Abraham Lempel’s groundbreaking work in the field of data compression helped develop technologies that are very popular to this day.
Israeli computer scientist Abraham Lempel, one of the creators of the lossless data compression algorithms that gave rise to file formats such as MP3 and ZIP, died last Sunday at the age of 86.
According to an obituary published on the website of the Israel Institute of Technology (Technion), where Lempel worked for more than 50 years, his first breakthrough came in 1977, when he co-authored with his colleague, Professor Jacob Ziv, published the LZ77 algorithm, the first version of the Lempel-Ziv algorithm, followed the following year by LZ78. These algorithms became the basis for various data compression formats, such as TIFF, PNG, ZIP, and GIF, and played a key role in the PDF and MP3 formats.
The Technion Mourns Prof. Abraham Lempel (1936-2023), one of the authors of the Lempel-Ziv algorithm, which revolutionized data compression and is considered one of the most important technological breakthroughs achieved by Israeli researchers. https://t.co /kT9sJXLlOOpic.twitter.com/vAmAMipJB9
— Technion Israel (@TechnionLive) February 6, 2023
“Professor emeritus Lempel was an inspiration to all of us. He is considered one of the greatest researchers to have worked at the Technion in its 100 years of existence. The Lempel-Ziv algorithm brought unprecedented technology to the world that enables a of data without loss. Professor Lempel exemplified the combination of deep basic science and excellent applied research. Few scientists have influenced technological progress and our daily lives as much as he did,” said Professor Uri Sivan, Chairman from high school.
Source: RT
