Richard Hamming
Encyclopedia
Richard Wesley Hamming was an American
mathematician
whose work had many implications for computer science
and telecommunications. His contributions include the Hamming code
(which makes use of a Hamming matrix), the Hamming window (described in Section 5.8 of his book Digital Filters), Hamming numbers, Sphere-packing (or hamming bound
) and the Hamming distance
.
in 1937, a master's degree from the University of Nebraska in 1939, and finally a Ph.D.
from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
in 1942. He was a professor at the University of Louisville
during World War II
, and left to work on the Manhattan Project
in 1945, programming one of the earliest electronic digital computers to calculate the solution to equations provided by the project's physicists. The objective of the program was to discover if the detonation of an atomic bomb would ignite the atmosphere
. The result of the computation was that this would not occur, and so the United States
used the bomb, first in a test in New Mexico
, and then twice against Japan
.
Later, from 1946 to 1976, he worked at the Bell Telephone Laboratories
, where he collaborated with Claude E. Shannon. During this period, he was an Adjunct Professor at the City College of New York
, School of Engineering.
On July 23, 1976 he moved to the Naval Postgraduate School
, where he worked as an Adjunct Professor until 1997,
when he became Professor Emeritus. He died a year later in 1998.
He was a founder and president of the Association for Computing Machinery
. His philosophy on scientific computing appears as preface to his 1962 book on numerical methods: The purpose of computing is insight, not numbers.
The IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal, named after him, is an award given annually by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
(IEEE), for "exceptional contributions to information sciences, systems
and technology
", and he was the first recipient of this medal.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
whose work had many implications for computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
and telecommunications. His contributions include the Hamming code
Hamming code
In telecommunication, Hamming codes are a family of linear error-correcting codes that generalize the Hamming-code invented by Richard Hamming in 1950. Hamming codes can detect up to two and correct up to one bit errors. By contrast, the simple parity code cannot correct errors, and can detect only...
(which makes use of a Hamming matrix), the Hamming window (described in Section 5.8 of his book Digital Filters), Hamming numbers, Sphere-packing (or hamming bound
Hamming bound
In mathematics and computer science, in the field of coding theory, the Hamming bound is a limit on the parameters of an arbitrary block code: it is also known as the sphere-packing bound or the volume bound from an interpretation in terms of packing balls in the Hamming metric into the space of...
) and the Hamming distance
Hamming distance
In information theory, the Hamming distance between two strings of equal length is the number of positions at which the corresponding symbols are different...
.
Biography
He received his bachelor's degree from the University of ChicagoUniversity of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
in 1937, a master's degree from the University of Nebraska in 1939, and finally a Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
in 1942. He was a professor at the University of Louisville
University of Louisville
The University of Louisville is a public university in Louisville, Kentucky. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of the first universities chartered west of the Allegheny Mountains. The university is mandated by the Kentucky General...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and left to work on the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
in 1945, programming one of the earliest electronic digital computers to calculate the solution to equations provided by the project's physicists. The objective of the program was to discover if the detonation of an atomic bomb would ignite the atmosphere
Earth's atmosphere
The atmosphere of Earth is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth that is retained by Earth's gravity. The atmosphere protects life on Earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, warming the surface through heat retention , and reducing temperature extremes between day and night...
. The result of the computation was that this would not occur, and so the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
used the bomb, first in a test in New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, and then twice against Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
Later, from 1946 to 1976, he worked at the Bell Telephone Laboratories
Bell Labs
Bell Laboratories is the research and development subsidiary of the French-owned Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company , half-owned through its Western Electric manufacturing subsidiary.Bell Laboratories operates its...
, where he collaborated with Claude E. Shannon. During this period, he was an Adjunct Professor at the City College of New York
City College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York , in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning...
, School of Engineering.
On July 23, 1976 he moved to the Naval Postgraduate School
Naval Postgraduate School
The Naval Postgraduate School is an accredited research university operated by the United States Navy. Located in Monterey, California, it grants master's degrees, Engineer's degrees and doctoral degrees...
, where he worked as an Adjunct Professor until 1997,
when he became Professor Emeritus. He died a year later in 1998.
