Mr. Landau, who gained notoriety in the 1960s TV series “Mission: Impossible,” but then struggled to find work, enjoyed a career revival in film decades later.
Tag: obituary
👓 Maryam Mirzakhani | What’s New
I am totally stunned to learn that Maryam Mirzakhani died today, aged 40, after a severe recurrence of the cancer she had been fighting for several years. I had planned to email her some wishes for a speedy recovery after learning about the relapse yesterday; I still can’t fully believe that she didn’t make it.
👓 Jonathan Demme, ‘Silence of the Lambs’ and ‘Philadelphia’ Director, Dead at 73 | Rolling Stone
'Stop Making Sense' filmmaker succumbs to esophageal cancer
Kenneth Arrow, Nobel-Winning Economist Whose Influence Spanned Decades, Dies at 95 | The New York Times
Professor Arrow, one of the most brilliant minds in his field during the 20th century, became the youngest economist ever to earn a Nobel at the age of 51.
William F. Buckley Jr., conservative icon, dies | The Boston Globe
William F. Buckley Jr., who as author, journalist, and polysyllabic television personality did more to popularize conservatism in post-New Deal America than anyone other than Barry Goldwater or Ronald Reagan, died yesterday at his home in Stamford, Conn. He was 82.
Professor Emeritus Seymour Papert, pioneer of constructionist learning, dies at 88
World-renowned mathematician, learning theorist, and educational-technology visionary was a founding faculty member of the MIT Media Lab.
Tom M. Apostol, 1923–2016
Tom M. Apostol, professor of mathematics, emeritus at California Institute of Technology passed away on May 8, 2016. He was 92.
As many know, for over a decade, I’ve been studying a variety of areas of advanced abstract mathematics with Michael Miller. Mike Miller received his Ph.D. in 1974 (UCLA) under the supervision of Basil Gordon who in turn received his Ph.D. in 1956 (CalTech) under the supervision of Tom M. Apostol.
Incidentally going back directly three generations is Markov and before that Chebyshev and two generations before that Lobachevsky.
Sadly, I never got to have Tom as a teacher directly myself, though I did get to meet him several times in (what mathematicians might call) social situations. I did have the advantage of delving into his two volumes of Calculus as well as referring to his book on Analytic Number Theory. If it’s been a while since you’ve looked at calculus, I highly recommend an evening or two by the fire with a glass of wine while you revel in Calculus, Vol 1 or Calculus, Vol 2.
It’s useful to take a moment to remember our intellectual antecedents, so in honor of Tom’s passing, I recommend the bookmarked very short obituary (I’m sure more will follow), this obituary of Basil, and this issue of the Notices of the AMS celebrating Basil as well. I also came across a copy of Fascinating Mathematical People which has a great section on Tom and incidentally includes some rare younger photos of Sol Golomb who suddenly passed away last Sunday. (It’s obviously been a tough week for me and math in Southern California this week.)
Devastating News: Sol Golomb has apparently passed away on Sunday
Solomon W. Golomb (May 30, 1932 – May 1, 2016)
Shannon Award winner and long-time ITSOC member Solomon W. Golomb passed away on May 1, 2016.
Solomon W. Golomb was the Andrew Viterbi Chair in Electrical Engineering at the University of Southern California (USC) and was at USC since 1963, rising to the rank of University and Distinguished Professor. He was a member of the National Academies of Engineering and Science, and was awarded the National Medal of Science, the Shannon Award, the Hamming Medal, and numerous other accolades. As USC Dean Yiannis C. Yortsos wrote, “With unparalleled scholarly contributions and distinction to the field of engineering and mathematics, Sol’s impact has been extraordinary, transformative and impossible to measure. His academic and scholarly work on the theory of communications built the pillars upon which our modern technological life rests.”In addition to his many contributions to coding and information theory, Professor Golomb was one of the great innovators in recreational mathematics, contributing many articles to Scientific American and other publications. More recent Information Theory Society members may be most familiar with his mathematics puzzles that appeared in the Society Newsletter, which will publish a full remembrance later.
