Neil J. A. Sloane

Biography

Dr. Neil J. A. Sloane pioneered new coding theory methods and interdisciplinary connections among statistics, physics, and information transmission and compression. His contributions range from pure mathematics to the design of codes used in submarine fiber optic systems. As Technology Leader at AT&T Research Labs in Florham Park, New Jersey, he has been responsible for technical leadership across multiple scientific areas critical to the communications industry.

Dr. Sloane is regarded as the leading expert on combinatorial coding theory. For more than 20 years, the text he co-authored with Florence J. Mac Williams, "The Theory of Error-Correcting Codes," has been the definitive reference on algebraic coding theory. He is also considered to be the leading expert on sphere packing the theoretical and practical study of attaining high-density sphere distributions, which is a key concern in communications technology.

His book, "Sphere Packing, Lattices and Groups," written with John Conway of Princeton University, is considered the essential monograph on the topic. Much of his work in this field has found practical application, including the first use of forward error correction (FEC) in underwater cable transmission and the development of high-speed wireless modems.

An IEEE Fellow and a member of U.S.National Academy of Engineering, Dr. Sloane is former editor of the IEEE Transactions on Information Theory and a recipient of the IEEE Centennial Medal, the IEEE Information Theory Society Prize Paper Award and the Chauvenet Prize of the Mathematical Association of America.