He was a founder and president of the Association for Computing Machinery
Association for Computing Machinery
The Association for Computing Machinery is a learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership is more than 92,000 as of 2009...
. His philosophy on scientific computing appears as preface to his 1962 book on numerical methods: The purpose of computing is insight, not numbers.
Awards and professional recognition
- Turing AwardTuring AwardThe Turing Award, in full The ACM A.M. Turing Award, is an annual award given by the Association for Computing Machinery to "an individual selected for contributions of a technical nature made to the computing community. The contributions should be of lasting and major technical importance to the...
, Association for Computing MachineryAssociation for Computing MachineryThe Association for Computing Machinery is a learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership is more than 92,000 as of 2009...
, 1968. - Fellow of the IEEE, 1968.
- IEEE Emanuel R. Piore AwardIEEE Emanuel R. Piore AwardThe IEEE Emanuel R. Piore Award is a Technical Field Award given each year by the IEEE to an individual or small team that has made outstanding contributions to information processing systems in relation to computer science. The award is named in honor of Emanuel R. Piore.The award was established...
, 1979. - Member of the National Academy of EngineeringNational Academy of EngineeringThe National Academy of Engineering is a government-created non-profit institution in the United States, that was founded in 1964 under the same congressional act that led to the founding of the National Academy of Sciences...
, 1980. - Harold Pender AwardHarold Pender AwardThe Harold Pender Award, initiated in 1972 and named after founding Dean Harold Pender, is given by the Faculty of the School of Engineering and Applied Science of the University of Pennsylvania to an outstanding member of the engineering profession who has achieved distinction by significant...
, University of PennsylvaniaUniversity of PennsylvaniaThe University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, 1981. - IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal, 1988.
- Fellow of the Association for Computing MachineryAssociation for Computing MachineryThe Association for Computing Machinery is a learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership is more than 92,000 as of 2009...
, 1994. - Basic Research Award, Eduard Rhein Foundation, 1996.
- Certificate of Merit, Franklin InstituteFranklin InstituteThe Franklin Institute is a museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and one of the oldest centers of science education and development in the United States, dating to 1824. The Institute also houses the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial.-History:On February 5, 1824, Samuel Vaughn Merrick and...
, 1996
The IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal, named after him, is an award given annually by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is a non-profit professional association headquartered in New York City that is dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence...
(IEEE), for "exceptional contributions to information sciences, systems
Information systems
Information Systems is an academic/professional discipline bridging the business field and the well-defined computer science field that is evolving toward a new scientific area of study...
and technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
", and he was the first recipient of this medal.
Books
- Numerical Methods for Scientists and Engineers, McGraw-HillMcGraw-HillThe McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., is a publicly traded corporation headquartered in Rockefeller Center in New York City. Its primary areas of business are financial, education, publishing, broadcasting, and business services...
, 1962; second edition 1973. Dover paperback reprint: . - Calculus and the Computer Revolution, Houghton-Mifflin, 1968.
- Introduction To Applied Numerical Analysis, McGraw-Hill, 1971.
- Computers and Society, McGraw-Hill, 1972.
- Digital Filters, Prentice HallPrentice HallPrentice Hall is a major educational publisher. It is an imprint of Pearson Education, Inc., based in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, USA. Prentice Hall publishes print and digital content for the 6-12 and higher-education market. Prentice Hall distributes its technical titles through the Safari...
, 1977; second edition 1983; third edition 1989; Paperback reprint: - Coding and Information Theory, Prentice Hall 1980; second edition 1986.
- Methods of Mathematics Applied to Calculus, Probability, and Statistics, Prentice Hall, 1985. Paperback reprint:
- Unconventional introductory textbook which attempts to both teach calculus and give some idea of what it is good for at the same time. Might be of special interest to someone teaching an introductory calculus course using a conventional textbook, in order to pick up some new pedagogical viewpoints.
