Peter Elias
Encyclopedia
Peter Elias was a pioneer in the field of information theory
. Born in New Brunswick, New Jersey
, he was a member of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
faculty from 1953 to 1991.
In 1955, Elias introduced convolutional code
s as an alternative to block code
s. He also established the binary erasure channel
and proposed list decoding of error-correcting codes as an alternative to unique decoding
.
Elias received in 1998 a Golden Jubilee Award for Technological Innovation from the IEEE Information Theory Society
; and in 2002 the IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal, for "fundamental and pioneering contributions to information theory and its applications".
He died at 78 of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
.
Information theory
Information theory is a branch of applied mathematics and electrical engineering involving the quantification of information. Information theory was developed by Claude E. Shannon to find fundamental limits on signal processing operations such as compressing data and on reliably storing and...
. Born in New Brunswick, New Jersey
New Brunswick, New Jersey
New Brunswick is a city in Middlesex County, New Jersey, USA. It is the county seat and the home of Rutgers University. The city is located on the Northeast Corridor rail line, southwest of Manhattan, on the southern bank of the Raritan River. At the 2010 United States Census, the population of...
, he was a member of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
faculty from 1953 to 1991.
In 1955, Elias introduced convolutional code
Convolutional code
In telecommunication, a convolutional code is a type of error-correcting code in which* each m-bit information symbol to be encoded is transformed into an n-bit symbol, where m/n is the code rate and...
s as an alternative to block code
Block code
In coding theory, block codes refers to the large and important family of error-correcting codes that encode data in blocks.There is a vast number of examples for block codes, many of which have a wide range of practical applications...
s. He also established the binary erasure channel
Binary erasure channel
A binary erasure channel is a common communications channel model used in coding theory and information theory. In this model, a transmitter sends a bit , and the receiver either receives the bit or it receives a message that the bit was not received...
and proposed list decoding of error-correcting codes as an alternative to unique decoding
Decoding methods
In communication theory and coding theory, decoding is the process of translating received messages into codewords of a given code. There have been many common methods of mapping messages to codewords...
.
Elias received in 1998 a Golden Jubilee Award for Technological Innovation from the IEEE Information Theory Society
IEEE Information Theory Society
The IEEE Information Theory Society , formerly the IEEE Information Theory Group, is a professional society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers focused on several aspects of information: its processing, transmission, storage, and usage; and the "foundations of the...
; and in 2002 the IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal, for "fundamental and pioneering contributions to information theory and its applications".
He died at 78 of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease or CJD is a degenerative neurological disorder that is incurable and invariably fatal. CJD is at times called a human form of mad cow disease, given that bovine spongiform encephalopathy is believed to be the cause of variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease in humans.CJD...
.