Neil Sloane
Encyclopedia
Neil James Alexander Sloane (born October 10, 1939) is a British-
U.S.
mathematician
. His major contributions are in the fields of combinatorics
, error-correcting codes, and sphere packing
. Sloane is best known for being the creator and maintainer of the On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences
.
He studied at Cornell University
under Nick DeClaris, Frank Rosenblatt
, Frederick Jelinek
and Wolfgang Heinrich Johannes Fuchs
, receiving his Ph.D. in 1967. His doctoral dissertation was titled Lengths of Cycle Times in Random Neural Networks
. Sloane joined AT&T Bell Labs in 1968. He became an AT&T Fellow
in 1998. He is also an IEEE Fellow
and a member of the National Academy of Engineering
.
His Erdős number
is 2, since he coauthored Sphere Packings, Lattices and Groups with John Horton Conway
. He has also collaborated with at least seven other Erdős coauthors. He is a winner of the Chauvenet Prize
. In 2005 Sloane received the IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal.
Besides mathematics, he loves rock climbing
and has authored two rock-climbing guides to New Jersey
.
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...
U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
. His major contributions are in the fields of combinatorics
Combinatorics
Combinatorics is a branch of mathematics concerning the study of finite or countable discrete structures. Aspects of combinatorics include counting the structures of a given kind and size , deciding when certain criteria can be met, and constructing and analyzing objects meeting the criteria ,...
, error-correcting codes, and sphere packing
Sphere packing
In geometry, a sphere packing is an arrangement of non-overlapping spheres within a containing space. The spheres considered are usually all of identical size, and the space is usually three-dimensional Euclidean space...
. Sloane is best known for being the creator and maintainer of the On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences
On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences
The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences , also cited simply as Sloane's, is an online database of integer sequences, created and maintained by N. J. A. Sloane, a researcher at AT&T Labs...
.
He studied at Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
under Nick DeClaris, Frank Rosenblatt
Frank Rosenblatt
Frank Rosenblatt was a New York City born computer scientist who completed the Perceptron, or MARK 1, computer at Cornell University in 1960...
, Frederick Jelinek
Frederick Jelinek
Frederick Jelinek was a Czech American researcher in information theory, automatic speech recognition, and natural language processing...
and Wolfgang Heinrich Johannes Fuchs
Wolfgang Heinrich Johannes Fuchs
Wolfgang Heinrich Johannes Fuchs was a mathematician specializing in complex analysis. His main area of research was Nevanlinna theory....
, receiving his Ph.D. in 1967. His doctoral dissertation was titled Lengths of Cycle Times in Random Neural Networks
Neural Networks
Neural Networks is the official journal of the three oldest societies dedicated to research in neural networks: International Neural Network Society, European Neural Network Society and Japanese Neural Network Society, published by Elsevier...
. Sloane joined AT&T Bell Labs in 1968. He became an AT&T Fellow
Fellow
A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...
in 1998. He is also an IEEE Fellow
IEEE Fellow
An IEEE member is elevated to the grade of IEEE Fellow for "unusual distinction in the profession and shall be conferred by the Board of Directors upon a person with an extraordinary record of accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields of interest"...
and a member of the National Academy of Engineering
National Academy of Engineering
The National Academy of Engineering is a government-created non-profit institution in the United States, that was founded in 1964 under the same congressional act that led to the founding of the National Academy of Sciences...
.
His Erdős number
Erdos number
The Erdős number describes the "collaborative distance" between a person and mathematician Paul Erdős, as measured by authorship of mathematical papers.The same principle has been proposed for other eminent persons in other fields.- Overview :...
is 2, since he coauthored Sphere Packings, Lattices and Groups with John Horton Conway
John Horton Conway
John Horton Conway is a prolific mathematician active in the theory of finite groups, knot theory, number theory, combinatorial game theory and coding theory...
. He has also collaborated with at least seven other Erdős coauthors. He is a winner of the Chauvenet Prize
Chauvenet Prize
The Chauvenet Prize is the highest award for mathematical expository writing. It consists of a prize of $1,000 and a certificate, and is awarded yearly by the Mathematical Association of America in recognition of an outstanding expository article on a mathematical topic. The prize is named in...
. In 2005 Sloane received the IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal.
Besides mathematics, he loves rock climbing
Rock climbing
Rock climbing also lightly called 'The Gravity Game', is a sport in which participants climb up, down or across natural rock formations or artificial rock walls. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a pre-defined route without falling...
and has authored two rock-climbing guides to New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
.
Selected publications
- N. J. A. Sloane, A Handbook of Integer Sequences, Academic Press, NY, 1973.
- F. J. MacWilliams and N. J. A. Sloane, The Theory of Error-Correcting Codes, Elsevier/North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1977.
- M. Harwit and N. J. A. Sloane, Hadamard Transform Optics, Academic Press, San Diego CA, 1979.
- N. J. A. Sloane and A. D. Wyner, editors, Claude Elwood Shannon: Collected Papers, IEEE Press, NY, 1993.
- N. J. A. Sloane and S. Plouffe, The Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences, Academic Press, San Diego, 1995.
- J. H. Conway and N. J. A. Sloane, Sphere Packings, Lattices and Groups, Springer-Verlag, NY, 3rd ed., 1998.
- A. S. Hedayat, N. J. A. Sloane and J. Stufken, Orthogonal Arrays: Theory and Applications, Springer-Verlag, NY, 1999.
- G. Nebe, E. M. Rains and N. J. A. Sloane, Self-Dual Codes and Invariant Theory, Springer-Verlag, 2006.
External links
- IEEE, "A brief bio of Neil JA Sloane"
- Science News, "The pattern collector"