Abraham Ginzburg (1926–2020) was a

Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

of Computer Science. He served as Vice President of the Technion Institute, and President of the

Open University of Israel The Open University of Israel ( he, האוניברסיטה הפתוחה, ''Ha-Universita ha-Ptuha'') is a distance-education university in Israel. It is one of ten public universities in Israel recognized by the Council of Higher Education (CH ...

Biography

Ginzburg was born on 1 August 1926 in

Navahrudak Novogrudok ( be, Навагрудак, Navahrudak; lt, Naugardukas; pl, Nowogródek; russian: Новогрудок, Novogrudok; yi, נאַוואַראַדאָק, Novhardok, Navaradok) is a town in the Grodno Region, Belarus. In the Middle A ...

, Belarus. He began acquiring his education during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, after which he taught the children of

Sh'erit ha-Pletah Sh'erit ha-Pletah is a Hebrew term for Jewish Holocaust survivors living in Displaced Persons (DP) camps, and the organisations they created to act on their behalf with the Allied authorities. These were active between 27 May 1945 and 1950–51, ...

mathematics. In 1949, Ginzburg immigrated to Israel, and began studying in the

Technion Faculty of Electrical Engineering The Technion Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering is an academic faculty of the Technion founded in 1947 before the State of Israel which focuses on the training of electrical engineers and computer engineers in various disciplines i ...

, where he received his

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

. Three years later, he acquired a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

and in 1959, he received his PhD in mathematics, and was appointed lecturer in the Faculty of Mathematics of the Technion. During 1965–1967, he served as a

visiting lecturer In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

, in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. Upon returning to Israel in 1967, he was appointed

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. Overview In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a ...

of Mathematics in the Technion Institute, and in 1971 to a Professor of Computer Science. Ginzburg founded the Department of computer science in the Technion, and served as its first

head of department A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...

. Later, he served as the vice president of development of the Technion. In 1976, Ginzburg took part in the formation of the

, as its vice president, and from 1977 until 1987 served as its president Ginzburg received an Honorary degree from the UK Open University in 1988, an

Honorary PhD An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

from the

Weizmann Institute The Weizmann Institute of Science ( he, מכון ויצמן למדע ''Machon Vaitzman LeMada'') is a public research university in Rehovot, Israel, established in 1934, 14 years before the State of Israel. It differs from other Israeli univ ...

in 1990, and, in 2002 was awarded a Rotary Prize for the promotion of

higher education in Israel The education system in Israel consists of three tiers: primary education (grades 1–6, approximately ages 6–12), middle school (grades 7–9, approximately ages 12–15) and high school (grades 10–12, approximately ages 15–19). Compulsory ...

. Ginzburg was married to Pnina, and was a father of five.

Research

Ginzburg completed his PhD in mathematics in the year 1959. The thesis title was "Multiplicative Systems as Homomorphic Images of Square Sets", and was done under the supervision of Prof.

Dov Tamari Dov Tamari (29 April 1911 – 11 August 2006), born Bernhard Teitler, was a mathematician. Born in Fulda, Germany, he left for the British Mandate for Palestine in 1933. He was known for his work in logic and combinatorics, and the Tamari lattic ...

. During the early '60s, Ginzburg was involved in research in basic

group theory In abstract algebra, group theory studies the algebraic structures known as group (mathematics), groups. The concept of a group is central to abstract algebra: other well-known algebraic structures, such as ring (mathematics), rings, field ...

graph theory In mathematics, graph theory is the study of ''graphs'', which are mathematical structures used to model pairwise relations between objects. A graph in this context is made up of '' vertices'' (also called ''nodes'' or ''points'') which are conne ...

and

automata An automaton (; plural: automata or automatons) is a relatively self-operating machine, or control mechanism designed to automatically follow a sequence of operations, or respond to predetermined instructions.Automaton – Definition and More ...

, and frequently collaborated with Michael Yoeli. In 1961, Ginzburg, in collaboration with

Paul Erdős Paul Erdős ( hu, Erdős Pál ; 26 March 1913 – 20 September 1996) was a Hungarian mathematician. He was one of the most prolific mathematicians and producers of mathematical conjectures of the 20th century. pursued and proposed problems in ...

and

Abraham Ziv Abraham Ziv (–) was an Israeli mathematician, known for his contributions to the Zero-sum problem as one of the discoverers of the Erdős–Ginzburg–Ziv theorem. Biography Abraham Zubkowski (later Ziv) was born in Avihayil to Haim and Zila Z ...

, proved the Erdős-Ginzburg-Ziv Theorem. This Theorem is an important result in

Abelian group In mathematics, an abelian group, also called a commutative group, is a group in which the result of applying the group operation to two group elements does not depend on the order in which they are written. That is, the group operation is commut ...

theory, and is cited to this day. In 1968, Ginzburg published his book "Algebraic Theory of Automata". Ginzburg also invested a lot of time in writing several

Textbook A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions. Schoolbooks are textboo ...

s in mathematics, for high school and first degree Mathematics and Engineering students.

References

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External links

CS Founder Prof. Avraham Ginzburg Passed Away
at the Technion site. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ginzburg, Abraham 1926 births 2020 deaths Technion – Israel Institute of Technology alumni Technion – Israel Institute of Technology faculty Open University of Israel faculty