Israel Gelfand
Soviet mathematician
Cite this page
“Israel Gelfand.” thisDay, thisday.info/people/israel-gelfand/. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.
Israel Gelfand. (n.d.). thisDay. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://thisday.info/people/israel-gelfand/
“Israel Gelfand.” thisDay. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://thisday.info/people/israel-gelfand/.
Who was Israel Gelfand?
Israel Moiseevich Gelfand, also written Israïl Moyseyovich Gel'fand, or Izrail M. Gelfand (Yiddish: ישראל געלפֿאַנד, Russian: Изра́иль Моисе́евич Гельфа́нд, Ukrainian: Ізраїль Мойсейович Гельфанд; 2 September [O.S. 20 August] 1913 – 5 October 2009) was a prominent Soviet and American mathematician, one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century, biologist, teacher and organizer of mathematical education. The recipient of many awards, including the Order of Lenin and the first Wolf Prize, he was a Foreign Fellow of the Royal Society and professor at Moscow State University and, after immigrating to the United States shortly before his 76th birthday, at Rutgers University. Gelfand was born to a Jewish family in Okny, in the Kherson Governorate of the Russian Empire (now in Odesa Oblast, Ukraine). Gelfand is also a 1994 MacArthur Fellow.
Historical significance
He made significant contributions to many branches of mathematics, including group theory, representation theory and functional analysis. His legacy continues through his students, who include Endre Szemerédi, Alexandre Kirillov, Edward Frenkel, Joseph Bernstein, David Kazhdan, as well as his own son, Sergei Gelfand.
Cite this page
“Israel Gelfand.” thisDay, thisday.info/people/israel-gelfand/. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.
Israel Gelfand. (n.d.). thisDay. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://thisday.info/people/israel-gelfand/
“Israel Gelfand.” thisDay. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://thisday.info/people/israel-gelfand/.