Judea Pearl Wins 2011 Harvey Prize

Encino resident Judea Pearl, a UCLA computer science professor, has been awarded the 2011 Harvey Prize by the Technion Israel Institute of Technology. Pearl's son was , who was abducted and killed by members of al-Qaida in 2002.

The prize "rewards excellence by recognizing breakthroughs in science and technology," according to Technion's website.

Anat Rafaeli, the deputy senior vice president of Technion and its Harvey Prize coordinator, announced via an email to Pearl that he had been recognized for his work in the field of computer science:

Professor Emeritus Judea Pearl, through his wide-ranging and keen research, laid the theoretical foundations for knowledge representation and reasoning in computer science. His theories for inference under uncertainty, and most notably the Bayesian network approach, have profoundly influenced diverse fields such as artificial intelligence, statistics, philosophy, health, economics, social sciences, and cognitive sciences. The Harvey Prize is awarded to Prof. Pearl in recognition of his foundational work that has touched a multitude of spheres of modern life.

Patch contacted Judea Pearl to ask how he felt about winning the award. He responded in an email that he "felt truly honored."

"I am always proud to start my lectures by saying that I am a graduate of the Technion," he continued, "so, now, to be recognized by my own Alma Mater feels like giving back to someone I owe so much to."

Pearl said he plans to travel to Haifa, Israel, to accept the award in a ceremony scheduled for March 29.