Arun N. Netravali (born 26 May 1945 in

Mumbai, India Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

) is an

Indian-American Indian Americans or Indo-Americans are citizens of the United States with ancestry from India. The United States Census Bureau uses the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Native Americans, who have also historically been referred to ...

computer engineer credited with contributions in digital technology including

HDTV High-definition television (HD or HDTV) describes a television system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since 1936; in more recent times, it refers to the g ...

. He conducted research in digital compression, signal processing and other fields. Netravali was the ninth President of

Bell Laboratories Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...

and has served as Lucent's Chief Technology Officer and Chief Network Architect. He received his undergraduate degree from

IIT Bombay The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay or IITB) is a public research university and technical institute in Powai, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is considered as one of the best engineering universities in India and is top ranked ...

, India, and an M.S. and a Ph.D. from

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, all in electrical engineering. Several global universities, including the Ecole Polytechnique Federale in Lausanne, Switzerland, have honored him with honorary doctorates. Netravali led Bell Labs research and development of high definition television (HDTV) and is widely acknowledged as a pioneer in the development of digital video technology. He is the author of over 170 technical papers, 70 patents, and three books in the areas of picture processing, digital television, and computer networks. Netravali is a member of Tau Beta Phi and

Sigma Xi Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society () is a highly prestigious, non-profit honor society for scientists and engineers. Sigma Xi was founded at Cornell University by a junior faculty member and a small group of graduate students in 1886 ...

. He is also an IEEE fellow. He has received awards including the

Marconi Prize The Marconi Prize is an annual award recognizing achievements and advancements made in field of communications (radio, mobile, wireless, telecommunications, data communications, networks, and Internet). The prize is awarded by the Marconi Society a ...

, the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...

Award from the Indian government, the

National Medal of Technology The National Medal of Technology and Innovation (formerly the National Medal of Technology) is an honor granted by the President of the United States to American inventors and innovators who have made significant contributions to the development ...

from President George W. Bush, the Computers & Communications Prize, the Alexander Graham Bell Medal, the IEEE Kilby Medal, the IEEE Frederik Philips Award, and the National Association of Software and Services Companies in India Medal. Prior to joining Bell Labs, Netravali was an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, however the genera ...

at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

. While at Bell Labs, he taught at City College of New York, Columbia University, and Rutgers University. He was a resident of Westfield, NJ.

Awards and honors

Netravali has received numerous awards and honorary degrees, including * the

IEEE Jack S. Kilby Signal Processing Medal The IEEE Jack S. Kilby Signal Processing Medal is presented "for outstanding achievements in signal processing" theory, technology or commerce. The recipients of this award will receive a gold medal, together with a replica in bronze, a certificat ...

in 2001 (together with

Thomas S. Huang Thomas Shi-Tao Huang (, June 26, 1936 – April 25, 2020) was a Chinese-born American computer scientist, electrical engineer, and writer. He was a researcher and professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). H ...

) * the

IEEE Frederik Philips Award The IEEE Frederik Philips Award is a Technical Field Award that was established by the IEEE in 1971. The award is presented for outstanding accomplishments in the management of research and development resulting in effective innovation in the el ...

in 2001 * the U.S.

* the

from the Government of India * the

IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal The IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal is an award honoring ''"exceptional contributions to communications and networking sciences and engineering"'' in the field of telecommunications. The medal is one of the highest honors awarded by the Instit ...

in 1991 (together with

C. Chapin Cutler Cassius Chapin Cutler (December 16, 1914 – December 1, 2002) was an American electrical engineer at Bell Labs. His notable achievements include the invention of the corrugated waveguide and differential pulse-code modulation (DPCM). Biogr ...

and John O. Limb) * elected to member of the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy ...

in 1989 * elected to

IEEE Fellow As of 2019, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has 5,082 members designated Fellow, each of whom is associated with one of the 41 societies under the IEEE. The Fellow grade of membership is the highest level of membershi ...

in 1985 * the IEEE Donald G. Fink Prize Paper Award in 1982 (together with John O. Limb)

Selected writing

* Arun N. Netravali and Barry G. Haskell, ''Digital Pictures: Representation, Compression and Standards (Applications of Communications Theory)'', Springer (second edition, 1995),

References

External links

Laureate profile at The Spirit of American Innovation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Netravali, Arun Columbia University faculty American people of Indian descent Rice University alumni Living people Indian emigrants to the United States National Medal of Technology recipients Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in science & engineering 1946 births IIT Bombay alumni Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering American chief technology officers Businesspeople from Mumbai Fellow Members of the IEEE Bell Labs