Noga Alon

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Noga Alon

| native_name = נוגה אלון

| native_name_lang = Hebrew

| image = Noga2020.jpg

| image_size = 200px

| caption = Noga Alon

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1956}}

| birth_place = Israel

| death_date =

| death_place =

| thesis_title = Extremal Problems in Combinatorics

| thesis_year = 1983

| fields = Mathematics
Theoretical computer science

| workplaces = Tel Aviv University
Institute for Advanced Study
Microsoft Research, Herzeliya
Princeton University

| alma_mater = Hebrew University of Jerusalem

| doctoral_advisor = Micha Perles

| doctoral_students = {{plainlist|1=

}}

| known_for = Combinatorial Nullstellensatz

| awards = George Pólya Prize (2000)
Gödel Prize (2005)
Israel Prize in Mathematics (2008)
Shaw Prize (2022)
Wolf Prize in Mathematics (2024)

| website = {{URL|http://www.math.tau.ac.il/~nogaa/}}

}}

Noga Alon ({{langx|he|נוגה אלון}}; born 1956) is an Israeli mathematician and a professor of mathematics at Princeton University noted for his contributions to combinatorics and theoretical computer science, having authored hundreds of papers.

Education and career

Alon was born in 1956 in Haifa, where he graduated from the Hebrew Reali School in 1974. He graduated summa cum laude from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in 1979, earned a master's degree in mathematics in 1980 from Tel Aviv University, and received his Ph.D. in Mathematics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1983 with the dissertation Extremal Problems in Combinatorics supervised by Micha Perles.{{mathgenealogy|id=58918}}

After postdoctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology he returned to Tel Aviv University as a senior lecturer in 1985, obtained a permanent position as an associate professor there in 1986, and was promoted to full professor in 1988. He was head of the School of Mathematical Science from 1999 to 2001, and was given the Florence and Ted Baumritter Combinatorics and Computer Science Chair,{{cite web|url=https://www.ae-info.org/attach/User/Alon_Noga/CV/Alon_Noga_cv.pdf|title=Curriculum vitae|publisher=Academia Europaea|access-date=2023-05-06}} before retiring as professor emeritus and moving to Princeton University in 2018.{{cite web|url=https://web.math.princeton.edu/~nalon/cvshort.html|title=Short CV|publisher=Princeton University|access-date=2023-05-06}}

He was editor-in-chief of the journal Random Structures and Algorithms from 2008 through 2023.

Research

Alon has published more than five hundred research papers, mostly in combinatorics and in theoretical computer science, and one book, on the probabilistic method. He has also published under the pseudonym "A. Nilli", based on the name of his daughter Nilli Alon.{{cite book

| last1 = Ceccherini-Silberstein | first1 = Tullio

| last2 = Scarabotti | first2 = Fabio

| last3 = Tolli | first3 = Filippo

| doi = 10.1017/9781316856383

| isbn = 978-1-107-18233-2

| mr = 3791831

| page = 300

| publisher = Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

| series = Cambridge Studies in Advanced Mathematics

| title = Discrete Harmonic Analysis: Representations, Number Theory, Expanders, and the Fourier Transform

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=HYRnDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA300

| volume = 172

| year = 2018| s2cid = 125447782

}}

His research contributions include the combinatorial Nullstellensatz, an algebraic tool with many applications in combinatorics; color-coding, a technique for fixed-parameter tractability of pattern-matching algorithms in graphs; and the Alon–Boppana bound in spectral graph theory.

Selected works

= Book =

The Probabilistic Method, with Joel Spencer, Wiley, 1992. 2nd ed., 2000; 3rd ed., 2008; 4th ed., 2016.Reviews:
{{Cite journal |last=Fishburn |first=Peter |date=1994-06-01 |title=Probability galore (review of The Probabilistic Method, 1st ed.) |journal=Journal of Mathematical Psychology |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=286–292 |doi=10.1006/jmps.1994.1018}}
{{cite journal|last=Fristed|first=Bert|year=1993|journal=Mathematical Reviews|title=Review of The Probabilistic Method, 1st ed.|mr=1140703}} Review of 2nd ed. (2003), {{MR|1885388}}.
{{cite journal|last=Moon|first=J. W.|journal=zbMATH|title=Review of The Probabilistic Method, 1st ed.|zbl=0767.05001}} Review of 2nd. ed., {{zbl|0996.05001}}. Review of 3rd ed., {{zbl|1148.05001}}
{{Cite web |date=2008-11-08 |first=Miklós |last=Bóna |title=Review of The Probabilistic Method, 3rd ed.|work=MAA Reviews|publisher= Mathematical Association of America |url=https://www.maa.org/press/maa-reviews/the-probabilistic-method |access-date=2022-10-25 }}
{{cite journal|first=Sayan|last= Mukherjee|title=Review of The Probabilistic Method, 3rd ed.|journal=Journal of the American Statistical Association|volume=104|issue=488|date=December 2009|page=1723|jstor=40592386}}
{{Cite web |date=2016-02-24 |author-first=Fernando Q. |author-last=Gouvêa |title=Review of The Probabilistic Method, 4th ed.|work=MAA Reviews|publisher= Mathematical Association of America |url=https://www.maa.org/press/maa-reviews/the-probabilistic-method-0 |access-date=2022-10-25 }}

