For developing an efficient technique, known as the Viterbi Algorithm, that has advanced the design and implementation of modern space and wireless communication systems, including cellular telephony and digital image transmission from the distant reaches of our solar system. In addition, Dr.Viterbi played a leading role in the development of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) wireless technology, which allows multiple cellular phones to communicate effectively and simultaneously over a common frequency.
Andrew Viterbi is hailed by his colleagues as a digital genius because his bold ideas and inventive spirit forever changed how people communicate. Dr.Viterbi received his B.S. and M.S. from MIT in 1957 and Ph.D. from the University of Southern California in 1962. He began his career at California Institute of Technology's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In 1968, he co-founded LINKABIT Corporation and, in 1985, QUALCOMM, Inc., now a leader in digital wireless communications and products based on CDMA technologies. He served as a professor at UCLA and UC San Diego, where he is now a professor emeritus. Dr.Viterbi is currently president of the Viterbi Group, LLC, which advises and invests in startup companies in communication, network, and imaging technologies. He also recently accepted a position teaching at USC's newly named Andrew and Erna Viterbi School of Engineering.
Honored in many countries for his contributions to communications theory and its industrial applications, he is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), from which he received an Alexander Graham Bell Medal. He is a Marconi Fellow and a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He also served as a member of President Clinton's Information Technology Advisory Committee.
Information as of April 2005