Pioneer Series
Andrew J. Viterbi
University of Southern California Trustee, Presidential Chair and Professor of Electrical Engineering
Monday, Sept. 25th, 2017, 3 – 5PM, EEB 132
A Tale of Two Careers:
“It was the worst of times, it was the best of times” (with apologies to Mr. Dickens)
The last two thirds of the 20th Century was a period of tremendous upheaval and progress, social, political and especially technological. This was the period during which I pursued two careers which were tightly intertwined. Curiously both were also influenced by our nation’s most threatening competitor, Russia.
The first was my academic career and the second my entrepreneurial career, both of which covered over thirty years, with considerable overlap. Though unrecognized at the time, my academic research had roots in the work of the Russian mathematician Andrei Markov, while with full recognition, my entrepreneurial career was launched and initially supported by our Defense research efforts to counter the Soviet threat…
3:05 PM: Talk by Andrew Viterbi
3:50 PM: Andrew Viterbi in Conversation with Keith Chugg & Urbashi Mitra
4:30 PM: Plaque unveiling & reception
The first was my academic career and the second my entrepreneurial career, both of which covered over thirty years, with considerable overlap. Though unrecognized at the time, my academic research had roots in the work of the Russian mathematician Andrei Markov, while with full recognition, my entrepreneurial career was launched and initially supported by our Defense research efforts to counter the Soviet threat.
From 1957, when I arrived at Caltech’s JPL just before the launch of Sputnik, until 2000 when I retired from Qualcomm, I was involved in furthering the knowledge, understanding and implementation of wireless digital communication, first for space and ultimately for cellular networks. My academic achievements, which have given me the most satisfaction, were primarily in the fields of synchronization and of error-suppressing coding. My entrepreneurial efforts were in support of the founding of two digital communication companies, Linkabit and Qualcomm, whose technologists achieved important breakthroughs through the practical realization of communication theory principles. Among these were the first Viterbi decoder now ubiquitous in digital wireless handsets, the first fully digitally implemented satellite modem, the first mobile satellite terrestrial network and the first spread spectrum digital cellular networks, which enabled the rise of a myriad of applications.
In the new millennium, to prevent boredom and counter aging, my time has been devoted partly to activities on corporate boards of startup companies in digital communication, data storage and their numerous applications. My Memoir, “Reflections of an Educator, Researcher and Entrepreneur,” was published recently.