It is very seldom that a research field can be assigned a precise date of birth. Usually new ideas emerge gradually, and usually it is only in retrospect that it is possible to recognize their significance. Information Theory is exceptional in this respect. As we all know the field very apparently was born in 1948 with the two papers published by Claude E. Shannon in the July and the October issues of Bell System Technical Journal. Unfortunately this excellent journal is not alive any more, but Information Theory is more vivid then ever. The number of papers published, the number of conferences arranged and the number of participants of those conferences are steadily increasing. It is also clear that the practical impact of the results produced is very significant indeed, and also rapidly increasing. It is therefore with great enthusiasm and high expectations for the future that we now enter the second half century of our science.
In spite of some initial criticism from a few mathematicians - as was mentioned by Sergio Verdú in the previous issue of this column - the new theory was largely received with enthusiasm already from the beginning. Although in those days many of the problems addressed must have seemed somewhat utopian - taking the current state of art within component technology into account - most experts apparently recognized that a new and significant approach had been taken. It probably was also clear to many of those experts that this new approach was bound to lead to great practical consequences. Few of them, though, could have been able to foresee the dramatic evolution we have experienced since then, particularly during the last decade. I am thinking of all those activities which are today usually referred to as information technology. Certainly there are many other important key factors involved in this technology, factors without which it could not have been developed. But there can be no doubt that Information Theory is a key theory for understanding many aspects of this technology and that many of its significant achievements emerged from or at least were inspired by Information Theory.
Unfortunately one of the very first news that reached us in the jubilee year 1998 was that one of the most prominent personalities within our field, namely Richard Wesley Hamming, has passed away. Hamming's name is associated with at least three key concepts: the Hamming distance, the Hamming codes, and the Hamming bound. None of these concepts needs an explanation to anyone who as only the slightest idea of the field: they are all at the very core of the theory.
Very soon after Shannon's epoch-making paper Richard Hamming in 1950 published the paper which together with Golay's paper from 1949 forms the foundation of the constructive counterpart to Shannon's theory, namely algebraic coding theory. The abstract work of Shannon, which gave us bounds for possible performance, was beautifully matched by the explicit constructions provided in the papers by Hamming and Golay. In Shannon's work great improvements were promised. The explicit constructions offered by Golay and Hamming showed the direction to go in order to practically achieve those improvements.
It is a very strong indication to the genius of these three pioneers that it took almost half a century to reach the goal. Not until today has it been possible to design systems that meet - or essentially meet - the bounds indicated by Shannon. Practical technology of today clearly demonstrates that Shannon's theory was not only a theoretical breakthrough. Today it is clear that it also very adequately reflects practical reality.
The year 1998 has been announced as a Golden Jubilee year for our society. This, of course, is to celebrate Shannon's epoch-making publication 50 years ago. There will be several special events and undertakings arranged this year. A special issue of the Newsletter will be produced, edited by Tony Ephremides and Jim Massey, a logo contest is being coordinated by Ubli Mitra, several special awards will be given and a number of special conferences and workshops will be arranged. In particular the 1998 IEEE Information Theory Symposium will include a number of special events in order to celebrate the jubilee. The location will be at MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts in order to observe the place where many of the early contributions to Information Theory were generated. I look forward to all this with enthusiasm and great expectations. I think this will be a very exciting year for all of us having interest in this field.
When writing this column, which is my first as the president of the society, it is very natural for me to look back also on my own personal experiences. I attended my first information theory symposium in Ellenville 1969 - almost thirty years ago. That was my very first scientific conference and I was extremely excited. I must admit that I was also very nervous. I had fifteen minutes available for presentation of my paper, and I had very seriously prepared myself to meet this bound. The limit was very strict. The organizers had arranged with an egg-clock that indicated the end for each presentation. In one respect my talk became a complete success: it caused laughter in the audience when I finished at the very same moment as the bell rang.
For me as a very young student it was of course an exciting experience to meet personally all the famous people whose names I had earlier seen only in the titles of scientific papers. I was surprised to notice that most of these famous people were so young, most of them just a couple of years older than myself. It is a striking fact that with a few exceptions most of these people are still around and are still actively contributing to the area.
One person that unfortunately is not longer among us is one of the organizers of the Ellenville Symposium, Aaron Wyner. As was announced in the December issue of the Newsletter Aaron passed away in September last year. Aaron was one of the very central personalities within Information Theory. His passing away is a very big loss to all of us.
Let me conclude this letter with the hope that this Golden Jubilee year shall include both new manifestations of results already achieved and discoveries of new areas not yet explored. It is indeed a very exciting year to be the president of the Information Theory Society.