David J. C. MacKay explained

David MacKay
Honorific Prefix:Sir
Birth Name:David John Cameron MacKay
Birth Date:1967 4, df=yes[1]
Birth Place:Stoke-on-Trent, England
Death Place:Cambridge, England
Fields:
Workplaces:
Alma Mater:
Doctoral Advisor:John Hopfield
Thesis Url:https://thesis.library.caltech.edu/25/
Thesis Year:1992
Known For:
Website:

Spouse:[3]

Sir David John Cameron MacKay [4] (22 April 1967 – 14 April 2016) was a British physicist, mathematician, and academic. He was the Regius Professor of Engineering[5] in the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge[6] and from 2009 to 2014 was Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). MacKay wrote the book Sustainable Energy – Without the Hot Air.[2] [7]

Education

MacKay was educated at Newcastle High School and represented Britain in the International Physics Olympiad in Yugoslavia in 1985,[8] receiving the first prize for experimental work. He continued his education at Trinity College, Cambridge, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Natural Sciences (Experimental and theoretical physics) in 1988. He went to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) as a Fulbright Scholar, where his supervisor was John Hopfield. He was awarded a PhD in 1992.[9] [10] [4]

Career and research

In January 1992 MacKay was appointed the Royal Society Smithson Research Fellow at Darwin College, Cambridge, continuing his cross-disciplinary research in the Cavendish Laboratory, the Department of Physics of the University of Cambridge. In 1995 he was made a University Lecturer in the Cavendish Laboratory. He was promoted in 1999 to a Readership, in 2003 to a Professorship in Natural Philosophy and in 2013 to the post of Regius Professorship of Engineering.[11]

MacKay's contributions in machine learning and information theory include the development of Bayesian methods[12] for neural networks,[13] the rediscovery (with Radford M. Neal) of low-density parity-check codes,[14] and the invention of Dasher,[15] a software application for communication especially popular with those who cannot use a traditional keyboard.[16] He cofounded the knowledge management company Transversal.[17] In 2003, his book Information Theory, Inference, and Learning Algorithms[18] was published.

His interests beyond research included the development of effective teaching methods and African development; he taught regularly at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences in Cape Town from its foundation in 2003 to 2006. In 2008 he completed a book on energy consumption and energy production without fossil fuels called Sustainable Energy – Without the Hot Air. MacKay used £10,000 of his own money to publish the book, and the initial print run of 5,000 sold within days.[19] The book received praise from The Economist,[20] The Guardian, and Bill Gates, who called it "one of the best books on energy that has been written."[21] [22] Like his textbook on Information theory, MacKay made the book available for free online.[23] In March 2012 he gave a TED talk on renewable energy.[24]

MacKay was appointed to be Chief Scientific Advisor of the Department of Energy and Climate Change, United Kingdom, in September 2009. In October 2014, at the end of his five-year term, he was succeeded by John Loughhead.[25]

Awards and honours

MacKay was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2009.[26] His certificate of election reads:

In the 2016 New Year Honours, MacKay was appointed a Knight Bachelor "for services to Scientific Advice in Government and Science Outreach", and therefore granted the title sir.[27]

Personal life

David MacKay was born the fifth child of Donald MacCrimmon MacKay and Valerie MacKay. His elder brother Robert S. MacKay FRS (born in 1956) is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Warwick. David was a vegetarian.[28]

He married Ramesh Ghiassi in 2011. They had a son and a daughter.[29]

