Presented below are lists of notable Belarusians of Jewish descent, Jewish people born on the territory of present-day Belarus or of full or partial Belarusian Jewish origin. Scientists Zhores Alferov, physicist, Nobel Prize (2000), born in Viciebsk (Jewish mother) Yakov Zel'dovich, physicist Lev Vygotsky, psychologist Seymour Lubetzky, cataloging theorist Semyon Kosberg, Soviet aircraft and rocket engineer, born in Slutsk Lera Boroditsky, Cognitive psychologist Noam Chomsky, linguist Paul Krugman, economist Paul B. Sigler, biochemist, parents from Minsk Mathematicians Naum Akhiezer, mathematician, born in Cherykaw Issai Schur, German-Israeli mathematician, born in Mahiliou Oscar Zariski, Belarusian mathematician Politicians United States Leonard Adleman, Computer Scientist David Dubinsky, US labor leader, born in Brest Canada David Lewis (Losz), ex-leader of the NDP International Alexander Parvus, international revolutionary, born in Berezyna Israel Shimon Peres, Israeli prime minister, Nobel Prize winner (1994) Chaim Weizmann, first president of Israel, inventor of synthetic acetone, born in Motal Menachem Begin, Israeli prime minister, Nobel Prize winner (1978), born in Brest Yitzhak Shamir, Israeli prime minister (1984–85 1988–90), born in Ruzhany Zerach Warhaftig, born in Vaukavysk Berl Katznelson, One of the intellectual founders of the Labor movement in Israel Kadish Luz, Israeli speaker of the Knesset, born in Bobruysk Yitzhak Rabin, Israeli prime minister, Nobel Prize winner (1994) Russian Empire and the USSR and Russia Hesya Helfman, Russian revolutionary, member of Narodnaya Volya Valeriya Novodvorskaya, liberal Russian politician, Soviet dissident Belarus Viktor Sheiman, adviser to President Alexander Lukashenko, influential Belarusian politician (of partial Jewish descent) Mikola Abramchyk, president of the Council of the Belarusian Democratic Republic (of partial Jewish descent) Writers Isaac Dov Berkowitz, Israeli writer Źmitrok Biadula, Belarusian poet Morris Raphael Cohen, philosopher Leon Kobrin Lazar Lagin Ayn Rand, father born in Brest-Litovsk David Pinski, American and Israeli writer, born in Mahiliou Ryhor Reles Mendele Mocher Sforim, writer Carlos Sherman, Belarusian-Uruguayan writer and translator (Jewish father) Immanuel Velikovsky, cosmology writer Celia Dropkin, American poet (Yiddish) Samuel Ornitz, American novelist and screenwriter Journalists Larry King, of Belarusian-Jewish parents Eugene Lyons Andrew Patner, of Belarusian-Jewish grandparents Historians Simon Dubnow, Jewish historian Lazar Gulkowitsch, Jewish Studies scholar Avraham Harkavi, historian S. Ansky, a scholar who documented Jewish folklore and mystical beliefs, born in Chashniki Composers and musicians Modest Altschuler, cellist, orchestral conductor and composer Irving Berlin, American composer Arkadi Duchin, Israeli singer-songwriter and musical producer Mark Fradkin, Soviet composer Artists Léon Bakst, painter and scene- and costume designer Marc Chagall, painter Ossip Zadkine,