Scienceדרור בר-נתן

Dror Bar-Natan

Dror Bar-Natan is an Israeli-Canadian mathematician and professor at the University of Toronto who works on knot theory and Khovanov homology.

born 1966Research on Khovanov homologyWork in knot theoryRefuting the Bible Code claims

Born: 30 January 1966, Israel
Occupation: mathematician, topologist, university teacher
Education: Princeton University, Tel Aviv University

Dror Bar-Natan was born in 1966 in Israel

Dror Bar-Natan was born on January 30, 1966, in Israel. He grew up in Kiryat Gat, the son of Naomi and Shaul Bar-Natan.

He completed a BSc in mathematics at Tel Aviv University in 1984. During his military service he taught mathematics in high schools. In 1987 he began studying at Princeton University and earned his PhD there in 1991 under physicist Edward Witten.

From 1991 to 1995 he taught at Harvard University. He then returned to Israel as an associate professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 2002 he moved to the University of Toronto, where he became a full professor in 2006.

His research covers knot theory, finite type invariants and Khovanov homology. In 1999 he coauthored a paper that refuted claims of hidden messages in the Bible made in The Bible Code. He served on the editorial board of the journal Compositio Mathematica until 2010.

He holds US, Israeli and Canadian citizenship and lives in Canada. At his Canadian citizenship ceremony on November 30, 2015, he renounced the oath of allegiance to royalty in front of the judge. He was married to mathematician Yael Karshon and has 2 sons.