Rom Rubenovich Varshamov (Russian Ром Рубенович Варшамов; Born April 9, 1927, in Tbilisi; Died August 24, 1999, in Moscow) was a Soviet Armenian mathematician who worked 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 ...

, especially on

error-correcting codes In computing, telecommunication, information theory, and coding theory, an error correction code, sometimes error correcting code, (ECC) is used for controlling errors in data over unreliable or noisy communication channels. The central idea is ...

and

Number theory Number theory (or arithmetic or higher arithmetic in older usage) is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and arithmetic function, integer-valued functions. German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777� ...

. Varshamov studied in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...

with

Arnold Walfisz Arnold Walfisz (2 July 1892 – 29 May 1962) was a Jewish-Polish mathematician working in analytic number theory. Life After the ''Abitur'' in Warsaw (Poland), Arnold Walfisz studied (1909−14 and 1918−21) in Germany at Munich, Berlin, Heide ...

(where he was Georgian students’ champion in the 100 metres), as well as in

Tomsk Tomsk ( rus, Томск, p=tomsk, sty, Түң-тора) is a city and the administrative center of Tomsk Oblast in Russia, located on the Tom River. Population: Founded in 1604, Tomsk is one of the oldest cities in Siberia. The city is a not ...

. After that, he was a researcher in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

at the

Steklov Institute of Mathematics Steklov Institute of Mathematics or Steklov Mathematical Institute (russian: Математический институт имени В.А.Стеклова) is a premier research institute based in Moscow, specialized in mathematics, and a part ...

with

Ivan Matveyevich Vinogradov Ivan Matveevich Vinogradov ( rus, Ива́н Матве́евич Виногра́дов, p=ɪˈvan mɐtˈvʲejɪvʲɪtɕ vʲɪnɐˈɡradəf, a=Ru-Ivan_Matveyevich_Vinogradov.ogg; 14 September 1891 – 20 March 1983) was a Soviet mathematician, ...

, especially on Number theory and Coding theory, and the Ministry of Radio Engineering (working in

Cryptography Cryptography, or cryptology (from grc, , translit=kryptós "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or ''-logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adver ...

). In 1957 he proved the Gilbert-Varshamov bound for

linear code In coding theory, a linear code is an error-correcting code for which any linear combination of codewords is also a codeword. Linear codes are traditionally partitioned into block codes and convolutional codes, although turbo codes can be seen as ...

s (independently of

Edgar Gilbert Edgar Nelson Gilbert (July 25, 1923 – June 15, 2013) was an American mathematician and coding theorist, a longtime researcher at Bell Laboratories whose accomplishments include the Gilbert–Varshamov bound in coding theory, the Gilbert–Ellio ...

who proved the non-linear part). From 1968 he worked in

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...

and was director of the Computer Centre (now Institute for Informatics and Automation Problems) of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR. He was author and co-author of more than 25 scientific articles and also a member of the

Armenian National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia (NAS RA) ( hy, Հայաստանի Հանրապետության գիտությունների ազգային ակադեմիա, ՀՀ ԳԱԱ, ''Hayastani Hanrapetut’yan gitut’yunneri az ...

Selected bibliography

* Varshamov, R. R.: ''Estimate of the number of signals in error correcting codes'' (Russian), Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR 117, 739–741, 1957 :(English Translation in I. F. Blake: ''Algebraic Coding Theory: History and Development'', Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross, 1973, pp 68–71) * Varshamov, R. R.: ''A class of codes for symmetric channels and a problem from the additive theory of numbers'', IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory 19, 92–95, 1973 * Varshamov, R. R.: ''On a method in the theory of reducibility of polynomials over a finite field'', Sov. Math., Dokl. 44, No.1, 194–199, 1992; translation from Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR 319, No.4, 787-791, 1991

References

External links

Varshamov on mathnet.ru

Article in Golos Armenii, April 10, 2007, electronic version No. 142 of 26.12.09
20th-century Armenian mathematicians Mathematicians from Georgia (country) Soviet mathematicians 1927 births 1999 deaths Scientists from Tbilisi Georgian people of Armenian descent Soviet Armenians {{mathematician-stub