Neil Sloane

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Neil Sloane

| image = N. J. A. Sloane.jpg

| caption = Neil Sloane in 1997

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1939|10|10}}

| birth_place = Beaumaris, Wales{{cite journal |last1=Roselle |first1=David P. |author-link1=David Roselle |year=1979 |title=Award of the Chauvenet Prize to Dr. Neil J. A. Sloane |journal=American Mathematical Monthly |volume=86 |issue=2 |pages=79 |doi=10.2307/2321940|jstor=2321940 }}

| workplaces = Cornell University
AT&T Bell Laboratories
AT&T Labs

| alma_mater = University of Melbourne
Cornell University

| doctoral_advisor = Frederick Jelinek, Wolfgang Fuchs

| known_for = Sphere Packing, Lattices and Groups (with J. H. Conway), The Theory of Error-Correcting Codes (with F. J. MacWilliams), and the On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences

| awards = Chauvenet Prize (1979)
Claude E. Shannon Award {{small|(1998)}}
IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal (2005)

| website = {{URL|neilsloane.com}}

}}

__NOTOC__

Neil James Alexander Sloane FLSW (born October 10, 1939) is a British-American mathematician.Sloane's home page {{cite web | title= Neil J. A. Sloane: Home Page | url=http://NeilSloane.com |access-date= June 2, 2012}} His major contributions are in the fields of combinatorics, error-correcting codes, and sphere packing. Sloane is best known for being the creator and maintainer of the On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (OEIS).Contains information on over three hundred thousand integer sequences {{cite web |title=The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences |url= http://oeis.org |access-date=10 October 2019}}

Biography

Sloane was born in Beaumaris, Anglesey, Wales, in 1939, moving to Cowes, Isle of Wight, England in 1946. The family emigrated to Australia, arriving at the start of 1949. Sloane then moved from Melbourne to the United States in 1961.{{citation|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/alexs-adventures-in-numberland/2014/oct/07/neil-sloane-the-man-who-loved-only-integer-sequences|title=Neil Sloane: the man who loved only integer sequences|date= October 7, 2014}}

He studied at Cornell University under Nick DeClaris, Frank Rosenblatt, Frederick Jelinek and Wolfgang Heinrich Johannes Fuchs, receiving his Ph.D. in 1967.{{MathGenealogy|id=80980}} His doctoral dissertation was titled Lengths of Cycle Times in Random Neural Networks. Sloane joined Bell Labs in 1968 and retired from its successor AT&T Labs in 2012. He became an AT&T Fellow in 1998. He is also a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales,{{cite web |url=https://www.learnedsociety.wales/fellow/neil-sloane/ |title=Dr Neil Sloane |publisher=Learned Society of Wales |work=Fellows |year=2015 |access-date=2017-10-16}} an IEEE Fellow, a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society,[http://www.ams.org/profession/fellows-list List of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society], retrieved 2013-07-20. and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

He is a winner of a Lester R. Ford Award in 1978{{cite journal|author=Sloane, Neil J. A.|title=Error correcting codes and invariant theory: new applications of a 19th century technique|journal=Amer. Math. Monthly|volume=84|issue=2|year=1977|pages=82–107|url=http://www.maa.org/programs/maa-awards/writing-awards/error-correcting-codes-and-invariant-theory-new-applications-of-a-19th-century-technique|doi=10.2307/2319929|jstor=2319929}} and the Chauvenet Prize in 1979. In 1998 he was an Invited Speaker of the International Congress of Mathematicians in Berlin.{{cite book|author=Sloane, N. J. A.|chapter=The sphere packing problem|title=Doc. Math. (Bielefeld) Extra Vol. ICM Berlin, 1998, vol. III|year=1998|pages=387–396|chapter-url=https://www.elibm.org/ft/10011595000}} In 2005 Sloane received the IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal.{{cite web|url=http://www.ieee.org/documents/hamming_rl.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100620000223/http://ieee.org/documents/hamming_rl.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 20, 2010 |title=IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal Recipients |publisher=IEEE |access-date=May 29, 2011}}

In 2008 he received the Mathematical Association of America David P. Robbins Prize, and in 2013 the George Pólya Award.

