Andrew Blake (computer scientist) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Andrew Blake
FRS FREng
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| Born | 12 March 1956 |
| Education | Rugby School |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge (BA) University of Edinburgh (PhD) |
| Awards | FRS FREng |
| Scientific career | |
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| Institutions | University of Edinburgh University of Oxford Microsoft Research University of Cambridge Alan Turing Institute |
| Thesis | Parallel computation in low-level vision (1983) |
| Doctoral advisor | Donald Michie |
Andrew Blake was born on March 12, 1956. He is a British scientist who is famous for his work in computer vision. This field teaches computers to "see" and understand images and videos.
He used to be in charge of the Microsoft Research lab in Cambridge. He also led the Alan Turing Institute. Today, he is a professor at the University of Cambridge. He also leads the Samsung AI Centre in Cambridge.
Learning and Studies
Andrew Blake went to Rugby School when he was younger. In 1977, he finished his studies at Trinity College, Cambridge. He earned a degree in Mathematics and Electrical Sciences.
After that, he spent a year studying at MIT in the USA. He also worked in the defence electronics industry for two years. Later, he went to the University of Edinburgh for his PhD. A PhD is a very high university degree. He finished his PhD in 1983.
Work and Discoveries
From 1983 to 1987, Andrew Blake taught at the University of Edinburgh. He was a special research fellow there. Then, from 1987 to 1999, he worked at the University of Oxford. He became a professor there in 1996.
In 1999, he joined Microsoft Research in Cambridge. He started the Computer Vision Group there. This group worked on making computers better at understanding images. In 2008, he became a deputy director. By 2010, he was the main director of the lab.
From 2015 to 2018, he was the director of the Alan Turing Institute. This institute is a national center for data science and artificial intelligence.
Since 2018, he has been leading the Samsung AI Centre in Cambridge. This center focuses on new ideas in artificial intelligence.
Awards and Special Recognitions
Andrew Blake has received many important awards for his work.
- In 1998, he became a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
- In 2005, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society. These are very high honors for scientists and engineers in the UK.
- In 2006, he won the Silver Medal from the Royal Academy of Engineering.
- He won the European Conference on Computer Vision prize twice.
- In 2001, he won the IEEE David Marr Prize. This was for his work on how computers can track things using probability.
- In 2007, he received the Mountbatten Medal.
- In 2009, he won the IEEE Computer Vision Distinguished Researcher Award.
- In 2011, he and his team at Microsoft Research won the MacRobert Award. This was for their work on Microsoft Kinect. Kinect allowed people to control video games with their body movements. This was a big step for computer vision!
- He has also received honorary degrees from the University of Edinburgh and the University of Sheffield.
