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Joy A. Thomas

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Joy A. Thomas
Born(1963-01-01)1 January 1963
Kerala, India
Died28 September 2020(2020-09-28) (aged 57)
Occupation(s)Information theorist, data scientist, author
SpousePriya
ChildrenTwo children

Joy Aloysius Thomas (1 January 1963 – 28 September 2020) was an Indian-born American information theorist, author and a senior data scientist at Google. He was known for his contributions to information theory and was the co-author of Elements of Information Theory, a popular text book which he co-authored with Thomas M. Cover. He also held a number of patents and was the founder of startups such as 'Insights One'.

Biography

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Joy Thomas, born on January 1, 1963, in the south Indian state of Kerala, did his schooling at St Joseph's Boys' High School, Bangalore.[1] He stood first in the IIT Joint Entrance Examination.[2] After graduating from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, he migrated to the US where he continued his studies to secure a PhD from Stanford University in 1984.[3] It was here that he met Thomas M. Cover, the renowned information theorist,[4] and together they wrote a book in 1991, Elements of Information Theory, which is considered by many as a benchmark text book on the subject.[5][6] In 1990, he joined the IBM Research at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center as a research staff member where he worked until he became involved in the founding of Stratify, a startup founded in 1991, which was later rebranded as Iron Mountain Digital. Later, he founded InsightsOne, another startup which was subsequently acquired by Apigee in 2014.[7]

Joy Thomas was an adjunct professor at Columbia University and Stanford University and held a number of patents.[8] He died on September 28, 2020, at Mountain View, California, at the age of 57, survived by his wife, Priya, and children, Joshua and Leah.[1]

Patents

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Selected bibliography

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Books

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Articles

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References

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  1. ^ a b "India-born global expert in Information Theory, Joy Thomas, passes away in US". www.indiatechonline.com. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  2. ^ Narayan, Shoba (28 January 2011). "A word of advice for the IITs". Mint. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  3. ^ "Bloomberg profile". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  4. ^ "ഇൻഫർമേഷൻ തിയറി വിദഗ്ധൻ ഡോ. ജോയ് തോമസ് അന്തരിച്ചു". ManoramaOnline (in Malayalam). Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  5. ^ Andrew Myers (12 April 2012). "Thomas Cover, acclaimed information theorist and electrical engineer, dies at 73". Stanford University. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  6. ^ Kieffer, John (1994). "Book Review-Elements of Information Theory (Thomas M. Cover and Joy A. Thomas)". SIAM Review. 36 (3): 509–511. doi:10.1137/1036124. ISSN 0036-1445.
  7. ^ "Apigee discloses $20M transaction after buying InsightsOne". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  8. ^ "Joy Aloysius Thomas Inventions, Patents and Patent Applications". patents.justia.com. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
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