Haim Sompolinsky

Professor Haim Sompolinsky is Professor of Physics at the Racah Institute of Physics and the William N. Skirball Professor of Neuroscience at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has also been a visiting professor at Harvard University, Center for Neural Systems and Courant Institute, NYU, and Bell Laboratories. Sompolinsky is a member of the Executive Board of Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences in Hebrew University, Steering Committee at the Center for Brain Science in Harvard University, USA Society for Neuroscience, Israel Society for Neuroscience, and Federation of European Neuroscience Societies. He also co-founded Hebrew University's Interdisciplinary Center for Neural Computation (ICNC) and served as its Director. ICNC is a world-renowned center for research and education in computational neuroscience, comprising 25 laboratories and 70 graduate students. It was twice awarded the EU Center of Excellence grant. He has led the movement to introduce the sophisticated mathematical techniques of theoretical physics into neuroscience, covering the spectrum of theoretical neuroscience. Additionally, Sompolinksy has used statistical physics techniques to solve an influential memory model and constructed a model of the primary visual cortex. His papers on network dynamics should lead to major new insights. Some of his notable awards include the Hebrew University Presidential Award, Landau Prize for Brain Science, and Swartz Prize.