AP
Technology & Engineering

Amir Pnueli

Who

Amir Pnueli · Technology & Engineering

What

Israeli Turing Award laureate (1996) who introduced temporal logic for verifying computer programs

When

1941, Nahalal, British Mandate of Palestine (now Israel) — 2009, New York City, USA

Where

Israel (Weizmann Institute · Tel Aviv University) · United States (New York University)

Biography

Amir Pnueli is recognized among Israeli contributors to Technology & Engineering — Israeli Turing Award laureate (1996) who introduced temporal logic for verifying computer programs

How & why

An Israeli-born Jew raised on the moshav of Nahalal, Pnueli originally studied mathematics at the Technion before turning to computer science. In a landmark 1977 paper he introduced temporal logic — a formal language of 'always' and 'eventually' — as a rigorous way to specify and verify how concurrent and reactive programs behave over time. This work founded the field of formal verification and earned him the 1996 Turing Award; it matters because it lets engineers mathematically prove that critical software will not fail.

Sources & external links

Verify and go deeper with these external references.

Source: Jinfo.org — Jewish recipients of the Turing Award

Contributions & Sources

Israeli Turing Award laureate (1996) who introduced temporal logic for verifying computer programs

1996

Source: Jinfo.org — Jewish recipients of the Turing Award