Illness and death

MacKay was diagnosed with inoperable stomach cancer (malignant adenocarcinoma) in July 2015,[4] for which he underwent palliative chemotherapy, a process he documented in detail on his public personal blog. He died in the afternoon of 14 April 2016.[30] [31] [32] He is survived by his wife and two children.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20160416154134/http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/mackay/bio.html. 2016-04-16. Biography – David J.C. MacKay . David MacKay . web homepage . University of Cambridge . 2010-02-07 . 2012-10-12.
  2. Book: Mackay, David . Sustainable Energy: Without the Hot Air . UIT Cambridge . 2009 . 978-0-9544529-3-3 .
  3. Web site: Ramesh and David . Rameshanddavid.blogspot.com . 15 January 2011 . 18 October 2012.
  4. Longair. Malcolm. Malcolm Longair. Cates. Michael. Michael Cates. Sir David John Cameron MacKay FRS. 22 April 1967 — 14 April 2016. Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 63. 443–465. 2017. 0080-4606. 10.1098/rsbm.2017.0013. free.
  5. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20160303184800/http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/david-mackay-appointed-regius-professor-of-engineering . 2016-03-03. David MacKay appointed Regius Professor of Engineering. University of Cambridge. Cambridge. 28 March 2013.
  6. Web site: David J.C. MacKay FRS . David MacKay . web homepage . University of Cambridge . 7 July 2012 . 12 October 2012.
  7. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/apr/26/what-will-it-take-save-earth "What Will It Take to Save the Earth?"
  8. Web site: Prof. David J.C. MacKay brief bio sketch . David MacKay . web homepage . University of Cambridge . 23 August 2010 . 28 September 2016.
  9. PhD. David J.C. . Mackay. Bayesian methods for adaptive models. California Institute of Technology. 1992. David J. C. MacKay. 222439886.
  10. Web site: Prof. David J.C. MacKay . David MacKay . web homepage . University of Cambridge . 24 June 2010 . 12 October 2012.
  11. Web site: David MacKay appointed Regius Professor of Engineering . University of Cambridge . 28 March 2013 . 3 April 2013.
  12. MacKay . D. J. C. . David J. C. MacKay. A Practical Bayesian Framework for Backpropagation Networks . 10.1162/neco.1992.4.3.448 . . 4 . 3 . 448–472 . 1992 . 16543854 .
  13. MacKay . D. J. C. . David J. C. MacKay. Bayesian Interpolation . 10.1162/neco.1992.4.3.415 . . 4 . 3 . 415–447 . 1992 . 1762283 .
  14. MacKay . D. J. C.. Neal . R. M. . 10.1049/el:19961141 . Near Shannon limit performance of low density parity check codes . Electronics Letters . 32 . 18 . 1645 . 1996 . 1996ElL....32.1645M.
  15. Wills . S. A.. MacKay . D. J. C.. 10.1109/TNSRE.2006.875573. DASHER—An Efficient Writing System for Brain–Computer Interfaces?. IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering. 14. 2. 244–246. 2006. 16792304. 10.1.1.63.5063. 185665.
  16. Ward . D. J.. MacKay . D. J. C.. 10.1038/418838a. Artificial intelligence: Fast hands-free writing by gaze direction. Nature. 418. 6900. 838. 2002. 12192400. cs/0204030 . 2002Natur.418..838W . 4430685.
  17. Web site: Transversal Team. 27 January 2015. 28 January 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150128132411/https://www.transversal.com/company/team. dead.
  18. Book: MacKay , David J. C. . Information Theory, Inference and Learning Algorithms . Cambridge University Press . September 2003 . Cambridge . 9780521642989.
  19. News: Power to the People . Leo Hickman . Leo Hickman . The Guardian . 30 April 2009 . 14 January 2011.
  20. News: Meltdown . The Economist . 8 April 2009. 14 January 2011.
  21. Web site: Clear Thinking on the Topic of Energy. Bill Gates. The Gates Notes. 15 January 2010. 14 January 2011. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110105153412/http://www.thegatesnotes.com/(S(5osgmx55hyed2r55b5ytzr45))/Learning/Article.aspx?ID=61. 5 January 2011. dmy-all.
  22. Web site: YouTube – How Many Light Bulbs? with David MacKay From Cambridge Ideas . https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/oRQB2YXUxvY . 2021-12-21 . live. . 20 April 2009 . 28 June 2011.
  23. Web site: Sustainable energy - Without the Hot Air . David MacKay FRS . August 29, 2015 . July 2, 2017.
  24. A reality check on renewables . David MacKay . March 2012 . 12 October 2012.
  25. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/decc-appoints-new-chief-scientific-advisor DECC appoints new chief scientific advisor
  26. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20151117104943/https://royalsociety.org/people/david-mackay-11864/. 2015-11-17. Sir David MacKay FRS. Royal Society. London. Anon. 2009. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where:
  27. Web site: New Year's Honours 2016 list. GOV.UK. 30 December 2015. 30 December 2015.
  28. Web site: David MacKay: Some biographical stuff.... David MacKay. web homepage. University of Cambridge. 7 February 2010. 29 March 2010.
  29. News: https://web.archive.org/web/20160417145801/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2016/04/15/professor-sir-david-mackay-physicist--obituary. The Daily Telegraph. 2016-04-17. Professor Sir David MacKay, physicist – obituary. Anon. 2016.
  30. News: Sir David MacKay obituary. 2016-04-18. The Guardian. London. https://web.archive.org/web/20160419113331/http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/apr/18/sir-david-mackay-obituary. 2016-04-19. Mark Lynas. Mark Lynas.
  31. Web site: RIP Sir David MacKay. 2016. occamstypewriter.org. https://web.archive.org/web/20160419143841/http://occamstypewriter.org/athenedonald/2016/04/16/rip-sir-david-mackay/. 2016-04-19. Athene Donald. Athene Donald.
  32. Web site: What David MacKay taught me, and taught us all. 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160415165328/http://www.marklynas.org/2016/04/david-mackay-taught-taught-us/. 2016-04-15. Mark Lynas. Mark Lynas.

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