Joy A. Thomas
{{Short description|Indian-born American information theorist (1963–2020)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
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| name = Joy A. Thomas
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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1963|01|01|df=y}}
| birth_place = Kerala, India
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2020|09|28|1963|01|01|df=y}}
| death_place = Mountain View, California, United States
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| occupation = Information theorist, data scientist, author
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| spouse = Priya
| children = Two children
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Joy Aloysius Thomas (1 January 1963 – 28 September 2020) was an Indian-born American information theorist, author and a senior data scientist at Google. He was known for his contributions to information theory and was the co-author of Elements of Information Theory, a popular text book which he co-authored with Thomas M. Cover. He also held a number of patents and was the founder of startups such as 'Insights One'.
Biography
Joy Thomas, born on January 1, 1963, in the south Indian state of Kerala, did his schooling at St Joseph's Boys' High School, Bangalore.{{Cite web |title=India-born global expert in Information Theory, Joy Thomas, passes away in US |url=https://www.indiatechonline.com/it-happened-in-india.php?id=3995 |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=www.indiatechonline.com}} He stood first in the IIT Joint Entrance Examination.{{cite web |last1=Narayan |first1=Shoba |title=A word of advice for the IITs |date=28 January 2011 |url=https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/YHBBTKOcB0jFmPCsNphZqM/A-word-of-advice-for-the-IITs.html |publisher=Mint |accessdate=22 October 2020}} After graduating from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, he migrated to the US where he continued his studies to secure a PhD from Stanford University in 1984.{{Cite web |title=Bloomberg profile |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/person/17863043 |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=www.bloomberg.com}} It was here that he met Thomas M. Cover, the renowned information theorist,{{Cite web |title=ഇൻഫർമേഷൻ തിയറി വിദഗ്ധൻ ഡോ. ജോയ് തോമസ് അന്തരിച്ചു |url=https://www.manoramaonline.com/news/kerala/2020/10/04/dr-joy-thomas-died.html |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=ManoramaOnline |language=ml}} and together they wrote a book in 1991, Elements of Information Theory, which is considered by many as a benchmark text book on the subject.{{Cite web |last=Andrew Myers |date=2012-04-12 |title=Thomas Cover, acclaimed information theorist and electrical engineer, dies at 73 |url=http://news.stanford.edu/news/2012/april/thomas-cover-041212.html |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=Stanford University |language=en}}{{Cite journal |last=Kieffer |first=John |date=1994 |title=Book Review-Elements of Information Theory (Thomas M. Cover and Joy A. Thomas) |url=http://epubs.siam.org/doi/10.1137/1036124 |journal=SIAM Review |language=en |volume=36 |issue=3 |pages=509–511 |doi=10.1137/1036124 |issn=0036-1445|url-access=subscription }} In 1990, he joined the IBM Research at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center as a research staff member where he worked until he became involved in the founding of Stratify, a startup founded in 1991, which was later rebranded as Iron Mountain Digital. Later, he founded InsightsOne, another startup which was subsequently acquired by Apigee in 2014.{{Cite web |title=Apigee discloses $20M transaction after buying InsightsOne |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2014/01/08/apigee-discloses-20m-financing-after.html |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=www.bizjournals.com}}
Joy Thomas was an adjunct professor at Columbia University and Stanford University and held a number of patents.{{Cite web |title=Joy Aloysius Thomas Inventions, Patents and Patent Applications |url=https://patents.justia.com/inventor/joy-aloysius-thomas |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=patents.justia.com}} He died on September 28, 2020, at Mountain View, California, at the age of 57, survived by his wife, Priya, and children, Joshua and Leah.
Patents
- {{Cite web |title=US Patent – API specification generation (Patent # 10,747,505 issued August 18, 2020) – Justia Patents Search |url=https://patents.justia.com/patent/10747505 |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=patents.justia.com}}
- {{Cite web |title=US Patent – Automatically extracting profile feature attribute data from event data (Patent # 10,255,300 issued April 9, 2019) – Justia Patents Search |url=https://patents.justia.com/patent/10255300 |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=patents.justia.com}}
- {{Cite web |title=US Patent – Method and apparatus for prediction of computer system performance based on types and numbers of active devices (Patent # 8,234,229 issued July 31, 2012) – Justia Patents Search |url=https://patents.justia.com/patent/8234229 |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=patents.justia.com}}
- {{Cite web |title=US Patent – Techniques for organizing data to support efficient review and analysis (Patent # 7,945,600 issued May 17, 2011) – Justia Patents Search |url=https://patents.justia.com/patent/7945600 |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=patents.justia.com}}
- {{Cite web |title=US Patent Application – Method and apparatus for prediction of computer system performance based on types and numbers of active devices (Application #20030023719 issued January 30, 2003) – Justia Patents Search |url=https://patents.justia.com/patent/20030023719 |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=patents.justia.com}}
- {{Cite web |title=US Patent – Adaptive multiple dictionary data compression (Patent # 5,870,036 issued February 9, 1999) – Justia Patents Search |url=https://patents.justia.com/patent/5870036 |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=patents.justia.com}}
- {{Cite web |title=US Patent – Parallel compression and decompression using a cooperative dictionary (Patent # 5,729,228 issued March 17, 1998) – Justia Patents Search |url=https://patents.justia.com/patent/5729228 |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=patents.justia.com}}
Selected bibliography
= Books =
- {{Cite book |last1=Cover |first1=Thomas M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EuhBluW31hsC |title=Elements of Information Theory |last2=Thomas |first2=Joy A. |date=2006-07-11 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-0-471-74881-6 |language=en}}
= Articles =
- {{Cite journal |last1=Cover |first1=Thomas M. |last2=Thomas |first2=A. |date=1988 |title=Determinant Inequalities via Information Theory |url=http://epubs.siam.org/doi/10.1137/0609033 |journal=SIAM Journal on Matrix Analysis and Applications |language=en |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=384–392 |doi=10.1137/0609033 |issn=0895-4798|url-access=subscription }}
- {{Cite journal |last1=Dembo |first1=A. |last2=Cover |first2=T.M. |last3=Thomas |first3=J.A. |date=1991 |title=Information theoretic inequalities |url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/104312 |journal=IEEE Transactions on Information Theory |volume=37 |issue=6 |pages=1501–1518 |doi=10.1109/18.104312|url-access=subscription }}
References
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External links
- {{Cite web |title=dblp: Joy A. Thomas |url=https://dblp.org/pid/94/1920.html |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=dblp.org |language=en}}
- {{Cite web |title=On Amazon |url=https://www.amazon.in/ |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=www.amazon.in |language=en-in}}
- {{Cite web |date=10 July 2012 |title=Joy Thomas's Tribute to Thomas Cover |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IztJ9eQ56_M |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=ISL Stanford |publisher=YouTube}}
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Category:American information theorists
Category:American data scientists
Category:Women data scientists
Category:Stanford University alumni
Category:Stanford University faculty
Category:Columbia University faculty