Scienceגאורגי אדלסון-ולסקי

Georgy Adelson-Velsky

Georgy Adelson-Velsky was a Soviet and Israeli mathematician and computer scientist who co-invented the AVL tree in 1962.

1922 to 2014Co-inventing the AVL treeThe Kaissa computer chess programFirst use of bitboards

Born: 8 January 1922, Samara
Died: 26 April 2014, Givatayim
Occupation: mathematician, computer scientist
Education: MSU Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics, Lomonosov Moscow State University

Georgy Adelson-Velsky was born in 1922 in Samara

Adelson-Velsky was born in Samara to Maxim and Vera. He trained as a pure mathematician.

In 1945 his first paper, written with fellow student Alexander Kronrod, won a prize from the Moscow Mathematical Society. He and Kronrod were the last students of Nikolai Luzin. He received his doctorate in 1949 under Israel Gelfand.

In the late 1950s he turned to artificial intelligence and other applied fields. In 1962 he and Evgenii Landis invented the AVL tree, the first known balanced binary search tree. From 1963 he led work on a computer chess program at the Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics in Moscow, which later became Kaissa, the first world computer chess champion.

In August 1992 he moved to Israel and lived in Ashdod. He was a professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Bar-Ilan University. He died on 26 April 2014 and was survived by his wife, Ella Romano.

Georgy Adelson-Velsky's life in 8 milestones

1922
Born in Samara.
1945
His first paper, with Alexander Kronrod, won a Moscow Mathematical Society prize.
1949
Earned his doctorate under Israel Gelfand.
1962
Invented the AVL tree with Evgenii Landis.
1963
Began leading a computer chess program in Moscow.
1966
His program beat Kotok-McCarthy in the first match between chess programs.
1992
Moved to Israel and settled in Ashdod.
2014
Died in Israel.