Norman Abramson
Norman M. Abramson | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | April 1, 1932 |
| Died | December 1, 2020(aged 88) |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Stanford University Harvard College |
| Awards | IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal(2007) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences |
| Institutions | University of Hawaiʻi |
| Thesis | Application of "comparison of experiments" to radar detection and coding problems(1958) |
| Doctoral advisor | Willis Harman |
| Doctoral students | Thomas M. Cover Robert A. Scholtz |
Norman Manuel Abramson(April 1, 1932[1]– December 1, 2020) was an American electrical engineer and computer scientist, most known for developing theALOHAnetsystem for wireless computer communication.
Early life
[edit]Abramson was born on April 1, 1932, inBoston, Massachusetts,to immigrant Jewish parents Edward and Esther. His father was born in Lithuania, and worked in commercial photography. His mother was born in Ukraine, and managed the house.[2]
He was schooled in the Boston public schools and attendedBoston Latin Schooland theEnglish High School of Boston.[2]He showed good aptitude in math and science, and he received anBachelor of ArtsinphysicsfromHarvard College(1953), anMaster of ArtsinPhysicsfromUCLA(1955), and aPh.D.inelectrical engineeringfromStanford University(1958).[1]His thesis at Stanford focused on the area ofcommunication theory.[2]
Career
[edit]Abramson was a research engineer at theHughes Aircraft Companyuntil 1955, when he joined the faculty atStanford University(1955–65), was visiting professor atUniversity of California, Berkeley(1966), before moving toUniversity of Hawaiʻi(1968–94), serving asprofessorof bothElectrical EngineeringandComputer Science.[1][2]Some of his early research concernedradar signal characteristicsandsampling theory,as well asfrequency modulationanddigital communicationchannels,error correcting codes,[3]pattern recognitionandmachine learningand computing forseismic analysis.[1]
One of Abramson's first projects at the University of Hawaiʻi was to develop radio technology to help the school send and receive data from its remote geographic location to the continental United States, funded by theAdvanced Research Projects Agency.A key innovation in the technology was to divide the data inpacketswhich could be resent if the data was lost during transmission, allowing forrandom accessrather than sequential access, based on the same principles being developed forARPAnet,the precursor of the modernInternet.The resulting radio network technology his team developed was deployed asALOHAnetin 1971, based on the dual-meaning of the Hawaiian word "aloha".[2]ALOHAnet became the foundation of modernwireless communicationas well as influencing the development ofEthernet-based communications.[2]
Abramson continued to serve as a professor at Hawaii until 1994 when he retired.[2]Abramson went on to co-found Aloha Networks inSan Francisco,where he served as a CTO.
Personal life and death
[edit]Abramson had two children with his wife, Joan: a son, Mark, and a daughter, Carin. Abramson's daughter predeceased him by six years.[2]
Abramson died on December 1, 2020, in his San Francisco home due to complications from skin cancer that hadmetastasizedto his lungs.[2]
Awards
[edit]- 1972: IEEE Sixth Region Achievement Award for contributions to Information Theory and Coding.
- 1980: IEEE Fellow Award for development of the ALOHA-System.
- 1992: Pacific Telecommunications Council 20th Anniversary Award for leadership in the PTC.
- 1995:IEEE Koji Kobayashi Computers and Communications Awardfor development of the ALOHA System.
- 1998: Golden Jubilee Award for Technological Innovation from theIEEE Information Theory Society,for"the invention of the first random-access communication protocol".[4]
- 2000:Technology Awardfrom the GermanEduard Rhein Foundation.[5][6]
- 2007:IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal.
- 2011:C&C Prize.
Publications
[edit]- Information theory and coding(McGraw-Hill,1963)
- Computer communication networks(Prentice-Hall,1973). Editor withFranklin F. Kuo
References
[edit]- ^abcdbiographyfromIEEE(1964)
- ^abcdefghiLohr, Steve (December 11, 2020)."Norman Abramson, Pioneer Behind Wireless Networks, Dies at 88".The New York Times.RetrievedDecember 11,2020.
- ^U.S. patent 3,114,130andU.S. patent 3,163,848.
- ^"Golden Jubilee Awards for Technological Innovation".IEEE Information Theory Society.RetrievedJuly 14,2011.
- ^"Award Winners (chronological)".Eduard Rhein Foundation.Archived fromthe originalon July 18, 2011.RetrievedJuly 14,2011.
- ^"Technology Award 2000 - Prof. Dr. Norman Abramson".Eduard Rhein Foundation.RetrievedJuly 14,2011.
External links
[edit]- Engineering and Technology History Wiki
- Biography from IEEE
- Oral history interview with Severo Ornstein,Charles Babbage Institute,University of Minnesota.Ornsteindiscusses the computing contributions ofWesley Clarkand Norman Abramson.
- Norman Abramson and ALOHAnet
- Norman Abramsonat theMathematics Genealogy Project
- Author profilein the databasezbMATH
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Other | |
- 1932 births
- 2020 deaths
- American electrical engineers
- American information theorists
- Jewish American scientists
- Harvard College alumni
- University of California, Los Angeles alumni
- University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa faculty
- Stanford University School of Engineering alumni
- Writers from Boston
- Fellows of the IEEE
- Mathematicians from Massachusetts
- American chief technology officers
- Deaths from skin cancer in the United States
- Deaths from lung cancer in California