George David Forney Jr. (born March 6, 1940) is an American

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

who made contributions in

telecommunication Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

system theory, specifically in

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 data storage. Codes are stud ...

and

information theory Information theory is the scientific study of the quantification (science), quantification, computer data storage, storage, and telecommunication, communication of information. The field was originally established by the works of Harry Nyquist a ...

Biography

Forney received the B.S.E. degree in

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

in 1961,

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

, and the M.S. and Sc.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

in 1963 and 1965, respectively. His Sc.D thesis introduced the idea of concatenated codes. He is a member of the United States

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

(1989) and

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

(2003). He is a long-time faculty member at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Among other things, he is generally credited with being the first to recognize the optimality and practical importance of the

Viterbi algorithm The Viterbi algorithm is a dynamic programming algorithm for obtaining the maximum a posteriori probability estimate of the most likely sequence of hidden states—called the Viterbi path—that results in a sequence of observed events, especiall ...

, and his tutorial paper on the subject is widely cited. His work in the Viterbi algorithm and in advancing the understanding of coding theory in general influenced the design of modern digital

modem A modulator-demodulator or modem is a computer hardware device that converts data from a digital format into a format suitable for an analog transmission medium such as telephone or radio. A modem transmits data by Modulation#Digital modulati ...

s. In 1965 he joined the

Codex Corporation Vanguard Managed Solutions (VanguardMS) was a limited liability company (LLC) which specialized in monitoring live data networks from network operations centers (NOCs) from 2001 to 2007. It began as Codex Corporation then was a division of Motoro ...

. His design resulted in the first mass-produced 9600 bit/s modem introduced in 1971. He spent the academic year of 1971–1972 at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, and then returned to Codex. He became vice president of research and development at Codex, through its acquisition by

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent p ...

in 1977, serving in both management and technical positions. He received the

IEEE Edison Medal The IEEE Edison Medal is presented by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) "for a career of meritorious achievement in electrical science, electrical engineering, or the electrical arts." It is the oldest medal in this fi ...

in 1992 "for original contributions to coding, modulation, data communication modems, and for industrial and research leadership in communications technology". In 1995 he received the Claude E. Shannon Award from the

IEEE Information Theory Society The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

and he received twice, in 1990 and in 2009, the IEEE Donald G. Fink Prize Paper Award. In 1998 Forney received a Golden Jubilee Award for Technological Innovation from the IEEE Information Theory Society. He has also received the 2016

IEEE Medal of Honor The IEEE Medal of Honor is the highest recognition of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). It has been awarded since 1917, when its first recipient was Major Edwin H. Armstrong. It is given for an exceptional contribution ...

for "pioneering contributions to the theory of errorcorrecting codes and the development of reliable high-speed data communications".

References

External links

Recent publications
at the

arXiv arXiv (pronounced "archive"—the X represents the Greek letter chi ⟨χ⟩) is an open-access repository of electronic preprints and postprints (known as e-prints) approved for posting after moderation, but not peer review. It consists of ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Forney, David American electrical engineers American information theorists 1940 births Living people Fellow Members of the IEEE Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences IEEE Edison Medal recipients MIT School of Engineering faculty 20th-century American engineers IEEE Medal of Honor recipients American telecommunications engineers Princeton University School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni MIT School of Engineering alumni Stanford University staff

Biography

See also

References

External links