View source for Thomas Kailath

{{Short description|American engineer}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Thomas Kailath
| image             = Thomas Kailath.jpg
| caption           = Kailath with his late first wife, Sarah
| birth_date        = {{Birth date and age|1935|6|7}}
| birth_place       = [[Pune]], [[Bombay Presidency]], British India
| death_date        = 
| death_place       = 
| citizenship       = [[United States|American]]
| field             = {{plainlist|
*[[Control theory]]
*[[Information theory]]
}}
| work_institution  = [[Stanford University]]
| alma_mater        = {{plainlist|
*[[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]
*[[College of Engineering, Pune|Government College of Engineering at Pune]]
}}
| doctoral_advisor  = [[John Wozencraft]]
| awards            = {{plainlist|
*[[IEEE James H. Mulligan, Jr. Education Medal]] {{small|(1995)}}
*[[Claude E. Shannon Award]] {{small|(2000)}}
*[[IEEE Medal of Honor]] {{small|(2007)}}
*[[Padma Bhushan]] {{small|(2009)}}
*[[BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award]] {{small|(2009)}}
*[[National Medal of Science]] {{small|(2012)}}
*[[Marconi Prize|Marconi Society Lifetime Achievement Award]] {{small|(2017)}}
}}
| doctoral_students = {{plainlist|
*[[Babak Hassibi]]
*[[Ali H. Sayed]]
*[[John Cioffi]]
}}
| thesis_url = https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/11319?show=full
| thesis_title = Communication via randomly varying channels
| thesis_year = 1961
}}

'''Thomas Kailath''' (born June 7, 1935) is an India-born American [[electrical engineer]], [[information theorist]], [[control engineer]], [[entrepreneur]] and the Hitachi America Professor of Engineering [[emeritus]] at [[Stanford University]]. Professor Kailath has authored several books, including the well-known ''Linear Systems''.

Kailath was elected as a member of the US [[National Academy of Engineering]] in 1984 for outstanding contributions in prediction, filtering, and [[signal processing]], and for leadership in engineering.

Kailath is listed as an [[ISI highly cited researcher]] and is generally recognized as one of the preeminent figures of twentieth-century electrical engineering.<ref>{{Cite web | title = Kailath, Thomas, ISI Highly Cited Researchers | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060304073737/http://hcr3.isiknowledge.com/author.cgi?&link1=Browse&link2=Results&id=2563|archive-date=March 4, 2006| url= https://hcr3.isiknowledge.com/author.cgi?&link1=Browse&link2=Results&id=2563 | access-date = 2009-06-20 |url-status = dead }}</ref>

==Biography==
Kailath was born in 1935 in [[Pune]], [[Maharashtra]], [[India]], to a [[Malayalam]]-speaking [[Syrian Malabar Nasrani|Syrian Christian]] family from [[Kerala]] (a branch of the Chittoor family).<ref name=DNA>Kulthe, Bhagyashree (dec 19th 2009) "2 Institutions bring Kailath to Pune", in DNA: Daily News & Analysis newspaper</ref> He studied at [[St. Vincent's High School]], Pune and received his [[Bachelor's degree]] in telecommunications engineering from the [[College of Engineering, Pune|Government College of Engineering]],[[University of Pune]] in 1956. He earned his [[Master's degree]] in 1959 and his [[doctorate]] (ScD) in 1961, both from the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] (MIT).<ref name="Spectrum">{{Cite news|last=Perry|first=Tekla S.|date=May 2007|title=Medal of Honor: Thomas Kailath|periodical=[[IEEE Spectrum]]|volume=44|pages=44–47|url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/medal-of-honor-thomas-kailath|doi=10.1109/MSPEC.2007.352532|issue=5|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070515081942/http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/may07/5043|archive-date=2007-05-15}}</ref> He was the first [[India]]-born student to receive a doctorate in [[electrical engineering]] from MIT.<ref name="Spectrum" />

Kailath is Hitachi America Professor of Engineering [[emeritus]] at [[Stanford University]], where he has supervised about 80 Ph.D. theses. Kailath's research work has encompassed linear systems, [[estimation theory|estimation]] and [[control theory]], [[signal processing]], [[information theory]] and [[semiconductor device fabrication]].<ref name="Spectrum"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kailath |first1=T. |title=The innovations approach to detection and estimation theory |journal=[[Proceedings of the IEEE]] |date=1970 |volume=58 |issue=5 |pages=680–695 |doi=10.1109/PROC.1970.7723}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Paulraj |editor1-first=Arogyaswami |editor2-last=Roychowdhury |editor2-first=Vwani |editor3-last=Schaper |editor3-first=Charles D. |title=Communications, Computation, Control, and Signal Processing: a tribute to Thomas Kailath |date=2012 |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media]] |isbn=9781461562818}}</ref>

Kailath has co-founded several high-technology companies, including Integrated Systems (founded in 1980 and merged with WindRiver Systems in 1999), Numerical Technologies (founded in 1995 and acquired by [[Synopsys]]), and Excess Bandwidth Corporation (founded in 1998 and acquired by Virata Corporation in 2000, which itself merged with Globespan in 2001 and now [[Conexant]]).

