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MIT Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
EECS Announcement |
July 2, 2003
New York, June 25 – New York - Robert Gallager, a widely respected Massachusetts Institute of Technology academician and inventor of advanced communications codes, and Robert Metcalfe, who developed the ubiquitous Ethernet computer networking standard, will share this year's International Marconi Fellowship. They will join a select group of 30 of the world's most influential communications technology pioneers previously awarded the highly coveted annual recognition by the Guglielmo Marconi International Fellowship Foundation at Columbia University.
"In light of this 30th anniversary year of Ethernet it's entirely appropriate for a giant among information theorists and one who pioneered a practical application for high-speed data communications to be selected the 2003 Marconi Fellows," Sir Eric Ash, chairman of this year's Selection Committee, observed. "The seminal contributions of Bob Gallager and Bob Metcalfe are truly representative of the audacious innovations in communications technology which the Marconi International Fellowship seeks to recognize and celebrate."
The annual Marconi Fellowship, which includes a $100,000 honorarium to be shared by this year's honorees, recognizes individuals whose aspirations, careers, and accomplishments in communications technology emulate those of Guglielmo Marconi -- scientist, engineer, inventor, and entrepreneur. The award ceremony will take place in New York on Friday, October 3, 2003.
Robert Gallager is a disciple and former collaborator of the late Claude Shannon, the founder of modern information theory that quantifies the limits of information transmitted over a communications channel. In his 1960 MIT doctoral dissertation, Professor Gallager developed a series of "Low Density Parity Check Codes" that, while long recognized as breakthrough theoretical formulae, are only now being appreciated for their practicality in achieving Shannon's theoretical limitations.
Professor Gallager is a 1953 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and was a member of the MIT faculty from 1960 until 2001, when he became Professor Emeritus. He was a longtime consultant to Codex Corporation, which pioneered data communications and was subsequently absorbed by Motorola, Inc. [NYSE:MOT]. An author of numerous research papers, his book, Information Theory and Reliable Communications is still considered the "bible" on the topic, and his textbooks, Data Networks (joint with D. Berksekas) and Discrete Stochastic Processes, are widely used by graduate students.
A 1969 MIT graduate with postgraduate degrees from Harvard University, Bob Metcalfe is a revered technology visionary who developed Ethernet as a standard for interconnecting computers for high-speed data transfer. At the time, he was working as an engineer-scientist at the famed Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). He went on to be a founder of 3Com Corporation [NASDAQ:COMS], where at various times he was chairman, CEO and led engineering, marketing and sales organizations.
From 1976 through 1983 he was consulting associate professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University. During the 1990's he became a publisher and industry pundit, serving as CEO of InfoWorld Publishing Company and writing a column, "From the Ether", as well as contributing think pieces and often appearing as a speaker at events and on broadcast interviews. In 2001 he joined Polaris Venture Partners as General Partner, specializing in Boston-area information technology start-ups.
Both of the designated Marconi Fellows have amassed many honors over their careers. Professor Gallager is a life Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), member of the National Academy of Engineering (1979), the National Academy of Sciences (1992), and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1999). His honors include the IEEE Baker Prize Paper Award (1966), IEEE IT Shannon Award (1983), MIT Graduate Student Council Teaching Award (1992-3), the IEEE Bennet Prize Paper Award (1993), and two Golden Jubilee Paper Awards from the IEEE IT Society in 1998. He received the IEEE Medal of Honor in 1990. In 1999, he received the Harvey Prize in Science and Technology from the Technion, Haifa and in 2002 received the Eduard Rhein Prize for basic research.
Dr. Metcalfe holds the coveted 1980 Grace Murray Hopper Award of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and was recognized in 1988 with the IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal, which was followed in 1996 with the IEEE Medal of Honor. He was elected to the National Academy of Arts and Sciences (1995), the National Academy of Engineering (1997), and as a Fellow of the International Engineering Consortium (1999). He serves on the boards of a number of Polaris Venture Partners companies, and is a director of Earthlink, MediaLabEurope, among others, and is a Trustee of MIT.
About the Marconi Foundation
With its motto, "Communications for Goodness Sake," the Guglielmo Marconi International Fellowship Foundation at Columbia University is dedicated to nurturing, recognizing and celebrating individuals whose ingenious application of communications technology has a positive and lasting impact on human progress around the globe. Established in 1974 through an endowment raised by Gioia Marconi Braga, the Foundation is best known for the Marconi International Fellowship, awarded annually to an outstanding individual whose scope of work and influence emulate the principle of "creativity in service to humanity" that drove Guglielmo Marconi, the father of modern communications. Additional information is available on the Foundation's Web site, www.marconifoundation.org.