Christos Papadimitriou Formally Inducted as Full Member of the Academy of Athens
In a splendid event held in the Ceremony Hall of the Academy of Athens on Thursday, May 29, 2025, the Academy welcomed the distinguished scientist Professor Christos Papadimitriou as a regular member.
Professor Papadimitriou, Donovan Family Professor at Columbia University in New York and Principal Investigator at the Archimedes Unit of the Athena Research Center, was honored for his outstanding contributions to computer science and his interdisciplinary approach.
During the ceremony, Academician Stamatios Krimigis introduced Professor Papadimitriou, who then delivered a lecture titled "The Long Journey Toward Artificial Intelligence", in which he presented his research path and addressed the challenges of our time.
His scientific work spans fields such as Computational Biology, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Large Language Models, Economic Theory, and Algorithms. He has received international recognition through awards such as the Knuth Prize, the Gödel Prize, the John von Neumann Medal, and the 2024 INFORMS Prize.
On June 13, 2024, during a Plenary Session, the Academy of Athens elected Professor Christos Papadimitriou as a regular member to the Chair titled "Computer Science" in the First Section of Natural Sciences.
His induction into the Academy of Athens marks a special moment of recognition for one of the most brilliant Greek scientists of our era.
A few words about Professor Christos Papadimitriou:
Mr. Papadimitriou was born in Athens. In 1972, he graduated from the Department of Electrical Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). In 1974, he began his doctoral studies in Computer Science at Princeton University, and in 1976, he was appointed Assistant Professor at the Computer Science Department of Harvard University.
He has also taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Stanford University, the University of California at San Diego and Berkeley, and Columbia University.
He has authored important textbooks such as Computational Complexity, Combinatorial Optimization, Algorithms, and Elements of the Theory of Computation, as well as numerous novels, including the graphic novel Logicomix, which explores the life and work of philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell.
His research extends across multiple scientific disciplines and includes Computational Biology, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Computational Neuroscience, Economic Science and Game Theory, Genetic AI, Large Language Models, Natural Language Processing, Theoretical Computer Science, Algorithms, and Complexity.
Christos Papadimitriou is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, as well as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has received numerous awards for his scientific contributions, including the 2002 Knuth Prize, the 2012 Gödel Prize, the 2015 EATCS Award, the 2016 IEEE John von Neumann Medal, the 2018 Harvey Prize from Technion, and the 2024 John von Neumann Theory Prize from INFORMS.
In 2022, alongside Constantinos Daskalakis and Timos Sellis, he co-founded Archimedes: Research Unit on AI, Data Sciences, and Algorithms, which operates under the Athena Research Center, Greece. Archimedes serves as “a place where the international research community can connect, where groundbreaking ideas can thrive, and where the next generation of scientists can emerge, shaping a brighter future for Greece and the world”.
