Mathematician wins Turing award for harnessing randomness

The mathematician Avi Wigderson has won the 2023 Turing award, often referred to as the Nobel prize for computing, for his work on understanding how randomness can shape and improve computer algorithms. Wigderson, who also won the prestigious Abel prize in 2021 for his mathematical contributions to computer science, was taken aback by the award. "The [Turing] committee fooled me into believing that we were going to have some conversation about collaborating," he says. "When I zoomed in, the whole committee was there and they told me. I was excited, surprised and happy."