| Yakov G. Sinai | |
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Yakov G. Sinai
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| Born | September 21, 1935 Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Residence | Princeton, New Jersey, United States |
| Nationality | Russian / American |
| Fields | Mathematician |
| Institutions | Moscow State University, Princeton University |
| Alma mater | Moscow State University |
| Doctoral advisor | Andrey Kolmogorov |
| Doctoral students | Leonid Bunimovich Grigory Margulis Leonid Polterovich Marina Ratner |
| Known for | works on dynamical systems, mathematical and statistical physics, probability theory, mathematical fluid dynamics |
| Notable awards | Boltzmann Medal (1986) Dannie Heineman Prize (1990) Dirac Prize (1992) Wolf Prize (1997) Nemmers Prize (2002) Henri Poincaré Prize (2009) |
Yakov Grigorevich Sinai (Russian: Я́ков Григо́рьевич Сина́й; born September 21, 1935) is an influential mathematician working in the theory of dynamical systems, in mathematical physics and in probability theory. His work has shaped the modern metric theory of dynamical systems (also often called after Kolmogorov the theory of stochasticity of dynamical systems). Sinai has created bridges connecting the world of deterministic (dynamical) systems with the world of probabilistic (stochastic) systems.
Sinai was born in Moscow, Soviet Union (now Russia) into a family that played a prominent role in Russia's scientific and cultural life since the nineteenth century. His grandfather Veniamin Kagan was a Russian geometer, and Sinai's parents were prominent researchers in the medical and biological sciences.
Yakov Sinai received his Ph.D. from Moscow State University in 1960; his advisor was Andrey Kolmogorov. In 1971 he became a Professor at Moscow State University and a senior researcher at the Landau Institute of Theoretical Physics. Since 1993 he has been a Professor of Mathematics at Princeton University.
Sinai is a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences, Russian Academy of Sciences and others. Among his awards are the Boltzmann Medal (1986), Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics (1990), Dirac Medal (1992), the Wolf Prize in Mathematics (1997), Nemmers Prize (2002), and the Henri Poincaré Prize (2009). Sinai has worked, among other topics, on Kolmogorov–Sinai entropy, Sinai Billiards, Sinai's random walk, Sinai–Ruelle–Bowen measures, Pirogov–Sinai theory.
Sinai is highly respected in the physics community, where, as well as in mathematics, Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy, Sinai's billiards, Sinai's random walk, Sinai-Ruelle-Bowen measures, Pirogov-Sinai theory and his other achievements are basic notions that shaped the understanding of many fundamental physical phenomena.