Robert Fano
Robert Mario Fano (born November 11, 1917 in Turin , Italy as Roberto Mario Fano ; † July 13, 2016 in Naples , Florida ) was an Italian-American computer scientist.
Until his retirement, Fano was Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT . He became known for his work on information theory . In particular, the Fano condition and the Shannon-Fano coding developed together with Claude Shannon brought him international recognition in theoretical computer science .
Life
Robert Fano came from a Jewish family. He was born in Turin in 1917 as the son of the mathematician Gino Fano and brother of the later theoretical physicist Ugo Fano , where he studied engineering. In 1939, like his brother Ugo, he emigrated to the United States because Jews were increasingly being persecuted in Italy due to the fascist regime. He received his diploma in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), received his doctorate there after the war and has taught at MIT since 1947. Between 1950 and 1953, he headed the radar group at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory. In 1958 Fano was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , in 1978 to the National Academy of Sciences .
At the beginning of 1960 he dealt with time-sharing systems , through which several users could work on one computer at the same time ( multi-user system ). From 1963 to 1968 he headed the MAC project at MIT, which later became the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory . In 1976 he received the Claude E. Shannon Award for his work on information theory .
In addition to his contributions to information theory, he has published articles and books on microwaves, electromagnetism, network theory and textbooks on electrical engineering.
Fonts
- George L. Ragan, ed., Microwave Transmission Circuits, vol. 9 in the Radiation Laboratory Series (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1948), as a co-author.
- Electromagnetic Energy Transmission and Radiation (New York: Wiley, 1960), with Lan Jen Chu and Richard B. Adler.
- Electromagnetic Fields, Energy, and Forces (New York: Wiley, 1960), also with Chu and Adler.
- Transmission of Information: A Statistical Theory of Communications (New York: Wiley and MIT Press, 1961).
Individual evidence
Web links
- Literature by and about Robert Fano in the catalog of the German National Library
- Oral history interview with Robert M. Fano. Archived from the original on March 5, 2002 ; Retrieved April 20, 1989 .
- Obituary for Robert Fano (MIT) (accessed July 17, 2016)
- Video with Robert Fano from 1964 in which he introduces the Compatible Time-Sharing System (CTSS).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Fano, Robert |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Fano, Robert Mario (full name); Fano, Roberto Mario (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian-American computer scientist, co-developer of Shannon-Fano data compression |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 11, 1917 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Turin , Italy |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 13, 2016 |
| Place of death | Naples , Florida |