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Citation
A brilliant expositor, he has exposed laymen to deep computer science concepts
through his widely acclaimed book Algorithmics, the Spirit of Computing (1987) and through numerous
lectures to a variety of audiences. His work on Israeli national councils and ministerial committees
is profoundly influencing curricula at both the high-school and university level.
Full Citation
Dr. Harel, who works in computability and complexity, program logics, database
theory and system specification, has been called that "rare animal: the well-
respected researcher who is able to communicate the essence of his work to a lay
audience." He has used this ability throughout his career to promote computer
science and computer science education.
In 1984-85, he delivered a widely acclaimed series of popular lectures on the
fundamentals of computer science on an Israeli national radio channel. In the
past ten years, he has given over 350 lectures of a popular and expository
nature, explaining to people from all field the essence of topics such as system
design, algorithms, computational complexity, NP-completeness, cryptography and
undecidability.
Dr. Harel has devoted a great deal of his time to furthering computer science
education. He has served as the youngest member of the Israeli National Council
of Higher Education. He is a force on the Israeli Ministry of Education
Committee on Computer Science, which is preparing a completely new curriculum
for high-school computer science studies. And he has been instrumental in the
development of new courses at the Open University of Israel.
Dr. Harel's crowning educational achievement is his book Algorithmics, the
Spirit of Computing (1987), an exposition for the lay reader of the
fundamental concepts of computer science. Without sacrificing intellectual
integrity, Algorithmics conveys to the general reader basic notions of
algorithms and their analysis, computability and complexity, probabilistic
algorithms, concurrency, cryptography, and other important areas of computer
science. Algorithmics is helping the world to reach a better
understanding of computer science.
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