Theoretical computer science

On May 1, 2004, the world of theoretical computer science su? ered a stunning loss: Shimon Even passed away. Few computer scientists have had as long, s- tained, and in? uential a career as Shimon. Shimon Even was born in Tel-Aviv in 1935. He received a B. Sc. in Elect- cal Engineering from the Technion in 1959, an M. A. in Mathematics from the University of Northern Carolina in 1961, and a Ph. D. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University in 1963. He held positions at the Technion (1964–67 and 1974–2003), Harvard University (1967–69), the Weizmann Institute (1969– 74), and the Tel-Aviv Academic College (2003-04). He visited many universities and research institutes, including Bell Laboratories, Boston University, Cornell, Duke, Lucent Technologies, MIT, Paderborn, Stanford, UC-Berkeley, USC and UT-Dallas. Shimon Even played a major role in establishing computer science education in Israel and led the development of academic programs in two major insti- tions: the Weizmann Institute and the Technion. In 1969 he established at the Weizmann the ? rst computer science education program in Israel, and led this program for ? ve years. In 1974 he joined the newly formed computer science department at the Technion and shaped its academic development for several decades. These two academic programs turned out to have a lasting impact on the evolution of computer science in Israel.