David MacKay was a true polymath, whose knowledge and contributions spanned important, wide-reaching areas of engineering. He made significant developments in fields including machine learning, efficient communication, and sustainable energy.
David developed a way to correct signal interference, which is now used in digital broadcasting and magnetic storage of information, such as on computer hard drives. He also advanced the field of machine learning by improving artificial neural networks. Furthermore, he invented Dasher, an assistive software application that enables communication in any language with any muscle of the body.
In 2008, he published a book on sustainable energy, which is regarded as a go-to text for energy policy and was praised worldwide. From 2009–2014, he was the Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change.
Sir David MacKay FRS died on 14 April 2016.
Biographical Memoir
Professional position
- Regius Professor of Engineering, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge
Subject groups
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Multicellular Organisms
Behavioural neuroscience, Cellular neuroscience, Experimental psychology
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Patterns in Populations
Evolution
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Other
Public understanding of science, Science education at secondary level
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Mathematics
, Computer science (excl engineering aspects)
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Astronomy and Physics
Biophysics, Computational physics, Statistical
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Chemistry
Chemistry, biological
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Engineering and Materials Science
Engineering, environmental, Communications incl information theory, Computer engineering (including software)
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Molecules of Life
Biophysics and structural biology
Awards
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Clifford Paterson Medal and Lecture
On 'Information theory meets writing'.
