Maurice Karnaugh (; October 4, 1924 – November 8, 2022) was an American physicist, mathematician, computer scientist, and inventor known for the

Karnaugh map A Karnaugh map (KM or K-map) is a diagram that can be used to simplify a Boolean algebra expression. Maurice Karnaugh introduced the technique in 1953 as a refinement of Edward W. Veitch's 1952 Veitch chart, which itself was a rediscovery of ...

used in

Boolean algebra In mathematics and mathematical logic, Boolean algebra is a branch of algebra. It differs from elementary algebra in two ways. First, the values of the variable (mathematics), variables are the truth values ''true'' and ''false'', usually denot ...

Early life and education

Karnaugh earned a B.A in physics from the City College of New York in 1948 and a PhD. in physics from Yale in 1952. He later studied mathematics and physics at

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

(1944 to 1948) and transferred to

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

to complete his B.Sc. (1949), M.Sc. (1950) and Ph.D. in physics with a thesis on ''The Theory of Magnetic Resonance and Lambda-Type Doubling in Nitric-Oxide'' (1952).

Career

Karnaugh worked at

Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, commonly referred to as ''Bell Labs'', is an American industrial research and development company owned by Finnish technology company Nokia. With headquarters located in Murray Hill, New Jersey, Murray Hill, New Jersey, the compa ...

and IBM from 1952 to 1993. From 1980 until 1999 Karnaugh taught computer science at Polytechnic University of New York. At Bell Labs, (1952 to 1966), developing the

(1954) as well as patents for

PCM Pulse-code modulation (PCM) is a method used to Digital signal (signal processing), digitally represent analog signals. It is the standard form of digital audio in computers, compact discs, digital telephony and other digital audio application ...

encoding and magnetic logic circuits and coding. He later worked at

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

's Federal Systems Division in

Gaithersburg Gaithersburg ( ) is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. At the time of the 2020 United States census, Gaithersburg had a population of 69,657, making it the third-largest incorporated city and the ninth-most populous communit ...

(1966 to 1970) and at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center (1970 to 1994), studying

multistage interconnection networks Multistage interconnection networks (MINs) are a class of high-speed computer networks usually composed of Central processing unit, processing elements (PEs) on one end of the network and computer memory, memory elements (MEs) on the other end, conn ...

. Karnaugh was elected an

IEEE Fellow , the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and ot ...

in 1976, and held an adjunct position at Polytechnic University of New York (now

New York University Tandon School of Engineering The New York University Tandon School of Engineering (commonly referred to as Tandon) is the engineering and applied sciences school of New York University. Tandon is the second oldest private engineering and technology school in the United St ...

) at the Westchester campus from 1980 to 1999.

Karnaugh Map

While at Bell Labs, in 1953 Karnaugh invented a form of logic diagram which provides an alternative technique for representing Boolean functions. The diagram is known as the

Karnaugh Map A Karnaugh map (KM or K-map) is a diagram that can be used to simplify a Boolean algebra expression. Maurice Karnaugh introduced the technique in 1953 as a refinement of Edward W. Veitch's 1952 Veitch chart, which itself was a rediscovery of ...

Personal life and death

Karnaugh was married to the former Linn Blank Weil from 1970 until his death in 2022. He had two sons, Robert Victor Karnaugh and Paul Joseph Karnaugh, from his first marriage. Karnaugh died in

The Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

on November 8, 2022, at the age of 98.

Publications

* * * * * (61 pages)

References

External links

* * List of publications a
ACM Digital Library
1924 births 2022 deaths 21st-century American physicists American telecommunications engineers Scientists at Bell Labs Fellows of the IEEE Yale University alumni IBM employees Polytechnic Institute of New York University faculty Scientists from New York City {{US-physicist-stub