Sompolinsky’s research goal is to uncover the fundamental principles of the organization, the dynamics and the function of the brain, viewing the brain through multiscale lenses, spanning the molecular, the cellular, and the circuit levels. To achieve this goal, Sompolinsky has developed new theoretical approaches to computational neuroscience based on the principles and methods of statistical physics, and physics of dynamical and stochastic systems. This new field, Neurophysics, builds in part on Sompolinsky’s earlier work on critical phenomena, random systems, spin glasses, and chaos. His research areas cover theoretical and computational investigations of cortical dynamics, sensory processing, motor control, neuronal population coding, long and short-term memory, and neural learning. The highlights of his research include theories and models of local cortical circuits, visual cortex, associative memory, statistical mechanics of learning, chaos and excitation-inhibition balance in neuronal networks, principles of neural population codes, statistical mechanics of compressed sensing and sparse coding in neuronal systems, and the Tempotron model of spike time based neural learning. He also studies the neuronal mechanisms of volition and the impact of physics and neuroscience on the foundations of human freedom and agency.
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Phys. Rev. X, Volume 11, Issue 3, Pages 031059 (2021)
Phys. Rev. E 104, 064301 (2021)
Nature Communications (2020)
Nat Commun 11, 746 (2020)
Frontiers in Neural Circuits VOLUME=13,PAGES=82 (2020)
PLOS Computational Biology (2019)
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 13:264 (2019)
Phys. Rev. E 98, 062120 – Published 13 December 2018 (2018)
Neural Computation Volume 30 | Issue 10 | October 2018 p.2593-2615 (2018)
PLOS Computational Biology (2018)
Neuron: Volume 100, Issue 4, 21 November 2018, Pages 876-890.e5 (2018)
Neuron: Volume 93, Issue 5, 8 March 2017, Pages 1153-1164.e7 (2017)
Balanced excitation and inhibition are required for high-capacity, noise-robust neuronal selectivity
PNAS October 31, 2017 114 (44) E9366-E9375; (2017)
Neuron Volume 92, Issue 5, 7 December 2016, Pages 1106-1121 (2016)
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 27, 2133-46 (2015)
J Cogn Neurosci. 2015 Nov;27(11):2133-46. doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_00842. Epub 2015 Jun 23. (2015)
Neuron: Volume 83, Issue 5, 3 September 2014, Pages 1213-1226 (2014)
PLOS ONE, Volume 9, Issue 2 (2014) (2014)
Neuron, Volume 84, Issue 4 (2014) (2014)
Current Opinion in Neurobiology Volume 25, April 2014, Pages xiii-xviii (2014)
Journal of Neuroscience 3 September 2014, 34 (36) 12127-12144; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1032-14.2014 (2014)
Phys. Rev. E 90, 062710 – Published 16 December 2014 (2014)
Annual Review of Neuroscience, Volume 35:485–508 (2012) (2012)
PNAS 108 (10) E36 (2011)
How the Brain Generates Movement
Neural computation, Volume 24(2):289-331 (2011) (2011)
Phys Rev Lett. 105(21):218102 (2010)
Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 82(1 Pt 1):011903. (2010)
Physical Review Letters, Volume 104, p.188701 (2010)
Neural Information Processing Systems (2010) (2010)
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), doi/10.1073/pnas.1006076107 (2010) (2010)
Neural Information Processing Systems (2010) (2010)
Neural Computation Volume 21 | Issue 8 | p.2269-2308 (2009)
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences(USA), Volume 105, p.18970–18975 (2008)
J Neurophysiol. 100(2):1067-79. (2008)
J Neurophysiol. 98(6):3309-20. (2007)
PLoS Biol. 5(12):e331. (2007)
Nature Neurosciencevolume 9, page461 (2006)
Nature Neuroscience, Volume 9, p.420–428 (2006)
Neural Computation, Volume 18, p.1951–1986 (2006)
Nature Neuroscience, Volume 8, p.202–211 (2005)
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. ;102(17):6172-6. (2005)
Physical Review Letters, Volume 92, p.148102 (2004) (2004)
Neuron, Volume 42, p.489–500 (2004) (2004)