A quick search a moment later revealed this sad confirmation along with some great photos from an award Sol received just a week ago:
A sad day 4 @USC @USCViterbi @USCMingHsiehEE with the loss of beloved Sol Golomb. Was only last week we celebrated his Franklin medal.
— Yannis C. Yortsos (@DeanYortsos) May 2, 2016
With Andy Viterbi and Sol Golomb at the celebration of @TheFranklin @USCViterbi @USCMingHsiehEE pic.twitter.com/0iktSa9zf1
— Yannis C. Yortsos (@DeanYortsos) April 22, 2016
Sol Golomb receiving the @TheFranklin medal in Electrical Engineering @USCViterbi @USCMingHsiehEE pic.twitter.com/L3RFUGhsWs
— Yannis C. Yortsos (@DeanYortsos) April 21, 2016
As is common in academia, I’m sure it will take a few days for the news to drip out, but the world has certainly lost one of its greatest thinkers, and many of us have lost a dear friend, colleague, and mentor.
I’ll try touch base with his family and pass along what information sniff I can. I’ll post forthcoming obituaries as I see them, and will surely post some additional thoughts and reminiscences of my own in the coming days.
Saddened to hear of the passing of Sir David J.C. MacKay, FRS
So sorry to learn, sitting in a Cambridge seminar room, that David Mackay has died. Huge loss
— Oliver Morton (@Eaterofsun) April 14, 2016
I’ve been following a Google Alert for “information theory,” and so on an almost a daily basis for over 15 years I’ve seen thousands of notices and references to his excellent textbook Information Theory, Inference, and Learning Algorithms, which he kindly chose to freely share with the world. It’s really a great little textbook, and I recommend that everyone download it or purchase it and give it a read. In addition he has a fabulous series of video lectures to go with it as well. (Someone had actually asked me for information theory lectures on Quora last week, and his are some of the best.)
Sir David J.C. MacKay was the Regius Professor of Engineering at Cambridge University and a former professor of natural philosophy in the Department of Physics at at Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge. He was also a leading figure in energy and climate change having written the accessible and highly praised book Sustainable Energy: Without all the Hot Air, which is also available for free on his site. In 2009 he was appointed to a five year term as Chief Scientific Advisor of the Department of Energy and Climate Change, United Kingdom.
His TED talk will give you an idea of some of his work in this area:
MacKay was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2009. His nomination reads:
David MacKay introduced more efficient types of error-correcting code that are now used in satellite communications, digital broadcasting and magnetic recording. He advanced the field of Machine Learning by providing a sound Bayesian foundation for artificial neural networks. Using this foundation, he significantly improved their performance, allowing them to be used for designing new types of steel that are now used in power stations. He used his expertise in information theory to design a widely used interface called “dasher” that allows disabled people to write efficiently using a single finger or head-mounted pointer.
Sir David MacKay was knighted in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to scientific advice in government and to science outreach.
For those interested, he a great little blog. Here’s his last blogpost.
Below, from a variety of information theorists, mathematicians, and scientists is just the beginning of the outpouring of loss the world is experiencing today:
Deeply saddened to hear of the death today of David MacKay aged only 48—one of UK’s very best applied scientists: https://t.co/9QLq95BKzA
— Graham Farmelo (@grahamfarmelo) April 14, 2016
Shocked and very saddened to hear that David MacKay has passed away: https://t.co/VmpfbXtsyi
— michael_nielsen (@michael_nielsen) April 14, 2016
Oh no. RIP David Mackay. https://t.co/A3GBseGbBb
— Andrew Eckford (@andreweckford) April 14, 2016
RIP David MacKay https://t.co/RR8qazo3Xu
— N. Ghoussoub (@NGhoussoub) April 14, 2016
RIP David MacKay, former DECC Chief Scientific Adviser. He was passionate, original, brave. A truly good man. Deep condolences to his family
— Ed Miliband (@Ed_Miliband) April 14, 2016
We are very sorry to hear of the death of David MacKay. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.
