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William Kahan
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William Kahan

William "Velvel" Morton Kahan is a Canadian mathematician and computer scientist, who is a professor

1933 – presentCanadaContribution: 1989

Introduction

William Kahan (born 1933) is an American mathematician and computer scientist. He is known for his work in numerical analysis and floating-point arithmetic. Kahan developed the IEEE 754 standard for floating-point arithmetic, which is widely used in modern computer systems. His work has been instrumental in ensuring accurate and reliable numerical computations.

Key Achievement

Fundamental contributions to numerical analysis; foremost expert on floating-point computations; dedicated to "making the world safe for numerical computations”

Biography

William "Velvel" Morton Kahan is a Canadian mathematician and computer scientist, who is a professor emeritus at University of California, Berkeley. He received the Turing Award in 1989 for "his fundamental contributions to numerical analysis."

Notable Works

IEEE 754

Other

Davis-Kahan Theorem

Other

Awards

Turing Award1989
ACM Fellow1994
honorary doctorate from the University of Waterloo1998
IEEE Emanuel R. Piore Award2000

Institutions

Adalia Ltd.

University of California, Berkeley

Education

University of Toronto