Melvin Currie facts for kids

Melvin Robert Currie is an American mathematician and cryptographer. A cryptographer is like a super-smart detective who works with secret codes and messages! He used to be a top leader in the Cryptographic Research and Design Division at the National Security Agency. The NSA is a US government agency that helps keep the country safe by working with secret information and codes.

Melvin Currie has received many important awards for his work. These include a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Mathematicians. He also got the Crypto-Mathematics Institute's Leadership Award in 2007. The NSA even gave him their Director's Distinguished Service Medal. In 2019, he was honored during Black History Month by Mathematically Gifted & Black.

He has written a popular math book called Mathematics: Rhyme and Reason, which came out in 2018. He also wrote a novel, Just Before Too Late, in 2019.

Early Life and Family

Melvin Currie was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1948. He is African-American. When he was six years old, his parents separated. He then lived with his mother, his younger brother, and his maternal grandparents.

His uncle is the famous jazz musician Ahmad Jamal.

His Journey in Education

Melvin Currie went to Yale University for his college studies. There, he studied two main subjects: mathematics and economics. After Yale, he continued his education at the University of Pittsburgh.

He earned his PhD in mathematics in 1983. A PhD is the highest degree you can get in a specific field, showing you are an expert! His advisor, who guided his research, was William Fleissner. For his PhD, Melvin Currie wrote a special paper called a dissertation. Its title was A metric characterization of the irrationals via a group operation.