Richard Blahut

Richard E. Blahut
Born	(1937-06-09) June 9, 1937 Orange, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Electrical engineer, information theorist
Known for	Blahut–Arimoto algorithm, contributions to information theory and error control coding
Awards	IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal (1998), IEEE Claude E. Shannon Award (2005), IEEE Fellow (1981), National Academy of Engineering (1990)

Richard Ednard Blahut (born June 9, 1937) is a distinguished American engineer specializing in electrical and communications fields, as well as an expert in information theory. He formerly led the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and is widely recognized for his significant work in information theory, particularly for developing the Blahut–Arimoto algorithm within rate–distortion theory. In 1990, he was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering in recognition of his groundbreaking efforts in coherent emitter signal processing and advancements in error control coding.

Education and career

Blahut was born in Orange, New Jersey and earned his Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also obtained a Master of Science degree in physics from Stevens Institute of Technology. He completed his doctoral studies in electrical engineering at Cornell University in 1972 under the mentorship of information theorist Toby Berger. Following his PhD, Blahut served on the faculty at Cornell from 1973 to 1994 while simultaneously contributing to research at IBM.

Throughout his career, Blahut held academic appointments at several prestigious institutions including Princeton University, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and the NATO Advanced Study Institute. Additionally, he was a Consulting Professor at South China University of Technology. At UIUC, he held the title of Henryk Magnuski Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and was affiliated with the Coordinated Science Laboratory. He retired from his position at UIUC in 2014.

Awards and recognition

In 1981, Blahut was named an IEEE Fellow for his work on passive surveillance technologies as well as his contributions to information theory and error control codes. The following year, he received a fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and served as President of the IEEE Information Theory Society. His election to the National Academy of Engineering came in 1990, honoring his innovations in coherent emitter signal processing and contributions to information theory. During his tenure at IBM, Blahut garnered several accolades including Outstanding Innovation awards (1968, 1978), an Outstanding Contribution award (1976), Corporate Recognition (1979), and was named an IBM Fellow in 1980.

Blahut was honored with the IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal in 1998 for integrating algebraic coding theory with digital transform methods in error-control coding. In 2005, he received the prestigious IEEE Claude E. Shannon Award.

Books

• Lightwave Communications, co-authored with George C. Papen (Cambridge University Press, 2019)
• Cryptography and Secure Communication (Cambridge University Press, 2014)
• Modem Theory: An Introduction to Telecommunications (Cambridge University Press, 2010)
• Fast Algorithms for Signal Processing (Cambridge University Press, 2010)
• Algebraic Codes on Lines, Planes, and Curves: An Engineering Approach (Cambridge University Press, 2008)
• Theory of Remote Image Formation (Cambridge University Press, 2004)
• Algebraic Codes for Data Transmission (Cambridge University Press, 2003)
• Algebraic Methods for Signal Processing and Communications Coding (Springer-Verlag, 1992)
• Digital Transmission of Information (Addison–Wesley Press, 1990)
• Fast Algorithms for Digital Signal Processing (Addison–Wesley Press, 1985)
• Theory and Practice of Error Control Codes (Addison–Wesley Press, 1983)

External links

• IEEE Profile
• Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UIUC