By Donald Gilpin

Noga Alon
(Photo by Sameer A. Khan)

Princeton University Professor Noga Alon has been awarded the 2024 Wolf Prize in Mathematics “for pioneering contributions to mathematical cryptography, combinatorics, and the theory of computer science.” And the 2024 Wolf Prize in Physics has been presented to Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) Trustee Emeritus Martin Rees, for his “fundamental contributions to high-energy astrophysics, galaxies and structure formation, and cosmology.”

Considered one of the most prestigious international awards for scientific and artistic achievement, the Wolf Prize, granted in Israel, includes a $100,000 monetary award. More than one-third of Wolf Prize recipients have gone on to receive a Nobel Prize, according to the Wolf Foundation.

A Princeton University press release describes Alon, who shares the mathematics award with Adi Shamir of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, as “one of the most prolific mathematicians in the world,” having published more than 850 papers, including papers on biology, economics, and neuroscience. In addition to his position at Princeton University, Alon has also been “a regular fixture” at IAS as a member and visitor in the School of Mathematics since 1993, according to an IAS press release.

“I am delighted and honored to be one of the recipients of the 2024 Wolf Prize,” said Alon. “I would like to thank Princeton University, which provided ideal research conditions, and I would also like to thank my teachers, students, collaborators, and family, who all played a major role in my success. I view the prize as a recognition of the central place of combinatorics and its applications in modern mathematics and related scientific areas, and I am happy that my work helped in the development of the subject.”

The Wolf Foundation award citation noted that Alon’s ”research and developments changed the face of the field” of mathematical cryptography, combinatorics, and computer science theory, creating “new concepts and original methods.”

Alon was born and grew up in Israel, and received his master’s and doctoral degrees at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the early 1980s. He has held visiting positions in various research institutions in the U.S. and Israel, and joined Tel Aviv University in 1985. He retired from Tel Aviv and moved to Princeton in 2018.

He continues to teach and supervise graduate students, and he serves on the editorial boards of more than a dozen international technical journals. He has given invited lectures at many conferences and has won numerous awards for his work.

Rees, a past member of IAS in the School of Natural Sciences as well as trustee emeritus, is described on the Wolf Prize website as “one of the most distinguished theoretical physicists of our time.”
The Wolf Foundation citation notes that Rees’ work has “shaped our deepest understanding of the universe,” enhancing physicists’ knowledge of the formation of the first stars and galaxies, the development and evolution of black holes at galactic centers, and the tidal disruption of stars near these black holes.

The Wolf Prize has been presented since 1978 with 382 scientists and artists selected by an international jury of experts and honored in the fields of agriculture, architecture, chemistry, mathematics, medicine, music, painting and sculpture, and physics.