Zvi Galil

Zvi Galil was born in 1947 in Tel Aviv

Galil was born in Tel Aviv in 1947. His father, the botanist Yaakov Galil, was later one of the founders of Tel Aviv University.

He earned a bachelor's degree in 1970 and a master's degree in 1971 in applied mathematics at Tel Aviv University, both with highest honors. In 1975 he received a Ph.D. in computer science from Cornell University under John Hopcroft. He then did postdoctoral work at IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center.

From 1976 to 1995 he worked in the computer science department at Tel Aviv University, and he joined Columbia University in 1982. At Columbia he chaired the computer science department from 1989 to 1994 and was dean of engineering from 1995 to 2007. His research covers algorithms, especially for strings and graphs, complexity and cryptography.

In 2007 he became president of Tel Aviv University and resigned in 2009 after disagreements with the university's board. The State Comptroller examined the end of his term and published findings in 2010.

From 2010 to 2019 he was dean of the College of Computing at Georgia Tech, where he led the creation of an online master's program in computer science with Sebastian Thrun. He is married to the marine biologist Bella Galil, and they have a son.