David Kazhdan
A mathematician whose profound insights into symmetry and structure reshaped modern representation theory and influenced physics.
Born 1946 (age 80)·Soviet-Israeli mathematician·Birthday: June 20·Baby Boomers
Biography
David Kazhdan defined Kazhdan's property (T) in 1967, a concept that classifies groups by how they act on Hilbert spaces. Property (T) became essential in geometric group theory and ergodic theory, used to prove rigidity results for lattices in Lie groups. Kazhdan was born in Moscow in 1946 and trained in the Soviet mathematical school. He emigrated to Israel in the 1970s and joined Harvard University in 1993. At Harvard he supervised doctoral students who later became leading mathematicians. Kazhdan collaborated extensively with George Lusztig to develop the Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials, which connect representation theory to algebraic geometry and the topology of flag varieties. His papers are known for technical precision and original insights that open new lines of inquiry. Kazhdan received the Wolf Prize in Mathematics in 2020 for his contributions to representation theory and algebraic groups.
Baby Boomers
1946–1964
The largest generation in history at the time. Shaped by postwar prosperity, the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and Watergate. They questioned every institution their parents built — then ran them.
David was born in 1946, placing them squarely in the Baby Boomers. The events that shaped this generation — postwar prosperity, civil rights, Vietnam, and the counterculture — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When David Was Born
The biggest hits of 1946
#1 Movie
The Best Years of Our Lives
Best Picture
The Best Years of Our Lives
David's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1946Born
United Nations holds its first General Assembly
Gas: $0.21/galHome: $5,150Min wage: $0.40/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Prisoner of Love" — Perry ComoBest Picture: The Best Years of Our Lives
1951Started school
First color TV broadcast in the US
Gas: $0.27/galHome: $7,925Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Too Young" — Nat King ColeBest Picture: An American in Paris
1959Became a teenager
Fidel Castro takes power in Cuba
Gas: $0.30/galHome: $12,400Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"The Battle of New Orleans" — Johnny HortonBest Picture: Ben-Hur
1962Could drive
Cuban Missile Crisis brings the world to the brink
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $12,800Min wage: $1.15/hrPresident: John F. Kennedy"Stranger on the Shore" — Acker BilkBest Picture: Lawrence of Arabia
1964Could vote
Civil Rights Act signed; Beatles arrive in America
Gas: $0.30/galHome: $13,450Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"I Want to Hold Your Hand" — The BeatlesBest Picture: My Fair Lady
1967Turned 21
Summer of Love in San Francisco; first Super Bowl
Gas: $0.33/galHome: $14,250Min wage: $1.40/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"To Sir, with Love" — LuluBest Picture: In the Heat of the Night
1976Turned 30
Apple Computer founded; US bicentennial
Gas: $0.59/galHome: $29,300Min wage: $2.30/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"Silly Love Songs" — WingsBest Picture: Rocky
1986Turned 40
Challenger disaster; Chernobyl nuclear meltdown
Gas: $0.86/galHome: $66,600Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"That's What Friends Are For" — Dionne & FriendsBest Picture: Platoon
1996Turned 50
Dolly the sheep cloned
Gas: $1.23/galHome: $99,700Min wage: $4.75/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Macarena" — Los del RioBest Picture: The English Patient
2006Turned 60
Twitter launches; Pluto reclassified as dwarf planet
Gas: $2.59/galHome: $174,700Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: George W. Bush"Bad Day" — Daniel PowterBest Picture: The Departed
2016Turned 70
Donald Trump elected president; Brexit vote
Gas: $2.14/galHome: $181,700Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Barack Obama"Love Yourself" — Justin BieberBest Picture: Moonlight
2026Turned 80
Gas: $3.91/galPresident: Donald Trump
Key Achievements
- Introduced Kazhdan's property (T), a pivotal concept in the representation theory of Lie groups and their discrete subgroups.
- With George Lusztig, proved fundamental conjectures on characters of irreducible representations of simple Lie algebras over finite fields.
- Was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship (the 'Genius Grant') in 1990 for his transformative contributions to mathematics.
- His work on the 'Langlands program' provided crucial geometric insights into automorphic forms.
Did You Know?
He was born Dmitry Aleksandrovich Kazhdan but changed his first name to David after emigrating from the Soviet Union to Israel.
He is known for an intense, sometimes intimidating, Socratic style of discussion with students and colleagues.
He holds dual citizenship in Israel and the United States.
“A beautiful structure in mathematics reveals itself through necessity, not ornament.”
