I was born into a modern orthodox Jewish family in South Africa, Africa, on planet Earth in the Milky Way galaxy of our Universe. My parents Barry Damelin (of blessed memory) and Tzippy Damelin are both from Lithuanian Jewish decent. My grandparents (of blessed memory) were on my fathers side, Reuvein and Madge Damelin and on my mothers side, Aaron and Batya Coblentz.
When I was seven, my dear parents, moved to Johannesburg, South Africa with me and my brother Len where I spent most of my childhood. When I was fourteen and fifteen, we lived in Israel. I went to King David Primary and High School in Johannesburg and was affiliated to the Victory Park Hebrew Congregation most of my childhood. I am still affiliated to it today.
I studied Mathematics and Physics (mostly) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg where I did my BSc, BSc (with Honors), MSc and PhD, the former two, under Doron Lubinsky who is currently Full Professor at Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America (USA) and a world authority in Approximation Theory and Orthogonal Polynomials.
My first external PhD advisor Paul Nevai is now Full Professor, Emeritus, Ohio State University, USA. My second external PhD advisor Eli Levine is Full Professor at the Open University of Israel, Israel. Me at my PhD graduation.
I am gay, married to Ben, have three beautiful children, Ora, Gabriel, Tal and live in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
Ora is a screenwriter living in Los Angeles, Gabriel is pursuing a PhD in Mathematics Education at Wayne State University and Tal lives in Israel and is studying at Reichman University. My Mom and Len live in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Besides spending time and keeping in contact with close family and really good friends spread across the world (one-one or via WhatsApp), I enjoy my professional mathematics career, my writing, my piano, my music (in particular Chasidic) and watching movies for example Star Wars, Star Trek, Walt Disney, reading popular books on mathematics, science, Judaism, history and analyzing current world events, in particularly that of IsraeI.
I also advocate for LGBTQ rights in particular regarding discrimination in the workplace.
When I was seven, my dear parents, moved to Johannesburg, South Africa with me and my brother Len where I spent most of my childhood. When I was fourteen and fifteen, we lived in Israel. I went to King David Primary and High School in Johannesburg and was affiliated to the Victory Park Hebrew Congregation most of my childhood. I am still affiliated to it today.
I studied Mathematics and Physics (mostly) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg where I did my BSc, BSc (with Honors), MSc and PhD, the former two, under Doron Lubinsky who is currently Full Professor at Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America (USA) and a world authority in Approximation Theory and Orthogonal Polynomials.
My first external PhD advisor Paul Nevai is now Full Professor, Emeritus, Ohio State University, USA. My second external PhD advisor Eli Levine is Full Professor at the Open University of Israel, Israel. Me at my PhD graduation.
I am gay, married to Ben, have three beautiful children, Ora, Gabriel, Tal and live in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
Ora is a screenwriter living in Los Angeles, Gabriel is pursuing a PhD in Mathematics Education at Wayne State University and Tal lives in Israel and is studying at Reichman University. My Mom and Len live in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Besides spending time and keeping in contact with close family and really good friends spread across the world (one-one or via WhatsApp), I enjoy my professional mathematics career, my writing, my piano, my music (in particular Chasidic) and watching movies for example Star Wars, Star Trek, Walt Disney, reading popular books on mathematics, science, Judaism, history and analyzing current world events, in particularly that of IsraeI.
I also advocate for LGBTQ rights in particular regarding discrimination in the workplace.