Endre Szemerédi among 72 nationwide chosen for distinguished and continuing achievements in original research
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. –A Rutgers University computer science professor has been elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors an American scientist or engineer can achieve.
Endre Szemerédi, State of New Jersey Professor in the Department of Computer Science, School of Arts and Sciences, was among the 72 new members elected this year in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.
Szemerédi has been recognized for fundamental mathematical proofs that have been applied to several branches of mathematics and the field of computer science.
He received two prestigious awards in 2008: the Steele Prize from the American Mathematical Society and the Rolf Schock Prize in mathematics from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Both cited his 1975 proof on arithmetic progressions that solved a 1936 problem known as the Erdős-Turán conjecture. His proof, now known as Szemerédi’s theorem, has spurred advances in the mathematical specialties of combinatorics and number theory, along with their applications to computer science.
“I am pleased that the National Academy of Sciences has elected me to its membership,” said Szemerédi. “It is a great honor and distinction to be recognized by these scientific leaders.”
Born in Budapest, Hungary, Szemerédi studied at Eötvös Loránd University and earned his doctorate in mathematics at Moscow State University in 1970. His mentor there was the late Israel Gelfand, a world-renowned mathematician who later joined the Rutgers mathematics faculty. Szemerédi is also a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
“With a collection of remarkable mathematical results developed over a span of 40 years, Endre is truly a national treasure,” said Michael Littman, chair of the Department of Computer Science. “We’re delighted he has received this recognition and we’re proud to have him at Rutgers.”
The National Academy of Sciences is a private organization of scientists and engineers dedicated to the furtherance of science and its use for the general welfare. It was established in 1863 by a congressional act of incorporation signed by Abraham Lincoln that calls on the Academy to act as an official adviser to the federal government, upon request, in any matter of science or technology.
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