News
Visiting Scholar Hanoch Gutfreund Receives Honorary Doctorate from Freie Universität Berlin
- Sep 1, 2021
- Institute News
- Dept. IMax Planck Research Program (GMPG)
- Hanoch Gutfreund
Visiting Scholar Hanoch Gutfreund has received an honorary doctorate from the Freie Universität Berlin (view recorded live-stream of the event here). MPIWG director Jürgen Renn, co-author of several books with Gutfreund, delivered a speech and biographical sketch at the ceremony; the Institute also held a colloquium in Gutfreund's honor on September 1, 2021.
Gutfreund received his PhD in Theoretical Physics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1966), and is Professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has held the Andre Aisenstadt Chair in Theoretical Physics since 1985 and has previously held various academic and administrative positions at the University, including Head of the Physics Institute, Head of the Advanced Studies Institute, Rector and President. He was among the initiators and founders of the Center for Neural Computation and is currently a member of the Center where he also teaches. Gutfreund is the Director of the Einstein Center and is the University's appointee responsible for Albert Einstein's intellectual property; he heads the executive committee of the Israel Science Foundation and is the chairperson of the "Basha'ar—Academic Community for Israeli Society" association.
Gutfreund’s project at the MPIWG's Research Program on the History of the Max Planck Society (GMPG) looks at the evolution of the MPG’s relation with Israeli scientific institutions in comparison with the development of MPG’s International Relations.