= Research articles =

{{cite journal

| last = Alon | first = N.

| doi = 10.1007/BF02579166

| issue = 2

| journal = Combinatorica

| mr = 875835

| pages = 83–96

| title = Eigenvalues and expanders

| volume = 6

| year = 1986| s2cid = 41083612

}}

{{cite journal

| last1 = Alon | first1 = N.

| last2 = Boppana | first2 = R. B.

| doi = 10.1007/BF02579196

| issue = 1

| journal = Combinatorica

| mr = 905147

| pages = 1–22

| title = The monotone circuit complexity of Boolean functions

| volume = 7

| year = 1987| s2cid = 17397273

}}

{{cite journal

| last = Alon | first = Noga

| doi = 10.1016/0001-8708(87)90055-7

| issue = 3

| journal = Advances in Mathematics

| mr = 0877785

| pages = 247–253

| title = Splitting necklaces

| volume = 63

| year = 1987

| doi-access = free

}}

{{cite journal

| last1 = Alon | first1 = Noga

| last2 = Kleitman | first2= Daniel J

| author2-link = Daniel Kleitman

| doi = 10.1016/0001-8708(92)90052-M

| issue = 1

| journal = Advances in Mathematics

| mr = 1185788

| pages = 103–112

| title = Piercing convex sets and the Hadwiger–Debrunner (p, q)-problem

| volume = 96

| year = 1992

| doi-access = free

}}

{{cite journal

| last1 = Alon | first1 = Noga

| last2 = Yuster | first2 = Raphael

| last3 = Zwick | first3 = Uri

| doi = 10.1145/210332.210337

| issue = 4

| journal = Journal of the ACM

| mr = 1411787

| pages = 844–856

| title = Color-coding

| volume = 42

| year = 1995| s2cid = 208936467

| doi-access = free

}}

{{cite journal

| last1 = Alon | first1 = Noga

| last2 = Matias | first2 = Yossi

| last3 = Szegedy | first3 = Mario

| doi = 10.1006/jcss.1997.1545

| issue = 1, part 2

| journal = Journal of Computer and System Sciences

| mr = 1688610

| pages = 137–147

| title = The space complexity of approximating the frequency moments

| volume = 58

| year = 1999| doi-access = free

}} Previously in the ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing (STOC), 1996.

{{cite journal

| last = Alon | first = Noga

| doi = 10.1017/S0963548398003411

| issue = 1–2

| journal = Combinatorics, Probability and Computing

| mr = 1684621

| pages = 7–29

| title = Combinatorial Nullstellensatz

| volume = 8

| year = 1999| s2cid = 209877602

}}

Awards

Alon has received a number of awards, including the following:

1989 – Erdős Prize;{{cite web|url=https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Honours/Anna_and_Lajos_Erdos_Prize/|title=The Anna and Lajos Erdős Prize in Mathematics|work=MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive|access-date=2023-05-05}}
2000 – George Pólya Prize in Applied Combinatorics of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics{{cite web|url=https://www.siam.org/prizes-recognition/major-prizes-lectures/detail/george-polya-prize-applied-combinatorics|title=George Pólya Prize in Applied Combinatorics|publisher=Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics|work=Major Prizes & Lectures|access-date=2023-05-05}}
2001 – Michael Bruno Memorial Award of the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies;{{Cite web|url=https://iias.huji.ac.il/brunolaureates|title=Bruno Laureates|website=iias.huji.ac.il}}
2005 – Gödel Prize, with Yossi Matias and Mario Szegedy, for their paper "The space complexity of approximating the frequency moments" on streaming algorithms{{cite web|publisher=European Association for Theoretical Computer Science|title=Gödel Prize – 2005|url=https://eatcs.org/index.php/component/content/article/503|access-date=2023-05-06}}
2008 – Israel Prize, for mathematics.{{Cite web| title = Israel Prize Official Site (in Hebrew) – Recipient's C.V. | url = http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/PrasIsrael/Tashsah/NogaAlon/CvNohaAlon.htm }}{{Cite web| title = Israel Prize Official Site (in Hebrew) – Judges' Rationale for Grant to Recipient | url = http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/PrasIsrael/Tashsah/NogaAlon/NsNogaAlon.htm}}
2011 – EMET Prize, with Saharon Shelah, for mathematics.{{cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/2011-11-21/ty-article/news-in-brief/0000017f-e198-d804-ad7f-f1fafd710000|department=News in brief|title=Haaretz photographer Miki Kratsman among new recipients of Emet Prize|date=21 November 2011|newspaper=Haaretz|access-date=2023-05-06}}
2019 – Paris Kanellakis Award, with Phillip Gibbons, Yossi Matias and Mario Szegedy, "for foundational work on streaming algorithms and their application to large scale data analytics"{{cite web|url=https://awards.acm.org/award-recipients/alon_6955744|title=Noga Alon|work=Award recipients|publisher=Association for Computing Machinery|access-date=2023-05-05}}
2021 – Leroy P. Steele Prize for Mathematical Exposition, with Joel Spencer, for The Probabilistic Method{{Cite web|url=https://www.ams.org/news?news_id=6484|title=News from the AMS|website=American Mathematical Society}}
2022 – Shaw Prize in Mathematical Sciences, with Ehud Hrushovski, "for their remarkable contributions to discrete mathematics and model theory with interaction notably with algebraic geometry, topology and computer sciences"{{Cite web|url=http://www.shawprize.org/prizes/mathematical-sciences|title=The Shaw Prize|website=www.shawprize.org}}
2022 – Knuth Prize, "for foundational contributions in combinatorics and graph theory and applications to fundamental topics in computer science"{{Cite web |title=2022 Knuth Prize Awarded to Noga Alon |url=https://www.sigact.org/prizes/knuth/citation2022.pdf |access-date=July 2, 2022 |website=ACM Special Interest Group on Algorithms and Computation Theory}}
2024 Wolf Prize in Mathematics "for his fundamental contributions to Combinatorics and Theoretical Computer Science”.

