Dr. Martín Abadi
Joseph Sifakis MEMBERS
Research Director Emeritus, Centre national de la recherche scientifique at VERIMAG laboratory
Heraklion, Greece
More Info
  • 2009
  • Computer Science and Information Technology (C.S.E)
More Info
  • 2009
  • Computer Science and Information Technology (C.S.E)
Election Remark
Joseph Sifakis (Greek: Ιωσήφ Σηφάκης) is a Greek-French computer scientist. He received the 2007 Turing Award, along with Edmund M. Clarke and E. Allen Emerson, for his work on model checking.

Sifakis worked on system verification and the application of formal methods to system design.

In his state doctorate, he studied the principles of the algorithmic verification method known later as model checking.

In 1982, this technique was applied in Jean-Pierre Queille's PhD to develop the CESAR verification tool.
 
Sifakis was the director of VERIMAG for fourteen years. Established initially as a mixed industrial laboratory between CNRS and Verilog SA., VERIMAG has collaborated with Airbus and Schneider Electric to develop methods and tools for the development of safety critical systems, in particular the SCADE synchronous programming environment based on the Lustre Language.

Sifakis has worked on the verification of timed and hybrid systems with Thomas Henzinger and the synthesis of timed systems with Amir Pnueli and Oded Maler.

He has participated to the development of verification tools including the IF toolset, Kronos, CADP, and TGV and has developed theory for coping with state explosion using abstraction techniques.
 
Over the past twenty years, his work has focused on rigorous component-based design using the BIP component framework and more recently the design of trustworthy autonomous systems, self-driving cars in particular. He has received the following awards and prizes:

Turing Award, 2007

Leonardo da Vinci Medal, 2012

Grand Officer of the National Order of Merit, France, 2008

Commander of the Legion of Honor, France, 2011

Member of the French Academy of Sciences, 2010

Member of the European Academy of Engineering, 2009

Member of Academia Europaea, 2008

Member of the French Academy of Engineering, 2008

Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2015

Member of the National Academy of Engineering, 2017

Foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2019