David Harel ( he, דוד הראל; born 12 April 1950) is a computer scientist, currently serving as President of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. He has been on the faculty of the Weizmann Institute of Science in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

since 1980, and holds the William Sussman Professorial Chair of Mathematics. Born in London, England, he was Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science at the institute for seven years.

Biography

Harel is best known for his work on dynamic logic,

computability Computability is the ability to solve a problem in an effective manner. It is a key topic of the field of computability theory within mathematical logic and the theory of computation within computer science. The computability of a problem is close ...

, database theory,

software engineering Software engineering is a systematic engineering approach to software development. A software engineer is a person who applies the principles of software engineering to design, develop, maintain, test, and evaluate computer software. The term '' ...

and modelling biological systems. In the 1980s he invented the graphical language of

Statechart A state diagram is a type of diagram used in computer science and related fields to describe the behavior of systems. State diagrams require that the system described is composed of a finite number of states; sometimes, this is indeed the case, ...

s for specifying and programming reactive systems, which has been adopted as part of the UML standard. Since the late 1990s he has concentrated on a scenario-based approach to programming such systems, launched by his co-invention (with W. Damm) of Live Sequence Charts. He has published expository accounts of computer science, such as his award winning 1987 book "Algorithmics: The Spirit of Computing" and his 2000 book "Computers Ltd.: What They ''Really'' Can’t do", and has presented series on computer science for Israeli radio and television. He has also worked on other diverse topics, such as graph layout, computer science education, biological modeling and the analysis and communication of

odors An odor (American English) or odour (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is caused by one or more volatilized chemical compounds that are generally found in low concentrations that humans and animals can perceive via their sense ...

. Harel completed his PhD at MIT between 1976 and 1978. In 1987, he co-founded the software company

I-Logix I-Logix was a leading provider of Collaborative Model driven development (MDD) solutions for systems design through software development focused on real-time embedded applications. Founded in 1987, the Andover, Massachusetts-based company product ...

, which in 2006 became part of IBM. He has advocated building a full computer model of the

Caenorhabditis elegans ''Caenorhabditis elegans'' () is a free-living transparent nematode about 1 mm in length that lives in temperate soil environments. It is the type species of its genus. The name is a blend of the Greek ''caeno-'' (recent), ''rhabditis'' (ro ...

nematode, which was the first multicellular organism to have its genome completely sequenced. The eventual completeness of such a model depends on his updated version of the

Turing test The Turing test, originally called the imitation game by Alan Turing in 1950, is a test of a machine's ability to artificial intelligence, exhibit intelligent behaviour equivalent to, or indistinguishable from, that of a human. Turing propos ...

. He is a fellow of the

ACM ACM or A.C.M. may refer to: Aviation * AGM-129 ACM, 1990–2012 USAF cruise missile * Air chief marshal * Air combat manoeuvring or dogfighting * Air cycle machine * Arica Airport (Colombia) (IATA: ACM), in Arica, Amazonas, Colombia Computing * ...

, the

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

, the

AAAS AAAS may refer to: * American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a learned society and center for policy research; the publisher of the journal ''Dædalus'' * American Association for the Advancement of Science, an organization that supports scientifi ...

, and the

EATCS The European Association for Theoretical Computer Science (EATCS) is an international organization with a European focus, founded in 1972. Its aim is to facilitate the exchange of ideas and results among theoretical computer scientists as well as ...

, and a member of several international academies. Harel is active in a number of peace and human rights organizations in Israel.

Awards and honors

* 1986

Stevens Award The Stevens Award is a software engineering lecture award given by the Reengineering Forum, an industry association. The international Stevens Award was created to recognize outstanding contributions to the literature or practice of methods for s ...

for Software Development Methods * 1992 ACM Karlstrom Outstanding Educator AwardDavid Harel – Award Winner
ACM. Retrieved 2 January 2015. * 1994 ACM Fellow * 1995 IEEE Fellow * 2004

Israel Prize The Israel Prize ( he, פרס ישראל; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History The Israel Prize is awarded annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state cer ...

, for computer science * 2005 Doctor Honoris Causa, University of Rennes, France * 2006 ACM SIGSOFT Outstanding Research Award * 2006 Member of the Academia EuropaeaMember profile
Academia Europaea. Retrieved 2 January 2015. * 2006 Doctor (Laura) Honoris Causa, University of Milano-Bicocca, 18 May 2006 * 2006 Fellow Honoris Causa, Open University of Israel * 2007

ACM Software System Award The ACM Software System Award is an annual award that honors people or an organization "for developing a software system that has had a lasting influence, reflected in contributions to concepts, in commercial acceptance, or both". It is awarded b ...

* 2010

Emet Prize The EMET Prize for Art, Science and Culture is an Israeli prize awarded annually for excellence in academic and professional achievements that have far-reaching influence and make a significant contribution to society. Prizes are awarded in the fol ...

* 2010 Member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities * 2012 Doctor Honoris Causa, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands * 2014 International Member of the US National Academy of EngineeringMember profile
National Academy of Engineering. Retrieved 2 January 2015. * 2014 International Honorary Member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

Newly elected members
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, April 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2015. * 2019 International Member of the US

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

. * 2020 Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

(FRS) *2021 Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences

References

External links

David Harel
s home page at the Weizmann Institute of Science.
David Harel
s page at the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. {{DEFAULTSORT:Harel, David 1950 births Living people Mathematicians from London Israeli computer scientists Israel Prize in computer sciences recipients Israeli Jews Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery Fellow Members of the IEEE Fellows of the Royal Society Formal methods people Graph drawing people Members of Academia Europaea Systems biologists Software engineering researchers Unified Modeling Language Weizmann Institute of Science faculty Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Foreign associates of the National Academy of Engineering Foreign members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences

Biography

Awards and honors

See also

References

External links