Christos Papadimitriou is a leading figure in the Theory of Computation, a winner of the G?del Prize in 2012 and the Knuth Prize in 2002.  His research is on the foundations of algorithms and complexity, and their connections to various fields: databases, optimization, control theory, artificial intelligence and robotics, economics and game theory, and the theory of evolution.  Professor Papadimitriou is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is currently the C. Lester Hogan Professor of Computer Science and Senior Scientist of the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing, at the University of California at Berkeley.

Computational research transforms the sciences (physical, mathematical, life or social) not just by instrumenting them and empowering them analytically, but also by providing a novel and powerful perspective, which often leads to unforeseen insights.  Examples abound: quantum computation provides the right forum for questioning and testing some of the most basic tenets of quantum physics, while statistical mechanics has found in the efficiency of randomized algorithms a powerful metaphor for phase transitions.  The P vs. NP question has joined the list of the most profound and consequential open problems in Mathematics, while considerations of computational complexity force us to revisit the most basic concepts of modern economic thought, such as the Nash equilibrium. And in biology some of the most fundamental problems, such as understanding of the role of sex in evolution, can be productively recast in computational terms.