Humboldt Professor Sayan Mukherjee, an expert in artificial intelligence, is dead. He passed away unexpectedly at the age of 54 on Monday (March 31, 2025) in Leipzig. The news was received with dismay and great sadness at Leipzig University and the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences (MPI-MIS).
"I am deeply saddened. Sayan Mukherjee’s death is a great human and scientific loss," says Eva Inés Obergfell, Rector of Leipzig University. "He leaves an immense gap, he will be missed by our Institute of Computer Science as well as our Interdisciplinary Center for Bioinformatics and the National Competence Center for Artificial Intelligence ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig." With his outstanding expertise, the mathematician, statistician and computer scientist wanted to open up new avenues in precision medicine by analyzing biological data. Leipzig was the perfect location for him. "My heartfelt condolences go out to all of Mukherjee’s family and colleagues."
Prof. László Székelyhidi, Managing Director of the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences, says: ,,Sayan was a comet - bursting with ideas, full of energy and with a fascinating ability to captivate his counterpart. In his short time in Leipzig, he achieved an extraordinary amount. He has significantly and consistently promoted the closer integration of research at the Institute of Computer Science and the AI Research Center ScaDS.AI at Leipzig University with the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences. As a Max Planck Fellow, he has significantly strengthened the research profile of our institute. His work went far beyond individual institutions: he understood Leipzig as a whole and played a key role in making the city a leading international center for AI research and its mathematical foundations. We mourn the loss of a unique researcher, a close and extraordinarily helpful colleague and a dear friend."
Other voices:
Sebastian Gemkow, Saxon Minister of Science:
The surprising news of Mukherjee’s death has hit me very hard. He was an outstanding scientist, highly recognized and sought after worldwide. The loss, not only for the Max Planck Institute and Leipzig University, but for the entire scientific state of Saxony, is immense. My thoughts are with his family and friends in these difficult hours."
Erhard Rahm, Director ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig:
The tragic loss of Sayan deeply shocks us at the national AI center ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig and me personally. In the almost three years that Prof. Mukherjee worked with us, he consistently pursued his goal of making ScaDS.AI, together with its partners such as the MPI-MIS, a leading international center for the mathematical foundations of AI. He initiated so many new collaborations and research projects and built up a strong research team. The consequences of his painful loss are not yet foreseeable, but we will do everything we can to continue to realize his vision."
Bernd Kirchheim, Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science:
Sayan was an extremely dynamic and, despite his outstanding international credentials, always approachable and very helpful colleague, who immediately after his arrival significantly strengthened the research profile of Leipzig Informatics and brought impressive new aspects to its AI research center ScaDS.AI. I particularly appreciate that he also had a deep interest in mathematics and enthusiastically supported the faculty in obtaining a second Alexander von Humboldt Professorship in the field of discrete mathematics. He will be sorely missed as a researcher, colleague and friend, but that is precisely why we will work together with our new Alexander von Humboldt Professor Daniel Král to realize his vision of merging mathematics, computer science and their applications in the Leipzig research landscape with international visibility."
Humboldt Professor Jens Meiler, Director of the Institute for Drug Development at the University of Leipzig (He had proposed his colleague and friend Sayan Mukherjee for the Humboldt Professorship):
"I remember our many conversations that linked fundamental scientific developments in artificial intelligence with socio-political and philosophical questions. A brilliant mind paired with a great sense of humor."
Further information on Sayan Mukherjee:
Sayan Mukherjee, born in India, received his academic training in the USA. He received his doctorate from MIT, Cambridge, USA, in 2001 and initially stayed there and at the nearby Broad Institute on a Sloan Postdoctoral Fellowship. From 2004 to 2022, he worked at Duke University, Durham, USA, from 2015 as a full professor. In 2008 he received a Young Researcher Award from the International Indian Statistical Association, and since 2018 he has been a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics. In 2022, he moved to the University of Leipzig as a Humboldt Professor and to the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences as a Fellow. Mukherjee was a member of various international professional societies.
The Humboldt Professorship is an internationally highly prestigious and the most highly endowed award in Germany, which is aimed at researchers from abroad. It is awarded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in a strict competitive process. Mukherjee, who was working at Duke University in the USA at the time, was nominated by Leipzig University and the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences.
Digital book of condolence:
Leipzig University has set up a digital book of condolence.
Alexander von Humboldt Professorships awarded to Tina Malti and Sayan Mukherjee
12.05.2023