==Honors and Recognition==

Kailath was elected a Fellow of the [[Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers]] (IEEE) in 1970. He is a member of the US [[National Academy of Engineering]] (NAE), the US [[National Academy of Sciences]] (NAS), [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] (AAAS), the Indian National Academy of Engineering and the [[Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ieee.org/portal/pages/about/awards/bios/2007_Bios/2007moh-Kailath.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081122161750/http://www.ieee.org/portal/pages/about/awards/bios/2007_Bios/2007moh-Kailath.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 22, 2008|title=Thomas Kailath|access-date=2007-05-23|publisher=[[IEEE]]}}</ref>

Kailath was awarded the 2007 [[IEEE Medal of Honor]] for "exceptional development of powerful [[algorithms]] in the fields of communications, computing, control and signal processing",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ieee.org/portal/pages/about/awards/pr/mohpr.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060923041815/http://www.ieee.org/portal/pages/about/awards/pr/mohpr.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 23, 2006|title=IEEE Medal of Honor Recipients|access-date=2007-05-23|publisher=[[IEEE]]}}</ref> the 2006 [[IEEE Jack S. Kilby Signal Processing Medal]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ieee.org/documents/kilby_rl.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100619214057/http://ieee.org/documents/kilby_rl.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 19, 2010 |title=IEEE Jack S. Kilby Signal Processing Medal Recipients |publisher=[[IEEE]] |access-date=February 27, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ieee.org/about/awards/bios/kilby_recipients.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120905043533/http://www.ieee.org/about/awards/bios/kilby_recipients.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 5, 2012 |title=IEEE Jack S. Kilby Signal Processing Medal Recipients - 2006 - Thomas Kailath |publisher=[[IEEE]] |access-date=February 27, 2011}}</ref> the 1996 [[IEEE Donald G. Fink Prize Paper Award]] (together with [[Ali H. Sayed]]),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ieee.org/documents/fink_rl.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101124231931/http://ieee.org/documents/fink_rl.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 24, 2010 |title=IEEE Donald G. Fink Prize Paper Award Recipients |publisher=[[IEEE]] |access-date=2011-01-02}}</ref> and the 1986 [[John R. Ragazzini Award]]. 

Kailath was honored with the [[Padma Bhushan]] award in 2009 by the Government of India for his contributions to Science and Engineering.<ref name="Padma Awards">{{cite web | url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf | title=Padma Awards | publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, [[Government of India]] | date=2015 | access-date=July 21, 2015}}</ref> He was awarded the 2009 [[BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award]] in Information and Communication Technology "for creating knowledge with transformative impact on the information and communication technologies that permeate everyday life".

In 2012, Kailath was a recipient of the [[National Medal of Science]], presented by President [[Barack Obama]] in 2014 for "transformative contributions to the fields of information and system science, for distinctive and sustained mentoring of young scholars, and for translation of scientific ideas into entrepreneurial ventures that have had a significant impact on industry."<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://nationalmedals.org/laureates/thomas-kailath |title = NSTMF}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/10/03/president-obama-honors-nation-s-top-scientists-and-innovators | work=[[whitehouse.gov]] |title = President Obama Honors Nation's Top Scientists and Innovators| via=[[NARA|National Archives]] |date = 2014-10-03}}</ref>
[[File:Celebrating the 2012 National Medal of Science awardees (15972967204).jpg|thumb]]

The Marconi Society honored Kailath in 2017 with the Lifetime Achievement Award for "his many transformative contributions to information and system science and his sustained mentoring and development of new generations of scientists."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Lifetime Achievement Award|url=https://www.marconisociety.org/lifetime-achievement-award/|access-date=2021-08-17|website=The Marconi Society|language=en-US}}</ref>


