ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Israel Gel'fand

Israel Gelfand was a very smart and famous mathematician. He was born in Ukraine a long time ago, in 1913! Even though he was born a long time ago, his work on math is still very important today.

Israel Gelfand loved math so much he would work on math problems in his head while walking his dog! He was so good at math that he won many awards for his work. People who are really good at math are called "geniuses," just like people who are really good at playing the piano or painting.

One thing Israel Gelfand is well-known for is his work in something called "functional analysis." This is when you look at special types of numbers and see how they behave when you add, subtract, multiply or divide them.

Israel Gelfand also taught a lot of other people about math and had many students who became great mathematicians themselves. He was also very important in bringing together mathematicians from different countries and helping to make sure they could all work together.

Overall, Israel Gelfand was a very smart man who loved math and helped many people learn about math too!