Neural Computation, Volume 16, p.1105–1136 (2004)
J Neurosci. 24(15):3726-35 (2004)
Nat Neurosci. 2003 Sep;6(9):961-7. (2003)
Neural Comput. 2003 Aug;15(8):1809-41. (2003)
J Neurosci. 2003 Apr 1;23(7):3006-15. (2003)
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003 Mar 4;100(5):2848-53. (2003)
J Neurosci. 2003 May 1;23(9):3697-714. (2003)
J Neurosci. 2003 Dec 17;23(37):11577-86. (2003)
Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2002 May;65(5 Pt 1):051926 (2002)
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2001 Jul 3;98(14):8095-100 (2001)
Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2001 Nov;64(5 Pt 1):051904 (2001)
Phys Rev Lett. 2001 May 21;86(21):4958-61 (2001)
Phys Rev Lett. 2001 Jan 8;86(2):364-7 (2001)
In Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 14. Dietterich T., Becker S., and Ghahramani Z., Editors. MIT Press, Cambridge MA (2001)
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Member, Executive Board of Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences, Hebrew University
Director, Swartz Theoretical Neuroscience Program, Harvard University Member, Steering Committee, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University Faculty, Methods in Computational Neuroscience Course, Woods Hole Member, USA Society for Neuroscience
Associate Editor, Neural Computation
Member, Israel Society for Neuroscience
Member, Federation of European Neuroscience Societies
Founding member of the Interdisciplinary Center for Neural Computation (ICNC), Hebrew University
Director, ICNC
Member, International Review Committee of the Department of Physics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich
Faculty, Advanced Course in Computational Neuroscience, IBRO/FENS Member, Executive Board of ICNC
2011 Swartz Prize for Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience of the US Society for Neuroscience
2008 Landau Prize for Brain Science
2008 Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 2007 William N. Skirball Chair in Neuroscience, Hebrew University
2005 Hebrew University Presidential Award for Outstanding Researcher
1980 Rothschild Fellowship for Postdoctoral Research
1979 Chaim Weizmann Post-Doctoral Fellowship
1977 Sir Isaac Wolfson Prize for Excellence in Doctoral Research, Bar-Ilan University 1974 Bar-Ilan University Fellowship for Excellence
1973 Landau Prize for Outstanding M.Sc. Research
1972 Spiers Prize for Best Undergraduate Student, Bar-Ilan University

Haim Sompolinsky
Professor Emeritus
The Suzanne and Charles Goodman Brain Sciences Building,
Level 2, Room 1201, Edmond J. Safra Campus,
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 9190401
Sompolinsky’s research goal is to uncover the fundamental principles of the organization, the dynamics and the function of the brain, viewing the brain through multiscale lenses, spanning the molecular, the cellular, and the circuit levels. To achieve this goal, Sompolinsky has developed new theoretical approaches to computational neuroscience based on the principles and methods of statistical physics, and physics of dynamical and stochastic systems. This new field, Neurophysics, builds in part on Sompolinsky’s earlier work on critical phenomena, random systems, spin glasses, and chaos. His research areas cover theoretical and computational investigations of cortical dynamics, sensory processing, motor control, neuronal population coding, long and short-term memory, and neural learning. The highlights of his research include theories and models of local cortical circuits, visual cortex, associative memory, statistical mechanics of learning, chaos and excitation-inhibition balance in neuronal networks, principles of neural population codes, statistical mechanics of compressed sensing and sparse coding in neuronal systems, and the Tempotron model of spike time based neural learning. He also studies the neuronal mechanisms of volition and the impact of physics and neuroscience on the foundations of human freedom and agency.
