Robert Fano
Robert Fano | |
|---|---|
 Prof. Fano in his office at MIT in 2012 | |
| Born | Roberto Mario Fano 11 November 1917 Turin, Italy |
| Died | 13 July 2016 (aged 98) |
| Citizenship | United States of America |
| Alma mater | MIT |
| Known for | Fano algorithm Fano metric Fano's inequality Shannon–Fano coding Pointwise mutual information Founder of Project MAC |
| Relatives | Ugo Fano (brother) |
| Awards | IEEE James H. Mulligan Jr. Education Medal (1977) Shannon Award (1976) IEEE Fellow (1954) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | computer science, information theory |
| Institutions | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Thesis | Theoretical Limitations on the Broadband Matching of Arbitrary Impedances (1947) |
| Doctoral advisor | Ernst Guillemin |
Roberto Mario "Robert" Fano (11 November 1917 – 13 July 2016) was an Italian-American computer scientist and professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He became a student and working lab partner to Claude Shannon, whom he admired zealously and assisted in the early years of information theory.[1][2]
Early life and education
[edit | edit source]Fano was born in Turin, Italy in 1917[3][4] to a Jewish family and grew up in Turin.[5] Fano's father was the mathematician Gino Fano, his older brother was the physicist Ugo Fano, and Giulio Racah was a cousin.[6] Fano studied engineering as an undergraduate at the School of Engineering of Torino (Politecnico di Torino) until 1939, when he emigrated to the United States as a result of anti-Jewish legislation passed under Benito Mussolini.[7] He received his S.B. in electrical engineering from MIT in 1941, and upon graduation joined the staff of the MIT Radiation Laboratory. After World War II, Fano continued on to complete his Sc.D. in electrical engineering from MIT in 1947. His thesis, titled "Theoretical Limitations on the Broadband Matching of Arbitrary Impedances",[8] was supervised by Ernst Guillemin.
Career
[edit | edit source]Fano's career spans three areas, microwave systems, information theory, and computer science.
Fano joined the MIT faculty in 1947 to what was then called the Department of Electrical Engineering. Between 1950 and 1953, he led the Radar Techniques Group at Lincoln Laboratory.[9] In 1954, Fano was made an IEEE Fellow for "contributions in the field of information theory and microwave filters".[10] He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1958, to the National Academy of Engineering in 1973, and to the National Academy of Sciences in 1978.[9][11]
Fano was known principally for his work on information theory. He developed Shannon–Fano coding[12] in collaboration with Claude Shannon, and derived the Fano inequality. He also invented the Fano algorithm and postulated the Fano metric.[13]
In the early 1960s, Fano was involved in the development of time-sharing computers. From 1963 until 1968 Fano served as the founding director of MIT's Project MAC, which evolved to become what is now known as the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.[14][15] He also helped to create MIT's original computer science curriculum.
In 1976, Fano received the Claude E. Shannon Award for his work in information theory.[9] In 1977 he was recognized for his contribution to the teaching of electrical engineering with the IEEE James H. Mulligan Jr. Education Medal.[16]
Fano retired from active teaching in 1984,[17] and died on 13 July 2016 at the age of 98.[17]
Bibliography
[edit | edit source]In addition to his work in information theory, Fano also published articles and books about microwave systems,[18] electromagnetism, network theory, and engineering education. His longer publications include:
- "The Theory of Microwave Filters" and "The Design of Microwave Filters", chapters 9 and 10 in George L. Ragan, ed., Microwave Transmission Circuits, vol. 9 in the Radiation Laboratory Series (with A. W. Lawson, 1948).
- Electromagnetic Energy Transmission and Radiation (with Lan Jen Chu and Richard B. Adler, 1960).
- Electromagnetic Fields, Energy, and Forces (with Chu and Adler, 1960).
- Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Did My Brother Invent E-Mail With Tom Van Vleck? (Part Five) BY ERROL MORRIS JUNE 23, 2011, New York Times
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ a b c Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Dates of election per the American Academy and National Academies membership lists.
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
External links
[edit | edit source]
| Archives at | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||||||
| How to use archival material |
- Oral history interview with Robert M. Fano 20 April 1989. Charles Babbage Institute University of Minnesota. Fano discusses his move to computer science from information theory and his interaction with the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). Topics include: computing research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); the work of J.C.R. Licklider at the Information Processing Techniques Office of ARPA; time-sharing and computer networking research; Project MAC; computer science education; CTSS development; System Development Corporation (SDC); the development of ARPANET; and a comparison of ARPA, National Science Foundation, and Office of Naval Research computer science funding.
- Video of Robert Fano on YouTube from 1964, demonstrating the Compatible Time-Sharing System (CTSS).
- Robert Fano at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
Lua error in Module:Authority_control at line 153: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
- 1917 births
- 2016 deaths
- Italian computer scientists
- American information theorists
- Italian information theorists
- Jewish American scientists
- Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering
- Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
- American people of Italian-Jewish descent
- Italian refugees
- 20th-century Italian Jews
- Engineers from Turin
- 20th-century American engineers
- MIT School of Engineering alumni
- MIT School of Engineering faculty
- Fellows of the IEEE
- Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- MIT Lincoln Laboratory people
- Microwave engineers
- American telecommunications engineers
- Italian emigrants to the United States