Boris Trakhtenbrot

{{Short description|Russian-Israeli mathematician}}

{{Infobox academic

| name = Boris Trakhtenbrot

| honorific_suffix =

| image = Trakhtenbrot 1994 (head).jpg

| image_size =

| caption = 1994

| native_name = Борис Авраамович Трахтенброт

| native_name_lang = ru

| birth_date = {{birth date|1921|02|19|df=y}}

| birth_place = Brichevo, Bessarabia

| death_date = {{death date and age|2016|09|19|1921|02|19|df=y}}

| death_place = Rehovot, Israel

| nationality =

| occupation =

| spouse = {{marriage|Berta I. Rabinovich|1947|2013|end=d}}

| awards =

| alma_mater = Ukrainian Academy of Science

| thesis_title = Decidability Problems for Finite Classes and Definitions of Finite Sets

| thesis_url =

| thesis_year = 1950

| doctoral_advisor = Pyotr Novikov

| discipline =

| sub_discipline =

| workplaces = {{unbulleted list|Novosibirsk State University|Tel Aviv University}}

| doctoral_students =

| main_interests =

| notable_works =

}}

Boris (Boaz) Abramovich Trakhtenbrot ({{langx|ru|Борис Авраамович Трахтенброт}}, {{langx|he|בועז טרכטנברוט}}; 19 February 1921 – 19 September 2016) was a Russian-Israeli mathematician in logic, algorithms, theory of computation, and cybernetics.

Biography

Trakhtenbrot was born into a Jewish family in Brichevo, northern Bessarabia (now Tîrnova, Moldova).{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Russian Jewish Encyclopedia|title=Surnames starting with the letter T|translator1-first=Josif|translator1-last=Charny|translator2-first=Vitaly|translator2-last=Charny|date=1995|location=Moscow|url=http://jewishgen.org/belarus/rje_t.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030415025359/http://www.jewishgen.org/belarus/rje_t.htm|archive-date=15 April 2003}} He studied at the Moldovan State Pedagogical Institute in Kishinev, Chernivtsi University, and the Ukrainian Academy of Science's Mathematical Institute, completing a Ph.D. at the latter institution in 1950.{{r|TAU}}

He worked at Akademgorodok, Novosibirsk during the 1960s and 1970s.{{cite web|website=Архив академика А.П. Ершова|language=ru|script-title=ru:Борис Абрамович Трахтенброт|trans-title=Boris A. Trakhtenbrot|url=http://www.ershov.ras.ru/archive/eaman.asp?pplid=1758&?lang=2|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726013528/http://www.ershov.ras.ru/archive/eaman.asp?pplid=1758&%3Flang=2|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 July 2011}}{{cite web|title=History of Computing in Russia|script-title=ru:Борис Авраамович Трахтенброт|trans-title=Boris Avraamovich Trahtenbrot|url=http://cshistory.nsu.ru/obj1181/INTERFACE.htm|language=ru|access-date=22 January 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080429161306/http://cshistory.nsu.ru/obj1181/INTERFACE.htm|archive-date=29 April 2008|url-status=dead}} In 1964 Trakhtenbrot discovered and proved a fundamental result in theoretical computer science called the gap theorem.{{cite journal|author=Boris Trakhtenbrot|title=Turing computations with logarithmic delay|journal=Algebra and Logic|language=ru|volume=3|issue=4|pages= 33–48|year=1964}} He also discovered and proved the theorem in logic, model theory, and computability theory now known as Trakhtenbrot's theorem.{{cite journal|author=Boris Trakhtenbrot|title=The Impossibility of an Algorithm for the Decidability Problem on Finite Classes|journal=Proceedings of the USSR Academy of Sciences|language=ru|volume=70|issue=4|pages= 569–572|year=1950}}

After immigrating to Israel in 1981, he became a professor in the Faculty of Exact Sciences at Tel Aviv University, and continued as professor emeritus until his death. He died on 19 September 2016, at the age of 95.{{r|TAU}}{{r|fisher}}

Notes

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite web|website=Faculty of Exact Sciences|publisher=Tel Aviv University|title=Boaz (Boris) Trakhtenbrot, 1921–2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210306083738/https://exact-sciences.tau.ac.il/computer-h/100_Boaz_Trakhtenbrot|url=https://exact-sciences.tau.ac.il/computer-h/100_Boaz_Trakhtenbrot|archive-date=6 March 2021}}

{{cite web|first=Lawrence M.|last=Fisher|date=21 September 2016|url=http://cacm.acm.org/news/207650-in-memoriam-boris-trakhtenbrot-1921–2016/fulltext|title=In Memoriam: Boris Trakhtenbrot, 1921-2016|website=Communications of the ACM|publisher=Association for Computing Machinery}}

}}