In 2014, to celebrate his 75th birthday, Sloane shared some of his favorite integer sequences.{{cite web|last1=Bellos|first1=Alex|title=Neil Sloane: the man who loved integer sequences|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/alexs-adventures-in-numberland/2014/oct/07/neil-sloane-the-man-who-loved-only-integer-sequences|website=The Guardian|access-date=10 December 2016|date=7 October 2014}} Besides mathematics, he loves rock climbing and has authored two rock-climbing guides to New Jersey.Sloane's webpage for the book {{cite web | title=Rock Climbing New Jersey|url=http://neilsloane.com/doc/GUIDE00/|access-date=6 December 2012}}

He regularly appears in videos for Brady Haran's YouTube channel Numberphile.{{cite news |last1=Sloan |first1=Neil |last2=Haran |first2=Brady |title=Neil Sloane on Numberphile |url=https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLt5AfwLFPxWJXQqPe_llzWmTHMPb9QvV2 |access-date=16 May 2019 |publisher=YouTube}}

Selected publications

Neil James Alexander Sloane, A Handbook of Integer Sequences, Academic Press, NY, 1973.
Florence Jessie MacWilliams and Neil James Alexander Sloane, The Theory of Error-Correcting Codes, Elsevier/North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1977.{{cite book |title=The Theory of Error-Correcting Codes |author-first1=Florence Jessiem |author-last1=MacWilliams |author-link1=Florence Jessiem MacWilliams |author-first2=Neil James Alexander |author-last2=Sloane |author-link2=Neil James Alexander Sloane |publisher=North-Holland / Elsevier BV |series=North-Holland Mathematical Library |volume=16 |lccn=76-41296 |isbn=978-0-444-85193-2 |edition=digital print of 12th impression, 1st |date=2007 |orig-date=1977 |publication-place=Amsterdam / London / New York / Tokyo |location=AT&T Shannon Labs, Florham Park, New Jersey, USA}} (xxii+762+6 pages){{cite journal|author=Pless, Vera|author-link=Vera Pless|title=Review: The theory of error-correcting codes, I and II, by F. J. MacWilliams and N. J. A. Sloane|journal=Bull. Amer. Math. Soc.|year=1978|volume=84|issue=6|pages=1356–1359|doi=10.1090/s0002-9904-1978-14578-9|doi-access=free}}
M. Harwit and Neil James Alexander Sloane, Hadamard Transform Optics, Academic Press, San Diego CA, 1979.
Neil James Alexander Sloane and A. D. Wyner, editors, Claude Elwood Shannon: Collected Papers, IEEE Press, NY, 1993.
Neil James Alexander Sloane and S. Plouffe, The Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences, Academic Press, San Diego, 1995.
J. H. Conway and Neil James Alexander Sloane, Sphere Packings, Lattices and Groups, Springer-Verlag, NY, 1st edn., 1988;{{cite journal|author-last=Guy |author-first=Richard K.|author-link=Richard K. Guy|title=Review: Sphere packings, lattices and groups, by J. H. Conway and N. J. A. Sloane|journal=Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. (N.S.)|date=1989|volume=21|issue=1|pages=142–147|doi=10.1090/s0273-0979-1989-15795-9|doi-access=free}} 2nd edn., 1993;{{cite journal|author-last=Rogers |author-first=C. A.|author-link=Claude Ambrose Rogers|title=Review: Sphere packings, lattices and groups, second ed., by J. H. Conway and N. J. A. Sloane|journal=Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. (N.S.)|date=1993|volume=29|issue=2|pages=306–314|doi=10.1090/s0273-0979-1993-00435-x|doi-access=free}} 3rd ed., 1998.
A. S. Hedayat, Neil James Alexander Sloane and J. Stufken, Orthogonal Arrays: Theory and Applications, Springer-Verlag, NY, 1999.
G. Nebe, E. M. Rains and Neil James Alexander Sloane, Self-Dual Codes and Invariant Theory, Springer-Verlag, 2006.

References

External links

{{MathGenealogy|id=80980}}
IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal Recipients, [https://web.archive.org/web/20100408000026/http://www.ieee.org/about/awards/bios/hamming_recipients.html#sect6 2005 – Neil J. A. Sloane]
Neil Sloane's entry in the [http://www.numericana.com/fame/index.htm#sloane Numericana Hall of Fame]
[http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/61870/title/Math_Trek__The_pattern_collector "The pattern collector"], Science News
Doron Zeilberger, [http://www.math.rutgers.edu/~zeilberg/Opinion124.html Opinion 124: A Database is Worth a Thousand Mathematical Articles]
[https://oeis.org/A195264/a195264.pdf Confessions of a Sequence Addict]: Neil Sloane