Hebrew University professor Harry Furstenberg is to be awarded the 2007 Wolf Prize in Mathematics. The announcement was made yesterday by Minister of Education, Prof. Yuli Tamir, who is the chairperson of the Wolf Foundation Council.

Furstenberg was chosen "for his profound contributions to ergodic theory, probability, topological dynamics, analysis on symmetric spaces and homogenous flows."

Born in Germany in 1935, Furstenberg received his Ph.D. from Princeton University. Since 1965, he has been a professor of mathematics at the Hebrew University. Furstenberg is a recipient of the Israel Prize and is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the National Academy of Sciences in the United States.

The Israel-based Wolf Foundation was established by the late German-born inventor, diplomat and philanthropist, Dr. Ricardo Wolf. Five annual prizes of $100,000 in each area have been awarded since 1978 to outstanding scientists and artists"for achievements in the interest of mankind and friendly relations among peoples." To date, a total of 232 scientists and artists from 22 countries have been honored.

Furstenberg will share the prize with Prof. Stephen J. Smale of the University of California, Berkeley. The prize will be presented by the president of the State of Israel at a special ceremony in the Knesset on Sunday, May 13, 2007.


For further information:
Rebecca Zeffert, Dept. of Media Relations, the Hebrew University, Tel: 02-588-1641, or Orit Sulitzeanu, Hebrew University spokesperson, Tel: 02-5882910 or 052-260-8016. Internet site: http://media.huji.ac.il.