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Technology & Engineering

Robert Fano

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Who

Robert Fano · Technology & Engineering

What

Pioneer of information theory and data compression.

When

1917, Turin, Italy — 2016, Naples, Florida, USA

Where

Italy · United States

Biography

Robert Fano is recognized among Jewish contributors to Technology & Engineering — Pioneer of information theory and data compression.

How & why

Fano was an Italian-American computer scientist and information theorist who co-developed Shannon-Fano coding, an early data-compression method, and helped pioneer time-sharing computing at MIT's Project MAC. His work shaped both information theory and interactive computing. He came from a Jewish family (his father was the mathematician Gino Fano) and emigrated as Fascist racial laws took hold in Italy.

Sources & external links

Verify and go deeper with these external references.

Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Computer Science

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Contributions & Sources

Pioneer of information theory and data compression.

1917

Source: Jinfo.org — Jews in Computer Science