==Personal==

Kailath was married to Sarah (Jacob) Kailath from 1962 until her death in 2008, and they had four children: Ann (wife of MIT professor George Verghese), Paul, Priya and Ryan.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.indolink.com/displayArticleS.php?id=022406074350 |title=INDOlink - NRI News - Silicon Valley Honors Prof. Thomas Kailath: Educator, Entrepreneur |website=www.indolink.com |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060315222516/http://www.indolink.com/displayArticleS.php?id=022406074350 |archive-date=2006-03-15}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.stanford.edu/~tkailath/FAssisiHoF.htm | title=Thomas Kailath}}</ref>

In 2013, Kailath married Dr. Anuradha Luther Maitra, retired economics professor, trustee and former president of the UC Santa Cruz Foundation Board, and former CEO of Floreat, Inc.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://web.stanford.edu/~tkailath/cgi-bin/index.php | title=Thomas Kailath}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=http://news.ucsc.edu/2013/10/blumenthal-luther.html | title=Expanding UCSC's international presence and engagement}}</ref> 
In 2022 a gift from the couple created the Anuradha Luther Maitra and Thomas Kailath Endowed Professorship in South Asian Studies at [[UC Santa Cruz]] to advance "research and discourse dedicated to South Asia and the South Asian diaspora".<ref name = "Exponential-Growth" >
{{ Cite web
| year = 2022
| publisher = [[UC Santa Cruz]] (UCSC)
| url = https://news.ucsc.edu/2022/10/csas-endowed-chair.html
| title = UCSC's Center for South Asian Studies positioned for exponential growth
| first = Haneen
| last = Zain
}}
</ref>

Kailath is the brother-in-law of journalist [[T. J. S. George]], who is also a recipient of the [[Padma Bhushan]].





==Publications==
* 1979, ''Linear Systems (Prentice-Hall Information and System Science Series)'' (1979, Prentice Hall, {{ISBN|978-0-13-536961-6}})
* 1987, ''Indefinite-Quadratic Estimation and Control: A Unified Approach to H<sup>2</sup> and H<sup><math>\infty</math></sup> Theories (Studies in Applied and Numerical Mathematics)'' with [[Ali H. Sayed]] & [[Babak Hassibi]] (1987, Society for Industrial & Applied Mathematics, {{ISBN|978-0-89871-411-1}})
* 1997, ''Discrete Neural Computation: A Theoretical Foundation'' with Kai-Yeung Siu & Vwani Roychowdhury (1997, Prentice Hall, {{ISBN|978-0-13-300708-4}})
* 2000, ''Linear Estimation'' with [[Ali H. Sayed]] & [[Babak Hassibi]] (2000, Prentice Hall, {{ISBN|978-0-13-022464-4}})

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
{{Commons category-inline}}
*[http://www.stanford.edu/~tkailath/ Kailath' Stanford website]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070521003545/http://isl.stanford.edu/kailathlecture/bios/kailath.html Stanford biography]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070515081942/http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/may07/5043 IEEE Spectrum article]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20081122161750/http://www.ieee.org/portal/pages/about/awards/bios/2007_Bios/2007moh-Kailath.html IEEE 2007 Medal of Honor: Thomas Kailath]
*[http://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/history_center/oral_history/abstracts/kailathab.html IEEE History Center: Thomas Kailath oral history from IEEE]{{dead link|date=January 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20061212174510/http://ias.berkeley.edu/SouthAsia/kailath.html Sarah Kailath Chair in India Studies]
*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20060315222516/http://www.indolink.com/displayArticleS.php?id=022406074350 Indolink piece on Dr. Kailath, mentions Malayalam script on his house]}}
*{{MathGenealogy|id=41399}}

{{IEEE Medal of Honor}}
{{IEEE James H. Mulligan, Jr. Education Medal}}
{{Claude E. Shannon Award recipients}}
{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 2000–09}}
{{Padma Award winners of Kerala}}
{{FRS 2009}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kailath, Thomas}}
[[Category:American computer scientists]]
[[Category:American control theorists]]
[[Category:1935 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Mathematical Society]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Fellows of the IEEE]]
[[Category:IEEE Medal of Honor recipients]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in science & engineering]]
[[Category:Foreign members of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Foreign fellows of the Indian National Science Academy]]
[[Category:Stanford University School of Engineering faculty]]
[[Category:MIT School of Engineering alumni]]
[[Category:Savitribai Phule Pune University alumni]]
[[Category:American people of Malayali descent]]
[[Category:Indian emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:20th-century American engineers]]
[[Category:21st-century American engineers]]
[[Category:American academics of Indian descent]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian engineers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian engineers]]
[[Category:Scientists from Pune]]
[[Category:Engineers from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Detection and estimation theorists]]