Gödel Prize - 2008 |
The Gödel Prize for outstanding papers in the area of theoretical computer science is sponsored jointly by the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science (EATCS) and the Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Algorithms and Computation Theory (ACM-SIGACT). This award is presented annually, with the presentation taking place alternately at the International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP) and the ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing (STOC). The sixteenth presentation will take place during ICALP 2008, Reykjavik, Iceland, July 6 to 13, 2008. The Prize is named in honor of Kurt Gödel in recognition of his major contributions to mathematical logic and of his interest, discovered in a letter he wrote to John von Neumann shortly before Neumann's death, in what has become the famous "P versus NP" question. The Prize includes an award of $ 5.000 (USD).
The winner of the Prize is selected by a committee of six members. The EATCS President and the SIGACT Chair each appoint three members to the committee, to serve staggered three-year terms. The committee is chaired alternately by representatives of EATCS and SIGACT, with the 2008 Chair (Volker Diekert) being a EATCS representative. The 2008 Award Committee consists of Volker Diekert (Universität Stuttgart), Shafi Goldwasser (MIT and Weizmann Institute), Johan Håstad (KTH Stockholm), Jean-Pierre Jouannaud (Ecole Polytechnique and Universite Paris-Sud), Christos Papadimitriou (UC Berkeley), and Colin Stirling (University of Edinburgh).
(The last change of rules goes back to the 2005 Prize.) Any research paper or series of papers by a single author or by a team of authors is deemed eligible if the paper was published in a recognized refereed journal before nomination but the main results were not published (in either preliminary or final form) in a journal or conference proceedings before 1994. Hence, if JP (respectively CP) is the journal publication date (respectively the conference proceedings date) of a nominated paper, and if n denotes the year of the next Award (here n = 2008) then the following constraints should be respected:
JP <= (January 31, n) and min(JP,CP) >= (January 1, (n - 13))
Here, choosing n-13 is meant as a recognition of the fact that the value of fundamental work cannot always be immediately assessed, and CP is taken into account because a conference publication often is the most effective means of bringing new results to the attention of the community.
The research work nominated for the award should be in the area of theoretical computer science. The term 'theoretical computer science' is meant to encompass, but is not restricted to, those areas covered by ICALP and STOC. Nominations are encouraged from the broadest spectrum of the theoretical computer science community so as to ensure that potential award-winning papers are not overlooked. The Award Committee shall have the ultimate authority to decide whether a particular paper is eligible for the Prize.
Nominations for the award should be submitted to the Award Committee Chair at the following address:
Volker Diekert Institute of Formal Methods in Computer Science Universität Stuttgart Universitätsstraße 38 70569 Stuttgart, Germany email: diekert@informatik.uni-stuttgart.de tel: ++49 711 7816329 fax: ++49 711 7816310
To be considered, nominations for the 2008 prize must be received by January 31, 2008. Nominations may be made by any member of the scientific community. A nomination should contain a brief summary of the technical content of the paper(s) and a brief explanation of its significance. A copy of the research paper or papers should accompany the nomination. The nomination must state the date and venue of the first conference publication or state that no such publication has occurred. If at all possible, we request that the nomination letter and nominated paper(s) be transmitted via email.
The work may be in any language. However, if it is not in English, a more extended summary written in English should be enclosed. Additional recommendations in favor of the nominated work may also be enclosed. To be considered for the award, the paper or series of papers must be recommended by at least two individuals, either in the form of two distinct nominations or one nomination including recommendations from two different people.
Those intending to submit a nomination are encouraged to contact the Award Committee Chair by email well in advance. The Subject line of all related messages should begin with "Goedel08".
Although the Award Committee is encouraged to consult with the theoretical computer science community at large, the Award Committee is solely responsible for the selection of the winner of the award. The prize may be shared by more than one paper or series of papers, and the Award Committee reserves the right to declare no winner at all. All matters relating to the selection process that are not specified here are left to the discretion of the Award Committee.
The list of past winners can be found here.