Richard Ednard Blahut''Richard E. Blahut'' was elected in 1990
as a member of

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academ ...

in Electronics, Communication & Information Systems Engineering and Computer Science & Engineering for pioneering work in coherent emitter signal processing and for contributions to information theory and error control codes. (born June 9, 1937) is an American electrical engineer, communications engineer, and information theorist. He is the former

chair A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. It may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...

of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

, is best known for his work in

information theory Information theory is the mathematical study of the quantification (science), quantification, Data storage, storage, and telecommunications, communication of information. The field was established and formalized by Claude Shannon in the 1940s, ...

, including the Blahut–Arimoto algorithm used in

rate–distortion theory Rate–distortion theory is a major branch of information theory which provides the theoretical foundations for lossy data compression; it addresses the problem of determining the minimal number of bits per symbol, as measured by the rate ''R'' ...

Education and career

Blahut was born in

Orange, New Jersey The City of Orange (known simply as Orange) is a Township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 34,447, an increase o ...

and studied at

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

, where he received his B.S. in electrical engineering, followed by an M.S. in physics from

Stevens Institute of Technology Stevens Institute of Technology is a Private university, private research university in Hoboken, New Jersey. Founded in 1870, it is one of the oldest technological universities in the United States and was the first college in America solely de ...

. He carried out his doctoral studies at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

, where he received his PhD in electrical engineering in 1972 under the supervision of information theorist Toby Berger. After graduation, Blahut subsequently taught at Cornell from 1973 to 1994 while working at

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

. Blahut has taught at Princeton University, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, the NATO Advanced Study Institute, and has also been a Consulting Professor at the

South China University of Technology The South China University of Technology (SCUT) is a public university in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education (China), Ministry of Education and co-sponsored with the Guangdong Provincial People's Governme ...

. He is also the

Henryk Magnuski Henryk Władysław Magnuski (January 30, 1909 – May 4, 1978) was a Polish telecommunications engineer who worked for Motorola in Chicago. He was a primary contributor in the development of one of the first Walkie-Talkie radios, the Motorola SCR ...

Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and is affiliated with the Coordinated Science Laboratory. Blahut retired from the University of Illinois in 2014.

Awards and recognition

Blahut was elected a fellow of the

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE ...

in 1981 for the development of passive surveillance systems and for contributions to information theory and error control codes. He received the

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science The is an Independent Administrative Institution in Japan, established for the purpose of contributing to the advancement of science in all fields of the natural and social sciences and the humanities.JSPSweb page History The Japan Society f ...

Fellowship in 1982, when he was also the President of the IEEE Information Theory Society. He was elected a member of the

in 1990 for pioneering work in coherent emitter signal processing and for contributions to information theory and error control codes. While working at

, Blahut received the

Outstanding Contribution Award (1976), Outstanding Innovation Award (1968, 1978), Corporate Recognition Award (1979). He became a fellow of the

Corporation in 1980. In 1998, Blahut received the

IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal The IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal is an award honoring ''"exceptional contributions to communications and networking sciences and engineering"'' in the field of telecommunications. The medal is one of the highest honors awarded by the Instit ...

for "contributions to error-control coding, particularly by combining

algebraic coding theory Coding theory is the study of the properties of codes and their respective fitness for specific applications. Codes are used for data compression, cryptography, error detection and correction, data transmission and computer data storage, data sto ...

and digital transform techniques." In 2005, Blahut received the IEEE Claude E. Shannon Award.

Books

* ''Lightwave Communications'', with George C. Papen (Cambridge University Press, 2019) * ''Cryptography and Secure Communication'', (Cambridge University Press, 2014) * ''Modem Theory: An Introduction to Telecommunications'', (Cambridge University Press, 2010) * ''Fast Algorithms for Signal Processing'', (Cambridge University Press, 2010) * ''Algebraic Codes on Lines, Planes, and Curves: An Engineering Approach'', (Cambridge University Press, 2008) * ''Theory of Remote Image Formation'', (Cambridge University Press, 2004) * ''Algebraic Codes for Data Transmission'', (Cambridge University Press, 2003) * ''Algebraic Methods for Signal Processing and Communications Coding'', (Springer-Verlag, 1992) * ''Digital Transmission of Information'', (Addison–Wesley Press, 1990) * ''Fast Algorithms for Digital Signal Processing'', (Addison–Wesley Press, 1985) * ''Theory and Practice of Error Control Codes'', (Addison–Wesley Press, 1983)

References

External links

*
IEEE Biography

ECE @ UIUC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blahut, Richard Living people 1937 births Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty Cornell University faculty Cornell University College of Engineering alumni American electrical engineers Fellows of the IEEE American telecommunications engineers Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Stevens Institute of Technology alumni IBM people People from Orange, New Jersey Coding theorists American information theorists Engineers from New Jersey