July 15, 2019
Thomas A. Henzinger receives prestigious EATCS award for lifetime contributions to computer science
Renowned computer scientist and president of the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria) has been honored for his extensive contributions to computer science by the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science (EATCS).
PATRAS, GREECE — President of Austria’s Institute of Science and Technology (IST Austria), Professor Thomas A. Henzinger, received the 2019 European Association for Theoretical Computer Science (EATCS) Award for his “fundamental contributions to the theory and practice of formal verification and synthesis of reactive, real-time, and hybrid computer systems, and to the application of formal methods to biological systems.” The award recognizes significant contributions to the field of theoretical computer science over a life-long career and is considered one of the top awards within the theoretical computer science community.
The award was officially presented at the main conference of the EATCS, the 46th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages and Programming (ICALP 2019) in Patras, Greece, on Thursday, July 11, 2019.
Tom Henzinger on receiving the EATCS Award: ”It is a great honor to get selected by one’s peers from the scientific community to receive a prestigious award. The European Association for Theoretical Computer Science is the main European organization for advancing research in algorithms, computational complexity, and models of computation. I also want to take this opportunity to thank all my students and collaborators of the last 30 years.”
Scientific career and achievements
Thomas A. Henzinger was born in Linz, Austria. He received his diploma in Computer Science from Johannes Kepler University in Linz and a PhD degree in Computer Science from Stanford University (1991). He held prestigious positions around the world, including a directorship at the Max Planck Institute for Computer Science in Saarbrücken, Germany, a professorship of Computer and Communication Sciences at EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland, and a professorship of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California in Berkeley, USA.
In 2009, Thomas A. Henzinger was appointed the first president of IST Austria and, within the past ten years, has led the Institute to global success: During Henzinger’s third consecutive term in office, IST Austria was ranked second among the world’s top research institutions by Nature Index in June 2019 (normalized ranking).
Professor Henzinger’s research focuses on the design and verification of reliable software, hardware, and embedded systems. Besides many other distinctions, he received the Milner Award of the Royal Society, the Wittgenstein Award of the Austrian Science Fund, and an Advanced Investigator Grant of the European Research Council (ERC).