Phys. Rev. X, Volume 11, Issue 3, Pages 031059 (2021)
Phys. Rev. E 104, 064301 (2021)
Nature Communications (2020)
Nat Commun 11, 746 (2020)
Frontiers in Neural Circuits VOLUME=13,PAGES=82 (2020)
PLOS Computational Biology (2019)
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 13:264 (2019)
Phys. Rev. E 98, 062120 – Published 13 December 2018 (2018)
Neural Computation Volume 30 | Issue 10 | October 2018 p.2593-2615 (2018)
PLOS Computational Biology (2018)
Neuron: Volume 100, Issue 4, 21 November 2018, Pages 876-890.e5 (2018)
Neuron: Volume 93, Issue 5, 8 March 2017, Pages 1153-1164.e7 (2017)
Balanced excitation and inhibition are required for high-capacity, noise-robust neuronal selectivity
PNAS October 31, 2017 114 (44) E9366-E9375; (2017)
Neuron Volume 92, Issue 5, 7 December 2016, Pages 1106-1121 (2016)
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 27, 2133-46 (2015)
J Cogn Neurosci. 2015 Nov;27(11):2133-46. doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_00842. Epub 2015 Jun 23. (2015)
Neuron: Volume 83, Issue 5, 3 September 2014, Pages 1213-1226 (2014)
PLOS ONE, Volume 9, Issue 2 (2014) (2014)
Neuron, Volume 84, Issue 4 (2014) (2014)
Current Opinion in Neurobiology Volume 25, April 2014, Pages xiii-xviii (2014)
Journal of Neuroscience 3 September 2014, 34 (36) 12127-12144; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1032-14.2014 (2014)
Phys. Rev. E 90, 062710 – Published 16 December 2014 (2014)
Annual Review of Neuroscience, Volume 35:485–508 (2012) (2012)
PNAS 108 (10) E36 (2011)
How the Brain Generates Movement
Neural computation, Volume 24(2):289-331 (2011) (2011)
Phys Rev Lett. 105(21):218102 (2010)
Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 82(1 Pt 1):011903. (2010)
Physical Review Letters, Volume 104, p.188701 (2010)
Neural Information Processing Systems (2010) (2010)
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), doi/10.1073/pnas.1006076107 (2010) (2010)
Neural Information Processing Systems (2010) (2010)
Neural Computation Volume 21 | Issue 8 | p.2269-2308 (2009)
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences(USA), Volume 105, p.18970–18975 (2008)
J Neurophysiol. 100(2):1067-79. (2008)
J Neurophysiol. 98(6):3309-20. (2007)
PLoS Biol. 5(12):e331. (2007)
Nature Neurosciencevolume 9, page461 (2006)
Nature Neuroscience, Volume 9, p.420–428 (2006)
Neural Computation, Volume 18, p.1951–1986 (2006)
Nature Neuroscience, Volume 8, p.202–211 (2005)
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. ;102(17):6172-6. (2005)
Physical Review Letters, Volume 92, p.148102 (2004) (2004)
Neuron, Volume 42, p.489–500 (2004) (2004)
Neural Computation, Volume 16, p.1105–1136 (2004)
J Neurosci. 24(15):3726-35 (2004)
Nat Neurosci. 2003 Sep;6(9):961-7. (2003)
Neural Comput. 2003 Aug;15(8):1809-41. (2003)
J Neurosci. 2003 Apr 1;23(7):3006-15. (2003)
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003 Mar 4;100(5):2848-53. (2003)
J Neurosci. 2003 May 1;23(9):3697-714. (2003)
J Neurosci. 2003 Dec 17;23(37):11577-86. (2003)
Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2002 May;65(5 Pt 1):051926 (2002)
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2001 Jul 3;98(14):8095-100 (2001)
Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2001 Nov;64(5 Pt 1):051904 (2001)
Phys Rev Lett. 2001 May 21;86(21):4958-61 (2001)
Phys Rev Lett. 2001 Jan 8;86(2):364-7 (2001)