Two Israeli mathematicians are among eight scientists named recipients of the 2026 Wolf Prize, the Wolf Foundation announced at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem on Thursday evening.
Hebrew University of Jerusalem Prof. David Kazhdan and Tel Aviv University Prof. Joseph Bernstein will jointly receive the Wolf Prize in Mathematics for their foundational work in representation theory, automorphic forms and algebraic geometry and their role in creating geometric representation theory.
The Wolf Prize, presented annually by the president of Israel on behalf of the Wolf Foundation, recognizes scientists and artists from around the world for achievements benefiting humanity. This year’s prizes were awarded in medicine, physics, chemistry and mathematics.
The eight laureates will receive their awards at a ceremony at the Knesset in Jerusalem in June 2027.
In medicine, the prize went to Chilean-born Prof. Charles S. Zuker of Columbia University for revolutionizing scientists’ understanding of taste.
Zuker’s research identified cells and receptors involved in detecting the five basic tastes—sweet, bitter, salty, sour and umami—and helped explain how that information is transmitted to and represented in the brain.
The physics prize was awarded jointly to German physicist Prof. Immanuel Bloch of the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and Chinese-born physicist Prof. Jun Ye of the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology.
The foundation cited the pair for “transformative, widely applicable advances in the control of ultracold atomic systems.”
Bloch helped establish ultracold atoms as a platform for simulating complex quantum systems, while Ye has pioneered the development of highly accurate optical atomic clocks, enabling extraordinarily precise measurements of time and frequency.
The Wolf Prize in Chemistry was awarded jointly to Indian-born Prof. Shankar Balasubramanian and British Prof. David Klenerman, both of the University of Cambridge, and French scientist Prof. Pascal Mayer.
The three were honored for developing low-cost, large-scale DNA sequencing methods used in genomic medicine. Their work helped lay the foundations for next-generation sequencing, which allows millions of DNA fragments to be read simultaneously.
The technology dramatically increased sequencing speed while lowering its cost and has become important in areas including cancer research, genetic diagnosis and precision medicine.
Kazhdan and Bernstein were recognized for work that established new connections among algebra, geometry and analysis and helped create geometric representation theory.
The concepts and tools they developed have become central to modern mathematical research, including group theory and the Langlands program, according to the foundation.
The laureates were announced in the presence of Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Prof. Osnat Luxenburg, acting chair of the Wolf Foundation Council.
Established in 1978, the Wolf Prize is considered one of the world’s leading international awards in science and the arts. Many Wolf Prize recipients have subsequently received Nobel Prizes.
