Solomon Wolf Golomb (; May 30, 1932 – May 1, 2016) was an American

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 O ...

, engineer, and professor of

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 ...

at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

, best known for his works on

mathematical games A mathematical game is a game whose rules, strategies, and outcomes are defined by clear mathematical parameters. Often, such games have simple rules and match procedures, such as Tic-tac-toe and Dots and Boxes. Generally, mathematical games ne ...

. Most notably, he invented Cheskers (a hybrid between chess and

checkers Checkers (American English), also known as draughts (; British English), is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. Checkers i ...

) in 1948 and coined the name. He also fully described

polyomino A polyomino is a plane geometric figure formed by joining one or more equal squares edge to edge. It is a polyform whose cells are squares. It may be regarded as a finite subset of the regular square tiling. Polyominoes have been used in pop ...

es and

pentomino Derived from the Greek word for ' 5', and " domino", a pentomino (or 5-omino) is a polyomino of order 5, that is, a polygon in the plane made of 5 equal-sized squares connected edge-to-edge. When rotations and reflections are not considered to ...

es in 1953. He specialized in problems of combinatorial analysis,

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 integer-valued functions. German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855) said, "Mathe ...

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 studied ...

, and communications.

Pentomino Derived from the Greek word for ' 5', and " domino", a pentomino (or 5-omino) is a polyomino of order 5, that is, a polygon in the plane made of 5 equal-sized squares connected edge-to-edge. When rotations and reflections are not considered to ...

boardgames, based on his work, would go on to inspire

Tetris ''Tetris'' (russian: link=no, Тетрис) is a puzzle video game created by Soviet software engineer Alexey Pajitnov in 1984. It has been published by several companies for multiple platforms, most prominently during a dispute over the approp ...

Achievements

Golomb, a graduate of the

Baltimore City College Baltimore City College, known colloquially as City, City College, and B.C.C., is a college preparatory school with a liberal arts focus and selective school, selective admissions criteria located in Baltimore, Maryland. Opened in October 1839, B ...

high school, received his bachelor's degree from

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consiste ...

and master's and doctorate degree in mathematics from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1957 with a dissertation on "Problems in the Distribution of the Prime Numbers". While working at the

Glenn L. Martin Company The Glenn L. Martin Company—also known as The Martin Company from 1957-1961—was an American aircraft and aerospace manufacturing company founded by aviation pioneer Glenn L. Martin, and operated between 1917-1961. The Martin Company produce ...

he became interested in communications theory and began his work on shift register sequences. He spent his Fulbright year at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

and then joined the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

, where he researched military and space communications. He joined the faculty of

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

in 1963 and was awarded full tenure two years later. Golomb pioneered the identification of the characteristics and merits of maximum length shift register sequences, also known as

pseudorandom A pseudorandom sequence of numbers is one that appears to be statistically random, despite having been produced by a completely deterministic and repeatable process. Background The generation of random numbers has many uses, such as for random ...

or pseudonoise sequences, which have extensive military, industrial and consumer applications. Today, millions of cordless and cellular phones employ pseudorandom

direct-sequence spread spectrum In telecommunications, direct-sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) is a spread-spectrum modulation technique primarily used to reduce overall signal interference. The direct-sequence modulation makes the transmitted signal wider in bandwidth than th ...

implemented with shift register sequences. His efforts made USC a center for communications research. Golomb was the inventor of

Golomb coding Golomb coding is a lossless data compression method using a family of data compression codes invented by Solomon W. Golomb in the 1960s. Alphabets following a geometric distribution will have a Golomb code as an optimal prefix code, making Golomb ...

, a form of

entropy encoding In information theory, an entropy coding (or entropy encoding) is any lossless data compression method that attempts to approach the lower bound declared by Shannon's source coding theorem, which states that any lossless data compression method m ...

Golomb ruler In mathematics, a Golomb ruler is a set of marks at integer positions along a ruler such that no two pairs of marks are the same distance apart. The number of marks on the ruler is its ''order'', and the largest distance between two of its m ...

s, used in astronomy and in data encryption, are also named for him, as is one of the main generation techniques of

Costas array In mathematics, a Costas array can be regarded geometrically as a set of ''n'' points, each at the center of a square in an ''n''×''n'' square tiling such that each row or column contains only one point, and all of the ''n''(''n'' &minu ...

s, the Lempel-Golomb generation method. He was a regular columnist, writing Golomb's Puzzle Column in 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 operati ...

