ISRAEL - Professors Receive EU Grants
Fourteen researchers from Israeli universities have been awarded prestigious Advanced Grants by the European Research Council (ERC), it was announced.
The EU-funded research grants are each worth approximately 2.5 million euros ($2.68 million), disbursed over five years, with an additional 1 million euros ($1.07 million) available in certain cases.
The grants are “among the most prestigious and competitive research grants offered by the European Union. These grants provide seasoned researchers with the opportunity to pursue ambitious projects capable of catalyzing significant scientific breakthroughs,” the Hebrew University said in a statement announcing its three winners.
The Hebrew University recipients were Prof. David Kazhdan, from the Einstein Institute of Mathematics; Prof. Nathan (Nati) Linial, from the Benin School of Computer Science and Engineering, the Einstein Institute of Mathematics, and the Federman Center for the Study of Rationality; and Prof. Maren R. Niehoff, Max Cooper chair of Jewish Thought in the Faculty of Humanities.
In their announcement, the Hebrew University noted that Prof. David Kazhdan was honored for “his research on uncovering hidden symmetries across various mathematical fields and exploring their applications. His work aims to illuminate unexpected connections between disparate mathematical theories and leverage these symmetries to solve intricate problems.”
The other Hebrew University mathematician awarded the prize, Prof. Nathan (Nati) Linial, researches error-correcting codes. “All communication, whether among humans or machines, is susceptible to external noise. In his research, Linial and his students have developed mathematical methods employing analysis, optimization, and combinatorics to analyze the optimal balance between the rate of an error-correction code and how many errors it can correct,” the announcement notice said.
Linial, a friendly, enthusiastic man, was wearing a Petaluma T-shirt when he was contacted via Zoom in a classroom, for the small California town where he helped develop the “Petaluma model” for knot theory, one aspect of the mathematical theories he researches.
The third Hebrew University grant was awarded to Prof. Maren R. Niehoff, a historian of ancient Judaism and surrounding cultures, for “her research on the interface between Judaism and Greco-Roman culture, with a particular focus on the influence of Rome. Her work delves into how Judaism evolved within the Roman Empire from philosophical, legal, and literary perspectives, uncovering parallel transformations among the Greeks and Christians,” the notice said.
Reached by phone, Niehoff explained that “the main point of the project is to create a new language about the understanding between Jews, Greeks, Christians, Romans and Latin speakers” in the ancient world.
“The assumption of the project is that Rome played a vital role” as an imperial, colonizing force, not only influencing the myriad cultures under the empire but being influenced by them in turn, she explained.
-www.timesofisrael.com, 11 April 2024
Arno's Commentary
These prestigious awards recognize the outstanding achievements of Jewish professors. Actually, it’s not surprising: a Google search reveals that from the 965 individual Nobel Prize recipients between 1901 to 2023, at least 214 were Jews, representing 22% of all recipients. That is virtually mind-blowing when considering that the world Jewish population of 15.7 million makes up only about 0.2%.
It’s another undeniable proof that the Jew is different, just as the Word of God proclaims: “For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth” (Deuteronomy 14:2).
Arno Froese is the executive director of Midnight Call Ministries and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed prophetic magazines Midnight Call and News From Israel. He has authored a number of well-received books, and has sponsored many prophecy conferences in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. His extensive travels have contributed to his keen insight into Bible prophecy, as he sees it from an international perspective.
