Frank Thomson "Tom" Leighton (born 1956) is the CEO of
Akamai Technologies
Akamai Technologies, Inc. is an American content delivery networkJ. Dilley, B. Maggs, J. Parikh, H. Prokop, R. Sitaraman, and B. Weihl. (CDN), cybersecurity, and cloud service company, providing web and Internet security services. Akamai's Inte ...
, the company he co-founded with the late
Daniel Lewin
Daniel Mark Lewin ( he, דניאל "דני" מארק לוין; May 14, 1970 – September 11, 2001), sometimes spelled Levin, was an American–Israeli mathematician and entrepreneur who co-founded internet company Akamai Technologies. A pas ...
in 1998.
[Erik Nygren, ]Ramesh Sitaraman
Ramesh Sitaraman is an Indian American computer scientist known for his work on distributed algorithms, content delivery networks, streaming video delivery, and application delivery networks. He helped build the Akamai content delivery network, o ...
, and Jennifer Sun. As one of the world's preeminent authorities on algorithms for network applications and cybersecurity, Dr. Leighton discovered a solution to free up web congestion using applied mathematics and distributed computing.
He is on leave as a
professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...
of
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 ...
and a member of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at 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 ...
(MIT). He received his
B.S.E. 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 1978, and his
Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...
in Mathematics from MIT in 1981.
His brother David T. Leighton is a full professor at the
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...
, specializing in transport phenomena. Their father was a
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...
colleague and friend of Admiral
Hyman G. Rickover
Hyman G. Rickover (January 27, 1900 – July 8, 1986) was an admiral in the U.S. Navy. He directed the original development of naval nuclear propulsion and controlled its operations for three decades as director of the U.S. Naval Reactors offic ...
, the father of
naval nuclear propulsion and a founder of the
Research Science Institute
The Research Science Institute (RSI) is an international summer research program for high school students. RSI is sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Education (CEE) and hosted by MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. RSI brings together the top S ...
(RSI).
Dr. Leighton has served on numerous government, industry, and academic advisory panels, including the Presidential Informational Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC) and chaired its subcommittee on
cybersecurity
Computer security, cybersecurity (cyber security), or information technology security (IT security) is the protection of computer systems and networks from attack by malicious actors that may result in unauthorized information disclosure, the ...
. He serves on the board of trustees of the
Society for Science & the Public
Society for Science, formerly known as Science Service and later Society for Science and the Public, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of science, through its science education programs and publications, including ...
(SSP) and of the
Center for Excellence in Education
The Center for Excellence in Education (CEE) is an American private nonprofit organization that seeks to help academically outstanding high school and college students achieve successful careers in science and technology and fulfill leadership ro ...
(CEE), and he has participated in the Distinguished Lecture Series at CEE's flagship program for high school students, the
Research Science Institute
The Research Science Institute (RSI) is an international summer research program for high school students. RSI is sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Education (CEE) and hosted by MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. RSI brings together the top S ...
(RSI).
Awards and honors
* The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) awarded Leighton the John von Neumann Medal in 2023 for “For fundamental contributions to algorithm design and their application to content delivery networks.”
* In 2018, Leighton won the Marconi Prize from the Marconi Society for "his fundamental contributions to the technology and establishment of content delivery networks".
* He was elected as an
ACM Fellow
ACM or A.C.M. may refer to:
Aviation
* AGM-129 ACM, 1990–2012 USAF cruise missile
* Air chief marshal
* Air combat manoeuvring or dogfighting
* Air cycle machine
* Arica Airport (Colombia) (IATA: ACM), in Arica, Amazonas, Colombia
Computing
...
in 2018 for "his leadership in the establishment of content delivery networks, and his contributions to algorithm design".
* In 2017, Leighton and Lewin were inducted into the
National Inventors Hall of Fame
The National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) is an American not-for-profit organization, founded in 1973, which recognizes individual engineers and inventors who hold a U.S. patent of significant technology. Besides the Hall of Fame, it also opera ...
, for Content Delivery Network methods.
* He is a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
* In 2012, Leighton 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, ...
.
* In 2008, Leighton was appointed as a member of the
United States 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 ...
.
* In 2004, Leighton was elected a member of the
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 ...
for contributions to the design of networks and circuits and for technology for Web content delivery.
* In 2001, Leighton received the
IEEE Computer Society Charles Babbage Award
In 1989, the International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium established the Charles Babbage Award to be given each year to a conference participant in recognition of exceptional contributions to the field. In almost all cases, the awa ...
.
* In 1981, Leighton was named the first winner of the
Machtey Award
The Machtey Award is awarded at the annual IEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science (FOCS) to the author(s) of the best student paper(s). A paper qualifies as a student paper if all authors are full-time students at the date of the submiss ...
.
Personal life
He is married to the MIT professor
Bonnie Berger
Bonnie Anne Berger is an American mathematician and computer scientist, who works as the Simons professor of mathematics and professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research inter ...
, and they have two children.
Books
* ''Introduction to Parallel Algorithms and Architectures: Arrays, Trees, Hypercubes'' (Morgan Kaufmann, 1991), .
* ''Complexity Issues in VLSI: Optimal layouts for the shuffle-exchange graph and other networks'', (MIT Press, 1983), .
* ''Mathematics for Computer Science'' (with Eric Lehman and Albert R. Meyer, 2010)
References
External links
CSAIL bioAkamai bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leighton, F. Thomson
American computer scientists
Theoretical computer scientists
Living people
Fellows of the American Mathematical Society
Fellows of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
Fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery
Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Princeton University School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni
Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni
Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty
20th-century American engineers
21st-century American engineers
20th-century American scientists
21st-century American scientists
1956 births
Akamai Technologies people