May 1996. Voter turnout was 79.3%.The 1996 elections included two new changes, both designed to increase the stability of the Knesset. First, the Prime Minister was to be elected on a separate ballot from the remaining members of the...
. He served as a member of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee; Constitution
Constitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
, Law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
and Justice
Justice
Justice is a concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, religion, or equity, along with the punishment of the breach of said ethics; justice is the act of being just and/or fair.-Concept of justice:...
Committee; Status of Women Committee and the Science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and Technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
Committee, and chaired the subcommittee on the Y2K Bug
Year 2000 problem
The Year 2000 problem was a problem for both digital and non-digital documentation and data storage situations which resulted from the practice of abbreviating a four-digit year to two digits.In computer programs, the practice of representing the year with two...
.
As an MK, Prof. Lubotzky was mainly known for his compromise proposals on religious issues and pluralism
Religious pluralism
Religious pluralism is a loosely defined expression concerning acceptance of various religions, and is used in a number of related ways:* As the name of the worldview according to which one's religion is not the sole and exclusive source of truth, and thus that at least some truths and true values...
. He was actively involved in setting up a solution to the conversion bill crisis via the Ne'eman Commission, working to avoid a conflict between Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and the Jewish Diaspora
Jewish diaspora
The Jewish diaspora is the English term used to describe the Galut גלות , or 'exile', of the Jews from the region of the Kingdom of Judah and Roman Iudaea and later emigration from wider Eretz Israel....
. Prof. Lubotzky also co-drafted a comprehensive proposal for a new covenant for religion-state affairs in Israel with MK Yossi Beilin
Yossi Beilin
Dr. Yosef "Yossi" Beilin is a left-wing Israeli politician and a former Knesset member, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister and Justice Minister, representing both the Labor Party and Meretz-Yachad, of which he served as chairman between 2003 and 2006. He is best known for his involvement with the...
.
Prior to the 1999 elections he joined the Centre Party
Centre Party (Israel)
The Centre Party , originally known as Israel in the Centre, was a short-lived political party in Israel. Formed in 1999 by former Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai, the aim was to create a group of moderates to challenge both Binyamin Netanyahu on the right and opposition leader Ehud Barak's...
, and was placed twelfth on its list. but decided to leave it before the election following a disagreement with the head of the party, and so left the political life.
Lubotzky married Yardena (Daughter of prof. Murray Roston
Murray Roston
Murray Roston is an Israeli Emeritus professor of English Literature at Bar-Ilan University.-Biography:Roston was born in London, on December 10, 1928. He won the Open Classics Scholarship to Queens’ College, Cambridge, and after obtaining a degree in classics, transferred to English literature...
) in 1980. The couple had six children; the oldest, Asael, The author of From the Wilderness and Lebanon, was injured severely in The Battle of Bint Jbeil
Battle of Bint Jbeil
The Battle of Bint Jbeil was one of the main battles of the Litani offensive in the 2006 Lebanon War. It consisted of a series of military actions and clashes in the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil, regarded as the "Hezbollah stronghold" in the south. The town is three kilometers from the...
in Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, while serving as an officer
Officer (armed forces)
An officer is a member of an armed force or uniformed service who holds a position of authority. Commissioned officers derive authority directly from a sovereign power and, as such, hold a commission charging them with the duties and responsibilities of a specific office or position...
in the Israeli Army in The 2006 Lebanon war.
External links
- Alexander Lubotzky's webpage, Hebrew University
- Alexander Lubotzky at the Mathematical ReviewsMathematical ReviewsMathematical Reviews is a journal and online database published by the American Mathematical Society that contains brief synopses of many articles in mathematics, statistics and theoretical computer science.- Reviews :...
author summary