David J. C. MacKay facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Professor Sir David MacKay
FRS FInstP FICE
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| Born |
David John Cameron MacKay
22 April 1967 Stoke-on-Trent, England
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| Died | 14 April 2016 (aged 48) Cambridge, England
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| Spouse(s) |
Ramesh Ghiassi
(m. 2011) |
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| Thesis | Bayesian methods for adaptive models (1992) |
| Doctoral advisor | John Hopfield |
Sir David John Cameron MacKay (22 April 1967 – 14 April 2016) was a smart British physicist and mathematician. He was a professor at the University of Cambridge. From 2009 to 2014, he was the main science advisor for the UK government's energy and climate change department.
Sir David was well-known for his book Sustainable Energy – Without the Hot Air. This book helped many people understand how we can get energy without harming the planet.
Contents
Learning and Education
David MacKay went to Newcastle High School. He was very good at science, even representing Britain in the International Physics Olympiad in Yugoslavia in 1985. He won a top prize for his experimental work there.
He then studied Natural Sciences at Trinity College, Cambridge. After that, he went to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in the USA as a Fulbright Scholar. He earned his PhD degree in 1992.
His Work and Discoveries
In 1992, David MacKay became a research fellow at Darwin College, Cambridge. He continued his important research in physics at the Cavendish Laboratory. Over the years, he became a professor at the University of Cambridge. In 2013, he was given the special title of Regius Professor of Engineering.
Cool Inventions and Ideas
Sir David made big contributions in areas like machine learning and information theory.
- He helped improve how neural networks (computer systems that learn like brains) work.
- He also helped bring back low-density parity-check codes. These are special codes used to fix errors in digital information, like in satellite TV or recording data.
- He invented Dasher. This is a clever computer program that lets people write using just one finger or a head pointer. It's very helpful for people who can't use a regular keyboard.
In 2003, he wrote a book called Information Theory, Inference, and Learning Algorithms. It's a key book for students learning about these topics.
Energy and the Environment
Beyond his research, David MacKay cared a lot about teaching and helping countries in Africa. He taught at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences in Cape Town for several years.
In 2008, he finished his famous book, Sustainable Energy – Without the Hot Air. This book is all about how we use energy and how we can produce it without relying on fossil fuels. He even used his own money to publish the first copies! The book was a huge success.
Many important people praised his energy book, including Bill Gates, who called it "one of the best books on energy." Just like his other textbook, Sir David made this book available for free online so everyone could read it. In 2012, he gave a popular TED talk about renewable energy.
From 2009 to 2014, Sir David was the Chief Scientific Advisor for the UK's Department of Energy and Climate Change. This meant he gave scientific advice to the government on energy and climate issues.
Awards and Special Recognitions
David MacKay received many awards for his amazing work.
- In 2009, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). This is a very high honor for scientists in the UK.
- The Royal Society recognized him for making better error-correcting codes used in things like satellite communication. They also praised his work on artificial neural networks and his invention of Dasher.
- In 2016, he was made a Knight Bachelor. This means he was given the title sir for his important scientific advice to the government and for sharing science with everyone.
His Family Life
David MacKay was born into a family of scientists. His elder brother, Robert S. MacKay, is also a respected professor of Mathematics. David was a vegetarian.
He married Ramesh Ghiassi in 2011. They had a son and a daughter together. Sir David MacKay passed away in 2016.