Information Society Newsletter. He was also a frequent contributor to ''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it i ...

s ''Mathematical Games'' column (The column did much to publicize his discoveries about polyominoes and pentominoes) and a frequent participant in

Gathering 4 Gardner Gathering 4 Gardner (G4G) is an educational foundation and non-profit corporation (Gathering 4 Gardner, Inc.) devoted to preserving the legacy and spirit of prolific writer Martin Gardner. G4G organizes conferences where people who have been inspi ...

conferences. Among his contributions to recreational mathematics are ''

Rep-tiles In the geometry of tessellations, a rep-tile or reptile is a shape that can be dissected into smaller copies of the same shape. The term was coined as a pun on animal reptiles by recreational mathematician Solomon W. Golomb and popularized by M ...

''. He also contributed a puzzle to each issue of the ''Johns Hopkins Magazine,'' a monthly publication of his undergraduate alma mater, for a column called "Golomb's Gambits", and was a frequent contributor to '' Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics''.

Awards

Golomb was a member of both the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Science. In 1985, he received the Shannon Award of the Information Theory Society of the IEEE. In 1992, he received the medal of the U.S.

National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collectio ...

for his research, and has also been the recipient of the Lomonosov Medal of the

Russian Academy of Science The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across ...

and the Kapitsa Medal of the

Russian Academy of Natural Sciences The Russian Academy of Natural Sciences (Russian: Российская академия естественных наук) is a Russian non-governmental organization founded on August 31 1990 in Moscow in the former Soviet Union, following a dec ...

. In 2000, he was awarded the

IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal The IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal is presented annually to up to three persons, for outstanding achievements in information sciences, information systems and information technology. The recipients receive a gold medal, together with a replica in ...

for his exceptional contributions to information sciences and systems. He was singled out as a major figure of coding and information theory for over four decades, specifically for his ability to apply advanced mathematics to problems in digital communications. Golomb was one of the first high profile professors to attempt the

Ronald K. Hoeflin Ronald K. Hoeflin (born February 23, 1944) is an American philosopher by profession, creator of the MegaMorris, Scot. "The one-in-a-million I.Q. test". Omni magazine, April 1985, pp 128-132. and Titan"Mind Games: the hardest IQ test you'll ever l ...

Mega IQ power test, which originally appeared in Omni Magazine. He scored at least IQ 176, which represents of the unselected population. In 2012, he became a fellow of the

American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...

. That same year, it was announced that he had been selected to receive the

National Medal of Science The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social scienc ...

. In 2014, he was elected as a fellow of the

Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) is a professional society dedicated to applied mathematics, computational science, and data science through research, publications, and community. SIAM is the world's largest scientific socie ...

"for contributions to coding theory, data encryption, communications, and mathematical games." In 2013, he was awarded the

2011. In 2016, he was awarded the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Electrical Engineering "for pioneering work in space communications and the design of digital spread spectrum signals, transmissions that provide security, interference suppression, and precise location for cryptography; missile guidance; defense, space, and cellular communications; radar; sonar; and GPS."

Selected books

*
Signal Design for Good Correlation
' () *''

Polyominoes A polyomino is a plane geometric figure formed by joining one or more equal squares edge to edge. It is a polyform whose cells are squares. It may be regarded as a finite subset of the regular square tiling. Polyominoes have been used in pop ...

'', Princeton University Press; 2nd edition 1996, *''Shift Register Sequences'', San Francisco, Holden-Day, 1967.

References

External links

Biography of Dr. Golomb at the USC Electrical Engineering Department's website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Golomb, Solomon W. 1932 births 2016 deaths 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Combinatorial game theorists Recreational mathematicians Mathematics popularizers Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni American information theorists Johns Hopkins University alumni Number theorists University of Southern California faculty Baltimore City College alumni Tetris Chess variant inventors National Medal of Science laureates Fellows of the American Mathematical Society Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences 20th-century American Jews Fellows of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Burials at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery Mathematicians from Maryland 21st-century American Jews

Achievements

Awards

Selected books

See also

References

External links