Frank Thomson "Tom" Leighton (born 1956) is an American mathematician who is the CEO of

Akamai Technologies Akamai Technologies, Inc. is an American company specialized in content delivery networkJ. Dilley, B. Maggs, J. Parikh, H. Prokop, R. Sitaraman, and B. Weihl. (CDN), cybersecurity, DDoS mitigation, and cloud services. It is headquartered in ...

, the company he co-founded with Daniel Lewin in 1998,Erik Nygren, Ramesh Sitaraman, and Jennifer Sun. and a professor of

applied mathematics Applied mathematics is the application of mathematics, mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and Industrial sector, industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a ...

at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

(MIT). He is a member of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at MIT.

Early life and education

Leighton's father was a U.S. Navy colleague and friend of Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, the father of naval nuclear propulsion and a founder of the

Research Science Institute The Research Science Institute (RSI) is an international summer research program for high school students. RSI is sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Education (CEE) and hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, ...

(RSI). His brother, David T. Leighton, is a professor at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

specializing in transport phenomena. He received his B.S.E. in electrical engineering from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 1978, and his Ph.D. in mathematics from MIT in 1981.

Career

Leighton discovered a solution to free up web congestion using applied mathematics and distributed computing. Leighton worked on algorithms for network applications and has published over 100 papers on algorithms, cryptography, parallel architectures, distributed computing, combinatorial optimization, and graph theory. He also holds patents involving content delivery, Internet protocols, algorithms for networks, cryptography and digital rights management. Leighton has the Presidential Informational Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC) and chaired its subcommittee on

cybersecurity Computer security (also cybersecurity, digital security, or information technology (IT) security) is a subdiscipline within the field of information security. It consists of the protection of computer software, systems and networks from thr ...

. He is on the board of trustees of the

Society for Science & the Public Society for Science, formerly known as Science Service and later Society for Science and the Public, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of science, through its science education programs and publications, including ...

(SSP) and of the Center for Excellence in Education (CEE), and he has participated in the Distinguished Lecture Series at CEE's flagship program for high school students, the

(RSI).

Awards and honors

* 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 other related disciplines. The IEEE has a corporate office ...

(IEEE) awarded Leighton the John von Neumann Medal in 2023 for "fundamental contributions to algorithm design and their application to content delivery networks." * In 2018, Leighton won 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 ...

from the Marconi Society for "his fundamental contributions to the technology and establishment of content delivery networks". * He was elected as an

ACM Fellow ACM Fellowship is an award and fellowship that recognises outstanding members of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). The title of ACM Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals ...

in 2018 for "his leadership in the establishment of content delivery networks, and his contributions to algorithm design". * In 2017, Leighton and Lewin were inducted into the

National Inventors Hall of Fame The National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) is an American not-for-profit organization, founded in 1973, which recognizes individual engineers and inventors who hold a US patent of significant technology. Besides the Hall of Fame, it also operate ...

, for Content Delivery Network methods. * He is a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

* In 2012, Leighton became a fellow of the

American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...

. * In 2009, Leighton became a Fellow of the

Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) is a professional society dedicated to applied mathematics, computational science, and data science through research, publications, and community. SIAM is the world's largest scientific soci ...

. * In 2008, Leighton was appointed as a member of the

United States National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

. * In 2004, Leighton was elected a member of the

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

for contributions to the design of networks and circuits and for technology for Web content delivery. * In 2001, Leighton received the IEEE Computer Society Charles Babbage Award. * In 1981, Leighton was named the first winner of the Machtey Award.

Personal life

He is married to the MIT professor Bonnie Berger, American mathematician and computer scientist, and they have two children.

Books

* ''Mathematics for Computer Science'' (with Eric Lehman and Albert R. Meyer, 2010) * ''Introduction to Parallel Algorithms and Architectures: Arrays, Trees, Hypercubes'' (Morgan Kaufmann, 1991), . * ''Complexity Issues in VLSI: Optimal layouts for the shuffle-exchange graph and other networks'', (MIT Press, 1983), .

References

External links

MIT Mathematics Department bio

* ttps://www.akamai.com/company/leadership/executive-team/tom-leighton Akamai bio {{DEFAULTSORT:Leighton, F. Thomson American theoretical computer scientists Living people Fellows of the American Mathematical Society Fellows of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics 2018 fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Princeton University School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty 20th-century American engineers 21st-century American engineers 20th-century American scientists 21st-century American scientists 1956 births Akamai Technologies people