Melvin Currie facts for kids

Melvin Robert Currie is an American mathematician and a cryptographer. This means he is an expert in making and breaking secret codes. He used to be a very important leader at the National Security Agency. The NSA is a United States government agency that works to protect national security through communications and information.

Melvin Currie has received many special awards. 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 Director's Distinguished Service Medal is another high honor he received. In 2019, he was recognized by Mathematically Gifted & Black during Black History Month.

He has also written books. In 2018, he published a popular math book called Mathematics: Rhyme and Reason. It was published by the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute. He also wrote a novel, Just Before Too Late, which came out 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 grew up living with his mother, his younger brother, and his grandparents.

His uncle is the famous jazz musician Ahmad Jamal.

Education and Studies

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

He earned his PhD in mathematics in 1983. His main professor and advisor was William Fleissner. For his PhD, he wrote a special paper called a dissertation. Its title was A metric characterization of the irrationals via a group operation.