On November 25, 2024, Professor Yuri Tschinkel from the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York, USA, was elected a foreign member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. A proposal for this was made by the Scientific Council of the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics.

Yuri Tschinkel is one of the leading modern mathematicians with outstanding contributions to the development of algebraic geometry, algebraic topology and geometric aspects of mathematical physics. His main results have been published in over 130 papers in the most prestigious mathematical and physical journals and have been cited more than 1550 times. He is the editor of 19 mathematical books and 23 reviews. He was editor-in-chief of the journal Experimental Mathematics, and currently serves on the editorial boards of Springer’s Progress in Mathematics book series, as well as a number of mathematical journals, including Algebraic Geometry, Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, European Journal of Mathematics, Journal of Algebraic Combinatorics and Serdica Mathematical Journal – a publication of the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Since 2012 Yuri Tschinkel is the director of the Mathematics & Physical Sciences Department of one of the largest charitable organizations in the USA – the Simons Foundation.

Prof. Yuri Tschinkel has always strongly supported Bulgarian mathematics. His collaboration with Bulgarian mathematicians and physicists dates back to his student years at Moscow State University and continues to this day. Yuri Tschinkel was a plenary speaker in the second edition of the international conference “Mathematics Days in Sofia” in 2017, which greatly contributed to the establishment and popularization of this prestigious scientific forum of the Bulgarian mathematical community around the world.

In 2022 prof. Tschinkel was a special guest at the “Second Annual Meeting of Young Bulgarian Mathematicians” – an annual scientific forum organized by the International Center for Mathematical Sciences (ICMS) at IMI-BAS. The event brings together young Bulgarian mathematicians working all over the world and introduces the mathematical community in Bulgaria to some of their most significant achievements. During his visit to Sofia, Prof. Tschinkel also gave a special popular lecture entitled “Building Scientific Institutes”, which was organized by BAS and IMI, and in which he shared his experience in financing scientific research in various fields with the support of private capital.

Yuri Tschinkel is an active participant in the initial discussions on the creation of the International Center for Mathematical Sciences (ICMS–Sofia) at the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics together with Prof. Revalski, Prof. Todorov and Prof. Katzarkov. Today Prof. Tschinkel is a member of the Supervisory Board of the ICMS. He made an indisputable contribution to the approval of the three-year grant from the Simons Foundation, given to IMI–BAS in 2022, the funds of which are used to organize international scientific forums with the participation of world-renowned and established mathematicians, to open new positions for researchers in IMI and support of scientists from Ukraine and other countries. In 2024 he once again strongly supported the activities of the ICMS through the second grant given by the Simons Foundation for a five-year period, which will finance the creation of four research groups at IMI-BAS, led by world-leading scientists. The funds from this grant will also be used to organize joint scientific events with leading international institutions and to increase support for integration and reintegration programs. The financial support from the Simons Foundation will contribute to the transformation of the International Center for Mathematical Sciences – Sofia into a leading research and scientific center in Europe and in the region.