Imre Csiszár () is a Hungarian

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

with contributions to

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 ...

and

probability theory Probability theory is the branch of mathematics concerned with probability. Although there are several different probability interpretations, probability theory treats the concept in a rigorous mathematical manner by expressing it through a set o ...

. In 1996 he won the Claude E. Shannon Award, the highest annual award given in the field of information theory. He was born on February 7, 1938, in

Miskolc Miskolc ( , , ; Czech language, Czech and sk, Miškovec; german: Mischkolz; yi, script=Latn, Mishkoltz; ro, Mișcolț) is a city in northeastern Hungary, known for its heavy industry. With a population of 161,265 (1 Jan 2014) Miskolc is the ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

. He became interested in mathematics in middle school. He was inspired by his father who was a forest engineer and was among the first to use mathematical techniques in his area. He studied mathematics at the

Eötvös Loránd University Eötvös Loránd University ( hu, Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem, ELTE) is a Hungarian public research university based in Budapest. Founded in 1635, ELTE is one of the largest and most prestigious public higher education institutions in Hung ...

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, and received his Diploma in 1961. He got his PhD in 1967 and the scientific degree Doctor of Mathematical Science in 1977. Later, he was influenced by

Alfréd Rényi Alfréd Rényi (20 March 1921 – 1 February 1970) was a Hungarian mathematician known for his work in probability theory, though he also made contributions in combinatorics, graph theory, and number theory. Life Rényi was born in Budapest to ...

, who was very active in the area of probability theory. In 1990 he was elected Corresponding Member of the

Hungarian Academy of Sciences The Hungarian Academy of Sciences ( hu, Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, MTA) is the most important and prestigious learned society of Hungary. Its seat is at the bank of the Danube in Budapest, between Széchenyi rakpart and Akadémia utca. Its ma ...

, and in 1995 he became Full Member. Professor Csiszar has been with the Mathematical Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences since 1961. He has been Head of the Information Theory Group there since 1968, and presently he is Head of the Stochastics Department. He is also Professor of Mathematics at the L. Eotvos University, Budapest. He has held Visiting Professorships at various universities including

Bielefeld University Bielefeld University (german: Universität Bielefeld) is a university in Bielefeld, Germany. Founded in 1969, it is one of the country's newer universities, and considers itself a "reform" university, following a different style of organization ...

, Germany (1981),

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of Mary ...

(several times, last in 1992),

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 ...

(1982),

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

(1985–86), etc. He has been Visiting Researcher at the

University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

in 1988, and at NTT, Japan, in 1994. He is married and has four children. He is a Fellow of the

IEEE 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 is a member of several other learned societies, including the Bernoulli Society for Mathematical Statistics and Probability. He has received several academic awards, including the Book Excellence Award of the

for his 1981 Information Theory monograph, the 1988 Paper Award of the IEEE Information Theory Society, the 2015 IEEE Richard Hamming Medal and the Academy Award for Interdisciplinary Research of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1989.

Books

* With János Körner: Information Theory: Coding Theorems for Discrete Memoryless Systems, Academic Press 1981, 2nd edition Cambridge University Press 2011. * With Paul C. Shields: Information Theory and Statistics: A Tutorial, Now Publishers, Inc., 2004.

External links

*
Announcement of IEEE 2015 Hamming Medal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Csiszar, Imre Members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences 20th-century Hungarian mathematicians 1938 births Living people Information theorists Probability theorists Academic staff of Bielefeld University Fellow Members of the IEEE