A. Michael Noll
Encyclopedia
A. Michael Noll is an American engineer, and professor emeritus at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California
. He was a very early pioneer in digital computer art and 3D animation and tactile communication.
, and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering
from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn.
Before joining the Annenberg School for Communication, Noll had a varied career in basic research
, telecommunication marketing, and science policy. He worked in the AT&T Consumer Products and Marketing Department where he performed technical evaluations and identified opportunities for new products and services, such as teleconferencing and videotex.
He has been Director of Technology Research and a Senior Affiliated Research Fellow at the Columbia Institute for Tele-information at Columbia University
's Business School. He has been also affiliated with the Media Center at New York Law School, has been a senior advisor to the Marconi Society, and was an adjunct faculty member of the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University
's Tisch School of the Arts
.
In the early 1970s, Noll was on the staff of the President's Science Advisor at the White House and was involved with such issues as computer security
and privacy, computer exports, scientific and technical information, and educational technology
.
From 1992 to 1994, Noll was dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication
for an interim period. During this time he formulated a broader vision of communication that resulted in a merger of USC academic units that study communication. He joined the faculty of the Annenberg School as a professor of communications in 1984 and became emeritus in 2006.
The electrical-engineering honor society Eta Kappa Nu
awarded him Honorable Mention as an Outstanding Young Electrical Engineer in 1970. In 1990, the Computer Graphics Pioneers of the Association for Computing Machinery
(ACM) elected him a Pioneer in recognition of his early work in computer graphics.
Noll spent nearly fifteen years performing basic research at Bell Labs
in Murray Hill
, New Jersey
in such areas as the effects of media on interpersonal communication, three-dimensional computer graphics
and animation, human-machine tactile communication, speech signal processing, cepstrum pitch determination, and aesthetics
.
computer
to create artistic patterns and to formalize the use of random processes in the creation of visual arts
. His initial digital computer art was programmed in the summer of 1962 at Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill, NJ, making him one of the earliest digital computer artists.
In 1965 Noll along with two other pioneers within the field of early computer art, Frieder Nake
and Georg Nees
in Germany, were the first to exhibit publicly their computer art. During April 1965, the Howard Wise Gallery in New York City exhibited Noll's computer art along with random-dot patterns by Bela Julesz. Noll proposed in the 1960s that the digital computer might become a creative artistic medium.
His experiment comparing a computer-generated pattern with a painting by Mondrian was an early implementation of the Turing Test and an example of the use of digital computers in investigations of aesthetics.
He has been a regular contributor of opinion and columnist pieces to newspapers and trade magazines with over 100 published. He has been quoted frequently about telecommunications and the telecommunication industry by the media
. He has also been a reviewer of classical music performances for the Classical New Jersey Society.
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
. He was a very early pioneer in digital computer art and 3D animation and tactile communication.
Biography
Noll has a B.S.E.E. from Newark College of Engineering (currently known as New Jersey Institute of Technology), an M.E.E. from New York UniversityNew York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn.
Before joining the Annenberg School for Communication, Noll had a varied career in basic research
Research
Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...
, telecommunication marketing, and science policy. He worked in the AT&T Consumer Products and Marketing Department where he performed technical evaluations and identified opportunities for new products and services, such as teleconferencing and videotex.
He has been Director of Technology Research and a Senior Affiliated Research Fellow at the Columbia Institute for Tele-information at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
's Business School. He has been also affiliated with the Media Center at New York Law School, has been a senior advisor to the Marconi Society, and was an adjunct faculty member of the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
's Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts is one of the 15 schools that make up New York University ....
.
In the early 1970s, Noll was on the staff of the President's Science Advisor at the White House and was involved with such issues as computer security
Computer security
Computer security is a branch of computer technology known as information security as applied to computers and networks. The objective of computer security includes protection of information and property from theft, corruption, or natural disaster, while allowing the information and property to...
and privacy, computer exports, scientific and technical information, and educational technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
.
From 1992 to 1994, Noll was dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication
USC Annenberg School for Communication
The USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism comprises a School ofCommunication and a School of Journalism at the University of Southern California . It is led by Dean Ernest J. Wilson III, Ph.D....
for an interim period. During this time he formulated a broader vision of communication that resulted in a merger of USC academic units that study communication. He joined the faculty of the Annenberg School as a professor of communications in 1984 and became emeritus in 2006.
