Karen Spärck Jones
Encyclopedia
Karen Spärck Jones FBA (26 August 1935 – 4 April 2007) was a British
computer scientist.
Karen Spärck Jones was born in Huddersfield
, Yorkshire
, England
. Her father was Owen Jones, a lecturer in chemistry, and her mother was Ida Spärck, a Norwegian
who moved to Britain during World War II
. Spärck Jones was educated at a grammar school and then Girton College, Cambridge
from 1953 to 1956, reading History. Initially she became a school teacher.
She worked at Cambridge's
Computer Laboratory from 1974, and retired in 2002, holding the post of Professor of Computers and Information. She continued to work in the Computer Laboratory until shortly before her death. Her main research interests, since the late 1950s, were natural language processing
and information retrieval
. One of her most important contributions was the concept of inverse document frequency (IDF) weighting in information retrieval, which she introduced in a 1972 paper. IDF is used in most search engines today, usually as part of the tf-idf weighting scheme.
Prof. Spärck Jones was a Fellow of the British Academy
, of which she was Vice-President in 2000-02. She was also a Fellow of both the AAAI and the ECCAI
and was President of the Association for Computational Linguistics
in 1994. She received several awards for her research including the Gerard Salton Award
(1988), the ASIS&T Award of Merit (2002), the ACL Lifetime Achievement Award (2004), the BCS
Lovelace Medal
(2007) and the ACM-AAAI Allen Newell Award (2007).
She was married to fellow Cambridge computer scientist Roger Needham
until his death in 2003. She died 4th April 2007 at Willingham
in Cambridgeshire
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
computer scientist.
Karen Spärck Jones was born in Huddersfield
Huddersfield
Huddersfield is a large market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England, situated halfway between Leeds and Manchester. It lies north of London, and south of Bradford, the nearest city....
, Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Her father was Owen Jones, a lecturer in chemistry, and her mother was Ida Spärck, a Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
who moved to Britain during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Spärck Jones was educated at a grammar school and then Girton College, Cambridge
Girton College, Cambridge
Girton College is one of the 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. It was England's first residential women's college, established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon. The full college status was only received in 1948 and marked the official admittance of women to the...
from 1953 to 1956, reading History. Initially she became a school teacher.
She worked at Cambridge's
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
Computer Laboratory from 1974, and retired in 2002, holding the post of Professor of Computers and Information. She continued to work in the Computer Laboratory until shortly before her death. Her main research interests, since the late 1950s, were natural language processing
Natural language processing
Natural language processing is a field of computer science and linguistics concerned with the interactions between computers and human languages; it began as a branch of artificial intelligence....
and information retrieval
Information retrieval
Information retrieval is the area of study concerned with searching for documents, for information within documents, and for metadata about documents, as well as that of searching structured storage, relational databases, and the World Wide Web...
. One of her most important contributions was the concept of inverse document frequency (IDF) weighting in information retrieval, which she introduced in a 1972 paper. IDF is used in most search engines today, usually as part of the tf-idf weighting scheme.
Prof. Spärck Jones was a Fellow of the British Academy
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national body for the humanities and the social sciences. Its purpose is to inspire, recognise and support excellence in the humanities and social sciences, throughout the UK and internationally, and to champion their role and value.It receives an annual...
, of which she was Vice-President in 2000-02. She was also a Fellow of both the AAAI and the ECCAI
ECCAI
The European Coordinating Committee for Artificial Intelligence is the representative body for the European Artificial Intelligence community. Its aim is to promote study, research, and applications of AI in Europe...
and was President of the Association for Computational Linguistics
Association for Computational Linguistics
The Association for Computational Linguistics is the international scientific and professional society for people working on problems involving natural language and computation. An annual meeting is held each summer in locations where significant computational linguistics research is carried out...
in 1994. She received several awards for her research including the Gerard Salton Award
Gerard Salton Award
The Gerard Salton Award is presented by the Association for Computing Machinery SIGIR every three years to an individual who has made "significant, sustained and continuing contributions to research in information retrieval"...
(1988), the ASIS&T Award of Merit (2002), the ACL Lifetime Achievement Award (2004), the BCS
British Computer Society
The British Computer Society, is a professional body and a learned society that represents those working in Information Technology in the United Kingdom and internationally...
Lovelace Medal
Lovelace Medal
The Lovelace Medal, established by the British Computer Society in 1998, is presented to individuals who have advanced Information Systems or added significantly to their understanding....
(2007) and the ACM-AAAI Allen Newell Award (2007).
She was married to fellow Cambridge computer scientist Roger Needham
Roger Needham
Roger Michael Needham, CBE, FRS, FREng was a British computer scientist.-Early life:He attended Doncaster Grammar School for Boys in Doncaster ....
until his death in 2003. She died 4th April 2007 at Willingham
Willingham, Cambridgeshire
Willingham is a medium to large village in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the edge of the Fens just south of the River Ouse. Driving north from the village one may observe the characteristic elevated straight roads and black soil....
in Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
.
Obituaries
- Computer Laboratory obituary
- University of Cambridge obituary
- Obituary, The IndependentThe IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, 12 April 2007 - Obituary, The Daily TelegraphThe Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, 12 April 2007 - Obituary, The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, 22 June 2007
Further reading
- Computer Science, A Woman's Work, IEEE Spectrum, May 2007