Warren Weaver
| Warren Weaver | |
|---|---|
| Born |
July 17, 1894 Reedsburg, Wisconsin, USA |
| Died | 24 November 1978 (aged 84) New Milford, Connecticut, USA |
| Occupation | scientist, mathematician |
| Known for | machine translation |
| Awards | Kalinga Prize (1964) |
Warren Weaver, PhD (July 17, 1894 – November 24, 1978) was an American scientist, mathematician, and science administrator. He is widely recognized as one of the pioneers of machine translation, and as an important figure in creating support for science in the United States.
Weaver received three degrees from the University of Wisconsin–Madison: a Bachelor of Science in 1916, a civil engineering degree in 1917, and a Ph.D. in 1921. He became an assistant professor of mathematics at Throop College (now California Institute of Technology). He served as a second lieutenant in the Air Service during World War I. After the war, he returned to teach mathematics at Wisconsin (1920–32). Weaver married Mary Hemenway, one of his fellow students at Wisconsin, a few years after their graduation. They had a son, Warren Jr., and a daughter, Helen.
Weaver was director of the Division of Natural Sciences at the Rockefeller Foundation (1932–55), and was science consultant (1947–51), trustee (1954), and vice president (from 1958) at the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research. His chief researches were in the problems of communication in science and in the mathematical theory of probability and statistics.
At the Rockefeller Foundation, he was responsible for approving grants for major projects in molecular engineering and genetics, in agriculture (particularly for developing new strains of wheat and rice), and in medical research. During World War II, he was seconded from the foundation to head the Applied Mathematics Panel at the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development, directing the work of mathematicians in operations research with the assistance of Mina Rees. He was familiar with the development of electronic calculating machines and the successful application of mathematical and statistical techniques in cryptography.
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