Jacob Tsimerman was born in Kazan, Russia, on April 26, 1988. In 1990 his family first moved to Israel and then in 1996 to Canada. In 2003 and 2004 he represented Canada in the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) and won gold medals both years, with a perfect score in 2004.[4]
Following his PhD, he had a post-doctoral position at Harvard University as a Junior Fellow of the Harvard Society of Fellows. In July 2014 he was awarded a Sloan Fellowship and he started his term as assistant professor at the University of Toronto, where he is now a full professor.[5]