Alexander Gorban
Also known as Александр Николаевич Горбань, Alexander N. Gorban
Alexander Gorban was a mathematician whose work linked neural-network learning with methods for correcting errors in AI systems. He studied physics at Novosibirsk State University and graduated in mathematics from Omsk State Pedagogical Institute in 1973. In Siberia, he moved from engineering into research and led the Nonequilibrium Systems Laboratory. He received the 2003 Prigogine Prize and Medal and took a chair in applied mathematics at Leicester in 2004. He received the 2017 title “Pioneer of Russian Neuroinformatics” and gave an invited AI-correction talk at IEEE in 2020; in 2025 he was professor at Central University and a leading researcher at AIRI and Lobachevsky University, and he died in 2025 at age 73.
Timeline
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1967–1973
From physics to mathematics
He enters the physics department at Novosibirsk State University in 1967 and graduates in mathematics from Omsk State Pedagogical Institute in 1973.
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1973–1978
Early research posts
At Omsk Railway Engineering Institute, he works as an engineer from 1973 to 1976, then joins the Siberian Branch Computing Center as a junior researcher in 1978. His work spans neurocomputer architecture, neural-network training, and physical, chemical and biological kinetics.
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1987–1999
Training neural networks
Between 1987 and 1999, he develops faster neural-network training and explicit knowledge-extraction methods, whose software spreads through Russian medical neuroinformatics. He heads the Nonequilibrium Systems Laboratory from 1989 and becomes deputy director and head of computer sciences in 1995.
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2003
A Prigogine medal
He receives the Prigogine Prize and Medal in 2003.
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2004
A chair at Leicester
He takes the Chair in Applied Mathematics at the University of Leicester in 2004, with research interests in kinetics, bioinformatics, and neural-network training algorithms.
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2017–2018
Awards and AI correction
In 2017, he receives the title “Pioneer of Russian Neuroinformatics” for contributions to artificial neural-network theory and applications. In 2018, he and Ivan Y. Tyukin, Stephen Green, and Danil Prokhorov publish a method that uses small network ensembles to correct errors in existing AI systems.
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2020
An AI plenary in Glasgow
At the IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence in Glasgow in 2020, he gives an invited plenary talk on AI error correction and vulnerabilities.
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2025
Professor at Central University
In 2025, he is a professor at Central University and a leading researcher at AIRI and Lobachevsky University. He dies in 2025 at age 73.
Career
- Until 2025Central UniversityProfessor
- Until 2025AIRILeading researcher
- Until 2025Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny NovgorodLeading researcher
- 2022–2025King's College London
- 2018–2023N. I. Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod
- 2004–2026University of LeicesterChair in Applied Mathematics
- 2002–2007ETH Zurich
- 2000–2004Université Paris-Saclay
- 2000–2011Institute of Computational Modeling
- 1992–1998Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
- 1992–2006Russian Academy of Sciences
- From 1978Siberian Branch Computing CenterJunior Researcher, Head
- 1973–1976Omsk Railway Engineering InstituteEngineer
Education
- 1973Omsk State Pedagogical Institute
- From 1967Novosibirsk State University
Most-cited works
- Principal Manifolds for Data Visualization and Dimension ReductionWith Donald C. Wunsch II
- Single-cell trajectories reconstruction, exploration and mapping of omics data with STREAM
- Invariant Manifolds for Physical and Chemical Kinetics
- Method of invariant manifold for chemical kinetics
- A random six-phase switch regulates pneumococcal virulence via global epigenetic changes
Colleagues
Sources and credits
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