Among his many awards, Yakov received the Abel Prize in 2014, which is considered the highest mathematical honor. The Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters, which governs these awards, described Yakov as “one of the most influential mathematicians of the twentieth century,” and went on to applaud his “numerous groundbreaking results in the theory of dynamical systems, in mathematical physics and in probability theory.” His other accolades include the Wolf Prize in Mathematics, the Nemmers Prize, the Henri Poincaré Prize, and the Leroy P. Steele Prize for Lifetime Achievement. He holds honorary degrees from Tel Aviv University, the University of Warwick, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. Yakov was also a Moore Distinguished Scholar at Caltech in 2005.

Yakov is known for his work in mathematical physics and probability theory, and has an extensive list of publications in these areas, including several with his wife, Elena B. Vul, a mathematician and physicist. He is also known for the many mathematical processes and equations that are named after him, including Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy, Sinai’s billiards, Sinai’s random walk, Sinai-Ruelle-Bowen measures, and Pirogov-Sinai theory. He will be transitioning to emeritus status this year after sixty years of outstanding contributions to the mathematical community as a whole, and nearly thirty years of service to Princeton University.