The electrical-engineering honor society Eta Kappa Nu
Eta Kappa Nu
Eta Kappa Nu is the electrical and computer engineering honor society of the IEEE, founded in October 1904 by Maurice L. Carr at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The organization currently has around 200 student chapters and about 3,000,000 members and is headquartered in Chicago,...
awarded him Honorable Mention as an Outstanding Young Electrical Engineer in 1970. In 1990, the Computer Graphics Pioneers of the Association for Computing Machinery
Association for Computing Machinery
The Association for Computing Machinery is a learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership is more than 92,000 as of 2009...
(ACM) elected him a Pioneer in recognition of his early work in computer graphics.
Work
Bell Labs in the early 1960s was extremely pioneering in the beginnings of digital computer art (A. Michael Noll), digital computer animation (Edward E. Zajac, Frank Sinden, and Kenneth C. Knowlton), and digital computer music (Max V. Mathews and John R. Pierce).Noll spent nearly fifteen years performing basic research at Bell Labs
Bell Labs
Bell Laboratories is the research and development subsidiary of the French-owned Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company , half-owned through its Western Electric manufacturing subsidiary.Bell Laboratories operates its...
in Murray Hill
Murray Hill, New Jersey
Murray Hill is an unincorporated area within portions of both Berkeley Heights and New Providence, located in Union County in northern New Jersey, United States....
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
in such areas as the effects of media on interpersonal communication, three-dimensional computer graphics
Computer graphics
Computer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer with help from specialized software and hardware....
and animation, human-machine tactile communication, speech signal processing, cepstrum pitch determination, and aesthetics
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...
.
Computers and the Visual Arts
Noll was one of the first researchers to use a digitalDigital
A digital system is a data technology that uses discrete values. By contrast, non-digital systems use a continuous range of values to represent information...
computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
to create artistic patterns and to formalize the use of random processes in the creation of visual arts
Visual arts
The visual arts are art forms that create works which are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, and often modern visual arts and architecture...
. His initial digital computer art was programmed in the summer of 1962 at Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill, NJ, making him one of the earliest digital computer artists.
In 1965 Noll along with two other pioneers within the field of early computer art, Frieder Nake
Frieder Nake
Frieder Nake is a professor for computer graphics at the department for computer science at the University of Bremen and visiting professor for hypermedia design at the University of the Arts Bremen. He lives and works in Bremen, Germany.He has taught in Stuttgart, Toronto and Vancouver, and has...
and Georg Nees
Georg Nees
Georg Nees is a pioneer of computer art, an honorary professor of computer science at the University of Erlangen, Germany. Nees and his fellow pioneers Frieder Nake and A. Michael Noll have been called the "3N" of computer art....
in Germany, were the first to exhibit publicly their computer art. During April 1965, the Howard Wise Gallery in New York City exhibited Noll's computer art along with random-dot patterns by Bela Julesz. Noll proposed in the 1960s that the digital computer might become a creative artistic medium.
Tactile Man-Machine Communications System
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Noll constructed interactive three-dimensional input devices and displays and a three-dimensional, tactile, force-feedback ("feelie") device (US patent 3,919,691 "Tactile Man-Machine Communications System" filed May 26, 1971, issued November 1, 1975). This device was the forerunner of today's virtual-reality systems, and Noll suggested its use as a way for the blind to "feel" computer graphics. He also was one of the first researchers to demonstrate the potential of scanned raster displays for computer graphics. He was an early pioneer in the creation of stereoscopic computer-animated movies of four-dimensional hyper-objects, of a computer-generated ballet, and of computer-animated title sequences for TV and film.His experiment comparing a computer-generated pattern with a painting by Mondrian was an early implementation of the Turing Test and an example of the use of digital computers in investigations of aesthetics.
Publications
Noll has published over ninety professional papers, has been granted six patents, and is the author of eleven books on various aspects of telecommunications.He has been a regular contributor of opinion and columnist pieces to newspapers and trade magazines with over 100 published. He has been quoted frequently about telecommunications and the telecommunication industry by the media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
. He has also been a reviewer of classical music performances for the Classical New Jersey Society.