Alon gave plenary addresses in the 1996 European Congress of Mathematics and in the 2002 International Congress of Mathematicians, the 2009 Turán Memorial Lectures,{{Cite web|url=https://old.renyi.hu/turanlectures_vk.html|title=Paul Turán Memorial Lectures|website=old.renyi.hu}} and a lecture in the 1990 International Congress of Mathematicians. In 2015 he gave the Łojasiewicz Lecture (on the "Signrank and its applications in combinatorics and complexity") at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków.{{cite web|url=https://im.uj.edu.pl/en_GB/lojasiewicz/2015|title=S.Lojasiewicz Lecture 2015|publisher=Institute of Mathematics of the Jagiellonian University|access-date=2023-05-06}} He was given an honorary doctorate by ETH Zurich in 2013{{cite web|url=https://inf.ethz.ch/department/awards-rankings/honorary-doctors.html|title=Honorary doctors|publisher=ETH Zurich Department of Computer Science|access-date=2023-05-06}} and by the University of Waterloo in 2015.{{cite web|url=https://uwaterloo.ca/combinatorics-and-optimization/news/noga-alon-be-awarded-honorary-doctorate|title=Noga Alon to be awarded an Honorary Doctorate|publisher=University of Waterloo Department of Combinatorics and Optimization|date=2 June 2015|access-date=2023-05-06}}

In addition, Alon has been a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities since 1997.{{cite web|url=https://www.academy.ac.il/Index2/Entry.aspx?nodeId=809&entryId=18227|title=Noga Alon|publisher=Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities|work=Members|access-date=2023-05-05}} He was elected to the Academia Europaea in 2008.{{cite web|url=https://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Alon_Noga|title=Noga Alon|publisher=Academia Europaea|work=Members|access-date=2023-05-05}} In 2015 he was elected as a fellow of the American Mathematical Society.{{cite web|url=https://www.ams.org/profession/ams-fellows/new-fellows|title=2016 Class of the Fellows of the AMS|publisher=American Mathematical Society|access-date=2015-11-16}}. In 2017 he became a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery.{{cite journal|title=ACM Recognizes New Fellows|journal=Communications of the ACM|date=March 2017|volume=60|issue=3|page=23|doi=10.1145/3039921|s2cid=31701275 |last1=Cacm Staff }}. In 2019 he was named an honorary member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.{{cite web|url=https://physics.tau.ac.il/nogaalon|title=Prof. Noga Alon has been elected an Honorary member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences|date=8 September 2019|work=School of Mathematical Sciences Newsroom|publisher=Tel Aviv University|access-date=2023-05-06}}

References

External links

[http://www.math.tau.ac.il/~nogaa/ Noga Alon's home page]
[https://zbmath.org/authors/?q=ai:alon.noga Author profile] in the database zbMATH
{{Google scholar id|vOYl40wAAAAJ}}

Category:Living people

Category:Israel Prize in mathematics recipients

Category:Israel Defense Prize recipients

Category:Israeli computer scientists

Category:20th-century Israeli mathematicians

Category:21st-century Israeli mathematicians

Category:Combinatorialists

Category:Gödel Prize laureates

Category:EMET Prize recipients in the Exact Sciences

Category:Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars

Category:Einstein Institute of Mathematics alumni

Category:Hebrew Reali School alumni