David A. Huffman was an American computer scientist who, as a graduate student at MIT in 1952, devised what became known as Huffman coding, a method for building an optimal lossless data compression code from the frequency of the symbols being encoded. The technique remains a component of many later file formats and communication standards. Huffman spent much of his later career on the founding faculty of the computer science department at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Facts
AwardIEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal 2 AwardLouis E. Levy Medal of the Franklin Institute 2 AwardW. Wallace McDowell Award 2 FAQs
How did David Huffman come to invent Huffman coding?
It began as an alternative to a final exam at MIT in 1952, when a professor asked students to improve a data compression algorithm.
Huffman was a doctoral student at MIT in 1952 when a professor offered the class a choice between taking the traditional final exam or improving a leading algorithm for data compression. Huffman came up with the algorithm that became Huffman coding and published it that year. He reportedly felt more pride in his 1953 MIT thesis on the synthesis of sequential switching circuits.
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Source Wikipedia: Huffman coding
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Source Wikipedia: Huffman coding
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Sources
1. Wikipedia: David A. Huffman
Wikimedia FoundationLead sectionQuote, Lead section
David Albert Huffman (August 9, 1925 - October 7, 1999) was an American pioneer in computer science, known for his Huffman coding.
2. Wikidata: David A. Huffman
Wikipedia: Huffman coding
Wikimedia FoundationCredited: Huffman Coding Algorithm, Lead
The process of finding or using such a code is Huffman coding, an algorithm developed by David A.
Invented: Huffman Coding Algorithm, Lead
The process of finding or using such a code is Huffman coding, an algorithm developed by David A. Huffman while he was a Sc.D. student at MIT, and published in the 1952 paper "A Method for the Construction of Minimum-Redundancy Codes".
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