- The Art of Probability for Scientists and Engineers, Addison-WesleyAddison-WesleyAddison-Wesley was a book publisher in Boston, Massachusetts, best known for its textbooks and computer literature. As well as publishing books, Addison-Wesley also distributed its technical titles through the Safari Books Online e-reference service...
, 1991; Paperback reprint:- Entertaining and instructive. Hamming tries to extract general lessons—both personal and technical – to aid one in having a successful technical career by telling stories from his own experiences.
- (Some of this material relating to the self-management of one's technical career can be found online in You and Your Research, .)
- One of Hamming's lessons is never trust without question someone who claims to be giving you highly accurate data to analyze – not because they're deliberately lying to you but because the data is never as accurate as people think.
Appearances
- Hamming discusses the use and potential of computers in the 1965 film Logic By Machine.
Quotes
- The purpose of computing is insight, not numbers. Dedication to his book:
- In this book Hamming taught that tailoring a numerical method to fit a physical problem, rather than blindly using a generic 'all-purpose' routine, could provide insight into the problem by underlining its peculiarities. Later in the book, he restates the dedication as * The purpose of computing numbers is not yet in sight.
- Does anyone believe that the difference between the LebesgueLebesgue integrationIn mathematics, Lebesgue integration, named after French mathematician Henri Lebesgue , refers to both the general theory of integration of a function with respect to a general measure, and to the specific case of integration of a function defined on a subset of the real line or a higher...
and RiemannRiemann integralIn the branch of mathematics known as real analysis, the Riemann integral, created by Bernhard Riemann, was the first rigorous definition of the integral of a function on an interval. The Riemann integral is unsuitable for many theoretical purposes...
integralIntegralIntegration is an important concept in mathematics and, together with its inverse, differentiation, is one of the two main operations in calculus...
s can have physical significance, and that whether say, an airplane would or would not fly could depend on this difference? If such were claimed, I should not care to fly in that plane. - There are wavelengths that people cannot see, there are sounds that people cannot hear, and maybe computers have thoughts that people cannot think. ( Recalled by Alan G. Chynoweth in his introduction of RW Hamming before his talk You and your research, which may be a misquote from Hamming's famous paper "The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics".)
- Whereas Newton could say, "If I have seen a little farther than others, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants," I am forced to say, "Today we stand on each other's feet." Perhaps the central problem we face in all of computer science is how we are to get to the situation where we build on top of the work of others rather than redoing so much of it in a trivially different way. (1968 Turing Award lecture)
- What are the most important problems in your field? Are you working on one of them? Why not? (Generalization from You and Your Research)
- The Institute for Advanced StudyInstitute for Advanced StudyThe Institute for Advanced Study, located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States, is an independent postgraduate center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It was founded in 1930 by Abraham Flexner...
in Princeton, in my opinion, has ruined more good scientists than any institution has created. (You and Your Research) - True greatness is when your name is like ampere, watt, and fourier - when it's spelled with a lower case letter. (You and Your Research)
- It is better to solve the right problem the wrong way than to solve the wrong problem the right way. (Attributed without citation by Samuel P Morgan in his biography of RW Hamming.)
- In research, if you know what you are doing, then you shouldn't be doing it. from his book: Numerical methods for scientists and engineers, p. 395.
- Beware of finding what you're looking for. http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000966.html
- Machines should work. People should think. Also attributed to Thomas J Watson, occasionally in the form "Machines might give us more time to think but will never do our thinking for us."
- You cannot have a science without measurement. Probably not original with Hamming; the same statement was made by William Fielding OgburnWilliam Fielding OgburnWilliam Fielding Ogburn was an American sociologist who was born in Butler, Georgia and died in Tallahassee, Florida. He was also a statistician and an educator. Ogburn received his B.A. degree from Mercer University and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University...
, sociologist, for example, and by Galileo GalileiGalileo GalileiGalileo Galilei , was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations and support for Copernicanism...
.
External links
- "Richard Hamming." FOLDOCFree On-line Dictionary of ComputingThe Free On-line Dictionary of Computing is an online, searchable, encyclopedic dictionary of computing subjects. It was founded in 1985 by Denis Howe and is hosted by Imperial College London...
- New York Times obituary