— Cambridge University (@Cambridge_Uni) April 14, 2016
So sorry to hear of the death of David MacKay. A brilliant, independent thinker, respected by all. RIP. https://t.co/CrUJDDTvBf
— Emily Gosden (@emilygosden) April 14, 2016
David MacKay, recipient of @TheBTI 2016 Paradigm Award, has died. Read about his legacy here https://t.co/g0JQZKrS88 pic.twitter.com/Z1pbSiKdnh
— Breakthrough (@TheBTI) April 14, 2016
Incredibly sad. David MacKay, extraordinary scientist/philosopher. An amazing last post https://t.co/idra5X1jAR https://t.co/SDIk4zcUhn
— Hugh Hunt (@hughhunt) April 14, 2016
Dreadful news that David MacKay has died, far too soon David J. C. MacKay https://t.co/JcNKEzJ4DH
— Robin Daniels (@RobinCEDaniels) April 14, 2016
Devastated to hear of the death of my friend David MacKay. Last blogs on terminal cancer: https://t.co/XcOGSw22YD pic.twitter.com/YyXIFEjBBc
— Mark Lynas (@mark_lynas) April 14, 2016
Sad to hear David MacKay has died. Was aware of the situation but it still feels incredibly sudden.
— Jordan Burgess (@jordnb) April 14, 2016
Very sad day today.
RIP David MacKay #ClimateChange #Legend https://t.co/a447VPZ34E pic.twitter.com/zzPxUmGEsp
— Thor⚛ (@MSR_Future) April 14, 2016
Gosh, very sorry to hear David MacKay has died – a careful and progressive thinker on energy and climate, will be much missed in the space.
— Christian Hunt (@chr1stianh) April 14, 2016
I remember David MacKay taking me to dinner in Darwin in 1996, telling me about his new codes and very gently turning me down for a PhD #RIP
— Oliver Johnson (@BristOliver) April 14, 2016
Sad news. I remember David MacKay at Cavendish Lab as a fearless & rigorous interrogator of ideas, a brilliant man. https://t.co/uJ4M8G5fJH
— Helen Czerski (@helenczerski) April 14, 2016
….my retweet is the last tweet David MacKay posted before he died…I have so many feelings right now…I can’t even
— Christopher Willis (@BeCurieus) April 14, 2016
Sad news on David MacKay – I can see his book on my shelf from here. The first read for getting to grips with energy.
— Alastair Harper (@harperingon) April 14, 2016
Desperately sad news that David MacKay has died. We have lost a great man. All our thoughts are with David’s family at this tragic time.
— Energy for Humanity (@Energy4Humanity) April 14, 2016
Very sorry to learn this. Anyone who doesn’t know Mackay shd look at https://t.co/uovqOcWv7b, a fine piece of work https://t.co/i0120da7cu
— Charles C. Mann (@CharlesCMann) April 14, 2016
If you don’t know of David Mackay’s work, read https://t.co/o0sEReWZgu and celebrate its and his brilliance by acting on its message.
— Mike Page (@Mike_Page) April 14, 2016
sad early death of David MacKay, author of “Sustainable energy – without the hot air”https://t.co/UYhRvcOnnm https://t.co/R8z3MPwdGK
— Pheromones Evolve (@pheromoneEvo) April 14, 2016
Marvin Minsky, Pioneer in Artificial Intelligence, Dies at 88 | The New York Times
Professor Minsky laid the foundation for the field by demonstrating the possibilities of imparting common-sense reasoning to computers.
Source: Marvin Minsky, Pioneer in Artificial Intelligence, Dies at 88 – The New York Times
Obituary: Wes Craven
Wes Craven, the famed maestro of horror known for the Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream franchises, died Sunday after a battle with brain cancer. He was 76.
Obituary: Wes Craven, Horror Maestro, Dies at 76 – Hollywood Reporter