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Richard Hamming Biography

Richard Hamming

Richard Wesley Hamming (February 11, 1915 – January 7, 1998) was an American mathematician whose work had many implications for computer engineering and telecommunications. His contributions include the Hamming code (which makes use of a Hamming matrix), the Hamming window, Hamming numbers, sphere-packing (or Hamming bound), and the Hamming distance.

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Richard Hamming Quotes

Knowledge and productivity are like compound interest. The more you know, the more you learn; the more you learn, the more you can do; the more you can do, the more the opportunity. I don`t want to give you a rate, but it is a very high rate. Given two people with exactly the same ability, the one person who manages day in and day out to get in one more hour of thinking will be tremendously more productive over a lifetime.

Given, Opportunity, Productivity, Thinking, Two

The most dangerous thought you can have as a creative person is to think you know what you’re doing.

Creative, Dangerous, Inspirational, Person, Think, Thinking

Good teachers deserve apples; great teachers deserve chocolate. A favorite quotation, written in calligraphy on his office door.

Apples, Chocolate, Doors, Quotation, Teacher

I have tried, with little success, to get some of my friends to understand my amazement that the abstraction of integers for counting is both possible and useful. Is it not remarkable that 6 sheep plus 7 sheep makes 13 sheep; that 6 stones plus 7 stones make 13 stones? Is it not a miracle that the universe is so constructed that such a simple abstraction as a number is possible? To me this is one of the strongest examples of the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics. Indeed, I find it both strange and unexplainable.

Abstraction, Effectiveness, Numbers, Sheep, Simple

Luck favors the prepared mind.

Favors, Luck, Mind

Newton said, "If I have seen further than others, it is because I've stood on the shoulders of giants. " These days we stand on each other's feet!

Feet, Giants, Newton, Science, Seen, Shoulders

Mathematics is not merely an idle art form, it is an essential part of our society.

Art, Essential, Essentials, Merely, Our Society, Society

Typing is no substitute for thinking.

Substitute, Substitutes, Thinking, Typing

If you have the door to your office closed, you get more work done today and tomorrow, and you are more productive than most. But ten years later somehow, you dont quite know what problems are worth working on.

Doors, Office, Work, Years

What you learn from others you can use to follow. What you learn for yourself you can use to lead.

Follow, Learn, Learning, Science, Use

Does anyone believe that the difference between the Lebesgue and Riemann integrals can have physical significance, and that whether say, an airplane would or would not fly could depend on this difference? If such were claimed, I should not care to fly in that plane.

Airplane, Believe, Lebesgue, Math, Physical, Say

It may be said "In research, if you know what you are doing, then you shouldn't be doing it. " In a sense, if the answer turns out to be exactly what you expected, then you have learned nothing new, although you may have had your confidence increased somewhat.

Answer, Confidence, Knowledge, Learning, Science, Turns

One of the characteristics of successful scientists is having courage.

Characteristics, Courage, Scientist, Successful

A parable: A man was examining the construction of a cathedral. He asked a stone mason what he was doing chipping the stones, and the mason replied, "I am making stones. " He asked a stone carver what he was doing. "I am carving a gargoyle. " And so it went, each person said in detail what they were doing. Finally he came to an old woman who was sweeping the ground. She said. "I am helping build a cathedral. ". . . Most of the time each person is immersed in the details of one special part of the whole and does not think of how what they are doing relates to the larger picture.

Construction, Larger, Mason, Men, Science, Thinking

Beware of finding what you're looking for. A favorite aphorism he often used.

Aphorism, Finding, Looking, Research, Science

There are wavelengths that people cannot see, there are sounds that people cannot hear, and maybe computers have thoughts that people cannot think.

Computers, People, Science, Thinking, Wavelengths

In mathematics we do not appeal to authority, but rather you are responsible for what you believe.

Appeal, Authority, Believe, Mathematics, Responsible

It is better to do the right problem the wrong way than the wrong problem the right way.

Problem, Right, Science, Way, Wrong

Put glibly: In science if you know what you are doing you should not be doing it. In engineering if you do not know what you are doing you should not be doing it. Of course, you seldom, if ever, see either pure state.

Course, Doing You, Engineering, Know, Science, Seldom

True greatness is when your name is like ampere, watt, and fourier-when it's spelled with a lower case letter.

Greatness, Lower, Names, Science, Spelled, Watt

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