Mihai Pătrașcu (computer scientist) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Mihai Pătrașcu
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| Born | 17 July 1982 |
| Died | 5 June 2012 (aged 29) |
| Resting place | Craiova |
| Alma mater | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Computer Science |
| Institutions | AT&T Labs |
| Thesis | Lower bound techniques for data structures (2008) |
| Doctoral advisor | Erik Demaine |
Mihai Pătrașcu was a brilliant Romanian-American computer scientist. He was born in Romania in 1982. He later worked in the United States. He made big discoveries about how computers store information. Sadly, he passed away in 2012 at a young age.
Early Life and Education
Mihai went to high school in his hometown, Craiova. He was very good at computer science from a young age. As a high school student, he competed in the International Olympiad in Informatics. This is a big competition for young computer scientists. He won two gold medals and one silver medal there.
After high school, Mihai studied at the University of Craiova for a year. Then, he moved to the United States. He continued his studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). MIT is a very famous university for science and technology. He earned both his master's and PhD degrees in Computer Science there. His professor, Erik Demaine, helped guide his research.
Important Discoveries
Mihai Pătrașcu worked on very important questions. These questions were about data structures. Data structures are like special ways computers organize information. Imagine how you organize your books on a shelf. Computers need similar ways to store and find data quickly. Mihai found new and better ways for computers to do this.
His work helped to make computers faster and more efficient. He broke "old barriers" in this field. This means he solved problems that many other scientists found very difficult. His discoveries helped to bring new life to an important area of computer science.
Awards and Recognition
Mihai's amazing work earned him several important awards. In 2008, he received the Machtey Award. This award is given for the best student paper at a big computer science conference. It showed how important his early research was.
In 2012, he also won the Presburger Award. This award comes from a group called the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science. They gave him the award for his groundbreaking work. It recognized how he changed the field of data structures.
Later Life
Mihai Pătrașcu passed away in 2012. He was only 29 years old. He had been sick with brain cancer for about a year and a half. He was buried in his hometown of Craiova, Romania. Even though he died young, his work left a lasting impact on computer science.
