T. V. Raman (born 4 May 1965) is a

computer scientist A computer scientist is a person who is trained in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation, as opposed to the hardware side on which computer engineers mainly focus (al ...

who specializes in

accessibility Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...

research.Gibbs, W.W. (1996) ''Profile: T. V. Raman – Envisioning Speech'', ''

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 ...

'' 275(3), 52-54. His research interests are primarily in the areas of auditory user interfaces and structured electronic documents. He has worked on speech interaction and markup technologies in the context of the

World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet. Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web se ...

Digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Technology and computing Hardware *Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals **Digital camera, which captures and stores digital i ...

's Cambridge Research Lab (CRL),

Adobe Systems Adobe Inc. ( ), originally called Adobe Systems Incorporated, is an American multinational computer software company incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in San Jose, California. It has historically specialized in software for the crea ...

and IBM Research. He currently works at

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

Research. Raman has himself been

partially sighted Visual impairment, also known as vision impairment, is a medical definition primarily measured based on an individual's better eye visual acuity; in the absence of treatment such as correctable eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment� ...

since birth, and blind since the age of 14.

Early life and education

He grew up in

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Raman became blind at the age of 14 due to

glaucoma Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that result in damage to the optic nerve (or retina) and cause vision loss. The most common type is open-angle (wide angle, chronic simple) glaucoma, in which the drainage angle for fluid within the eye rem ...

, being previously

and able to see with his left eye. To deal with his blindness he had his brother, his mentors, and his aide read out textbooks and problems to him. Although unable to see, he was able to solve

Rubik's Cube The Rubik's Cube is a Three-dimensional space, 3-D combination puzzle originally invented in 1974 by Hungarians, Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik. Originally called the Magic Cube, the puzzle was licensed by Rubik t ...

with a braille version, write

computer program A computer program is a sequence or set of instructions in a programming language for a computer to execute. Computer programs are one component of software, which also includes documentation and other intangible components. A computer program ...

s, and perform mathematics. Raman attended the

University of Pune Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), formerly the University of Poona, is a collegiate public state university located in the city of Pune, India. It was established in 1949, and is spread over a campus in the neighbourhood of Ganeshk ...

with a BS in mathematics,

IIT Bombay The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay or IITB) is a public research university and technical institute in Powai, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is considered as one of the best engineering universities in India and is top ranked ...

with an MS in mathematics, and

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

earning an MS in computer science and a PhD in

applied mathematics Applied mathematics is the application of mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a combination of mathematical s ...

under advisor

David Gries David Gries (born April 26, 1939 in Flushing, Queens, New York) is an American computer scientist at Cornell University, United States mainly known for his books ''The Science of Programming'' (1981) and ''A Logical Approach to Discrete Math'' ( ...

. His PhD thesis titled "Audio System For Technical Readings (AsTeR)" was awarded the

ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award The ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award is awarded annually by the Association for Computing Machinery to the authors of the best doctoral dissertations in computer science and computer engineering. The award is accompanied by a prize of US $20,000 a ...

in 1994.

Career

Recently Raman has incorporated these features in the Chrome browser."T.V. Raman’s Audio Deja Vu: From Google, a Math-Reading System for the web"
/ref> Raman went on to apply the ideas on audio formatting introduced in AsTeR to the more general domain of computer interfaces

Emacspeak Emacspeak is a free computer application, a speech interface, and an audio desktop (as opposed to a screen reader). It employs Emacs (which is written in C), Emacs Lisp, and Tcl. Developed principally by T. V. Raman (himself blind since chil ...

. On 12 April 1999, Emacspeak became part of the Smithsonian's Permanent Research Collection on Information Technology at the Smithsonian's

National Museum of American History The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center collects, preserves, and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific, and military history. Among the items on display is t ...

. In 2005 he began work at Google. In 2018,

felicitated Raman with a Distinguished Alumnus Award

Work

* AsTeR – Audio System For Technical Readings * Aural CSS – producing rich auditory presentations from Web content *

– the complete audio desktop * XForms – Next Generation Web Forms * XML Events – A reusable eventing syntax for XML *

XHTML+Voice Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML) is part of the family of XML markup languages. It mirrors or extends versions of the widely used HyperText Markup Language (HTML), the language in which Web pages are formulated. While HTML, prior t ...

– Enabling the multimodal Web via voice interaction * RDC – Reusable Dialog Components * AxsJAX – Access Enabling AJAX * Google Accessible Search – for finding accessible Web content * Thinking Of Mathematics – Thinking Of Mathematics—An Essay on Eyes-Free Computing * Eyes-Free – Speech enabled Google Android applications. * ChromeVox – Screen reader from

Google Chrome Google Chrome is a cross-platform web browser developed by Google. It was first released in 2008 for Microsoft Windows, built with free software components from Apple WebKit and Mozilla Firefox. Versions were later released for Linux, macOS ...

and ChromeOS

Other Interests

His favorite hobby is recreational mathematics, especially those that involve an intuitive feel for mathematics. Raman, T.V. and Krishnamoorthy, M. S. "Visual Techniques for Computing Polyhedral Volumes

/ref>

References

External links

T.V. Raman's Personal Home Page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Raman, T. V. Indian computer scientists Living people 1965 births Cornell University alumni Blind academics Scientists from Pune Google employees IIT Bombay alumni