Vladimir Vapnik
Encyclopedia
Vladimir Naumovich Vapnik is one of the main developers of Vapnik–Chervonenkis theory. He was born in the Soviet Union
. He received his master's degree
in mathematics
at the Uzbek State University, Samarkand
, Uzbek SSR in 1958 and Ph.D
in statistics
at the Institute of Control Sciences, Moscow
in 1964. He worked at this institute from 1961 to 1990 and became Head of the Computer Science Research Department. At the end of 1990, he moved to the USA
and joined the Adaptive Systems Research Department at AT&T
Bell Labs
in Holmdel, New Jersey. The group later became the Image Processing Research Department of AT&T Laboratories
when AT&T spun off Lucent Technologies
in 1996. Vapnik Left AT&T in 2002 and joined NEC
Laboratories in Princeton, New Jersey
, where he currently works in the Machine Learning group. He also holds a Professor of Computer Science and Statistics position at Royal Holloway, University of London
since 1995, as well as a position as Professor of Computer Science at Columbia University
, New York City
since 2003.
He was inducted into the U.S. National Academy of Engineering
in 2006. He received the 2008 Paris Kanellakis Award
and the 2012 IEEE Frank Rosenblatt Award
.
While at AT&T, Vapnik and his colleagues developed the theory of the support vector machine
. They demonstrated its performance on a number of problems of interest to the machine learning
community, including handwriting recognition
.
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. He received his master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
at the Uzbek State University, Samarkand
Samarkand
Although a Persian-speaking region, it was not united politically with Iran most of the times between the disintegration of the Seleucid Empire and the Arab conquest . In the 6th century it was within the domain of the Turkic kingdom of the Göktürks.At the start of the 8th century Samarkand came...
, Uzbek SSR in 1958 and 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...
in statistics
Statistics
Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
at the Institute of Control Sciences, Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
in 1964. He worked at this institute from 1961 to 1990 and became Head of the Computer Science Research Department. At the end of 1990, he moved to the USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and joined the Adaptive Systems Research Department at AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
Bell Labs
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...
in Holmdel, New Jersey. The group later became the Image Processing Research Department of AT&T Laboratories
AT&T Laboratories
AT&T Laboratories, Inc. was the research & development division of AT&T Corporation. It was founded in 1925 as Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc., following the merger of the research & development divisions of American Telephone & Telegraph and Western Electric.-History:In 1996, most of Bell Labs...
when AT&T spun off Lucent Technologies
Lucent Technologies
Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc., originally Lucent Technologies, Inc. is a French-owned technology company composed of what was formerly AT&T Technologies, which included Western Electric and Bell Labs...
in 1996. Vapnik Left AT&T in 2002 and joined NEC
NEC
, a Japanese multinational IT company, has its headquarters in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. NEC, part of the Sumitomo Group, provides information technology and network solutions to business enterprises, communications services providers and government....
Laboratories in Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton is a community located in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It is best known as the location of Princeton University, which has been sited in the community since 1756...
, where he currently works in the Machine Learning group. He also holds a Professor of Computer Science and Statistics position at Royal Holloway, University of London
Royal Holloway, University of London
Royal Holloway, University of London is a constituent college of the University of London. The college has three faculties, 18 academic departments, and about 8,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students from over 130 different countries...
since 1995, as well as a position as Professor of Computer Science at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
since 2003.
He was inducted into the U.S. National Academy of Engineering
National Academy of Engineering
The 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...
in 2006. He received the 2008 Paris Kanellakis Award
Paris Kanellakis Award
The Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award is granted yearly by the Association for Computing Machinery to honor specific theoretical accomplishments that have had a significant and demonstrable effect on the practice of computing...
and the 2012 IEEE Frank Rosenblatt Award
IEEE Frank Rosenblatt Award
The IEEE Frank Rosenblatt Award is a Technical Field Award established by the IEEE Board of Directors in 2004. This award is presented for outstanding contributions to the advancement of the design, practice, techniques, or theory in biologically and linguistically motivated computational...
.
While at AT&T, Vapnik and his colleagues developed the theory of the support vector machine
Support vector machine
A support vector machine is a concept in statistics and computer science for a set of related supervised learning methods that analyze data and recognize patterns, used for classification and regression analysis...
. They demonstrated its performance on a number of problems of interest to the machine learning
Machine learning
Machine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence, is a scientific discipline concerned with the design and development of algorithms that allow computers to evolve behaviors based on empirical data, such as from sensor data or databases...
community, including handwriting recognition
Handwriting recognition
Handwriting recognition is the ability of a computer to receive and interpret intelligible handwritten input from sources such as paper documents, photographs, touch-screens and other devices. The image of the written text may be sensed "off line" from a piece of paper by optical scanning or...
.
Writings
- On the uniform convergence of relative frequencies of events to their probabilities, co-author A. Y. Chervonenkis, 1971
- Necessary and sufficient conditions for the uniform convergence of means to their expectations, co-author A. Y. Chervonenkis, 1981
- Estimation of Dependences Based on Empirical Data, 1982
- The Nature of Statistical Learning Theory, 1995
- Statistical Learning Theory, 1998
- Estimation of Dependences Based on Empirical Data, Reprint 2006 (Springer), also contains a philosophical essay on Empirical Inference Science, 2006
External links
- Photograph of Professor Vapnik
- biography from Health Discovery Corporation Scientific Advisory Board.
- Vapnik's brief biography from the Computer Learning Research Centre, Royal Holloway.
