Prof. Hillel Furstenberg from the Hebrew University won the ABEL prize, the most important prize in mathematics

Prof. Furstenberg shares the award with Prof. Gregory Margolis from Yale University. This is the first time that the prize has been awarded to an Israeli researcher since it was announced in 2003. The prize, amounting to approximately 830 thousand dollars, is awarded to Prof. Furstenberg together with Prof. Gregory Margolis from Yale University for being pioneers in the use of methods from probability to dynamics in group theory, number theory and combinatorics. The Abel Prize is the most prestigious of the international prizes awarded to mathematicians, and is considered equivalent to the Nobel Prize, which does not include a mathematics category

Prof. Hillel Furstenberg, a researcher at the Einstein Institute of Mathematics at the Hebrew University, and Prof. Gregory Margulis from Yale University, were chosen to receive the Abel Prize for 2020. The Abel Prize is a prestigious prize awarded annually, since 2003, by the King of Norway to mathematicians from all over the world with notable achievements and unusual. The selection of the Hubble winners is based on the recommendation of a special committee consisting of five mathematicians of international reputation and recognition. The Abel Prize is the most prestigious international prize in the field of mathematics, and equal to the Nobel Prize, which does not include a mathematics category. The prize is named after the Norwegian mathematician Nils Henrik Abel (1802–1829).

Prof. Furstenberg and Prof. Margolis invented techniques of using random shifts (a path consisting of a sequence of random steps) to study mathematical objects, such as clusters and graphs, and when they did so they introduced methods of probability to solve open problems in cluster theory, number theory, combinatorics and computer science. The study of random shifts is a central branch of probability theory.

The head of the Abel Prize Committee, Hans Munta Kosmo, justified the choice of the two: "The works of Furstenberg and Margolis proved the effectiveness of crossing the boundaries between separate disciplines in mathematics and broke down the traditional wall between pure mathematics and applied mathematics." He added: "Forstenberg and Margolis amazed the world of mathematics with the ingenious use they made of the methods of probability and random shifts to solve difficult problems in various areas of mathematics. This opened up a rich variety of new results, including the existence of long arithmetic series of prime numbers, the understanding of the structure of lattices in Lee groups, and the construction of expansive graphs with applications in communication technology and computer science."
Prof. Asher Cohen, president of the Hebrew University, congratulated: "Prof. Furstenberg's winning the Abel prize is a real honor for the Hebrew University. Hillel is not only a mathematician of international reputation, but a mentor to generations of students who today continue to shape and develop the world of mathematics. We couldn't be more proud of his win, which is equivalent to winning the Nobel Prize."

Prof. Forstenberg was elected in 1974 as a member of the Israeli National Academy of Sciences and in 1989 was elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States. In 1993 Furstenberg won the Israel Prize for Exact Sciences and the Harvey Prize for Science and Technology. In 2004 he won the AMT prize in the field of exact sciences, in collaboration with Michael Rabin and in 2007 he won the Wolff prize for mathematics.

The president of the academy, Prof. Neely Cohen, said today that "the academy is happy, proud and excited about Prof. Hillel Furstenberg winning the most important prize in the world in the field of mathematics. This win is a great pride for the scientific community in Israel and the country as a whole and the Academy congratulates him on his extraordinary achievement. Our academy was blessed with Prof. Furstenberg not only as a bright scientist, but also as a bright person, who is a source of inspiration for all of us with his nobility and modesty."

Prof. Furstenberg and Prof. Margolis were supposed to receive the award from the King of Norway, Harald V, at an award ceremony in Oslo on May 19, but due to the Corona epidemic, the ceremony was postponed to an unknown date.
Hillel Furstenberg was born in Berlin in 1935. His family managed to escape from Nazi Germany to the United States in 1939. Unfortunately, his father did not survive the journey and Furstenberg grew up with his mother and sister in an Orthodox community in New York. After studying mathematics at several universities in the United States, he left in 1965 in favor of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where he remained until his retirement in 2003.

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