2024 Michael and Sheila Held Prize

Eshan Chattopadhyay, Cornell University
Chattopadhyay and Zuckerman’s groundbreaking work on randomness extraction and Ramsey graph construction has advanced theoretical computer science.
Using an innovative and creative approach, Chattopadhyay and Zuckerman solved a longstanding open problem by introducing an algorithm that combines two independent low-quality random sources to create one high-quality random source. Previous attempts needed at least one of the two input sources to be of moderately high-quality. The new algorithm, called a two-source extractor, also gives a major improvement to an important mathematical problem in Ramsey Theory.