Jeffrey Shallit
Encyclopedia
Jeffrey Outlaw Shallit is a computer scientist
, number theorist
, a noted advocate for civil liberties on the Internet, and a noted critic of intelligent design
. He is married to Anna Lubiw, also a computer scientist.
in 1957. His father was Joseph Shallit
, a journalist and author, and a son of Jewish immigrants from Vitebsk
, Russia
(now in Belarus
). His mother was Louise Lee Outlaw Shallit, a writer. He has one brother, Jonathan Shallit, a music professor.
He earned a Bachelor's degree
in mathematics
from Princeton University
in June 1979. He received a Ph.D.
, also in mathematics, from the University of California, Berkeley
in June 1983. His doctoral thesis was entitled Metric Theory of Pierce Expansions and his advisor was Manuel Blum
.
.
In 1997, he gained attention for the publication on the Internet of Holocaust Revised: Lies of Our Times (also called the Shallit Report), a reprint of an article he had written for a Waterloo student publication in 1993, which detailed the backgrounds and past statements of various persons whom he accused of being Holocaust deniers
, notably David Irving
, Fred A. Leuchter
, and Eustace Mullins
. This triggered a public exchange of letters between him and Irving.
Shallit has been a critic of the work of William Dembski promoting intelligent design. He has coauthored a paper with Wesley Elsberry demonstrating problems with Dembski's mathematical work, and would have appeared as a witness opposing Dembski in the Kitzmiller v. Dover trial had Dembski not dropped out.
. His primary academic interests are combinatorics on words
, formal languages, automata theory
, and algorithmic number theory. He has been recognized by the Association for Computing Machinery
as a Distinguished Scientist (2008).
His publications include the books Algorithmic Number Theory (with Eric Bach
), a noted text on algorithms, Automatic Sequences: Theory, Applications, Generalizations (with Jean-Paul Allouche), and A Second Course in Formal Languages and Automata Theory.
He has an Erdős number
of 1, from a joint publication with Paul Erdős
in 1991 concerning Engel expansion.
Computer scientist
A computer scientist is a scientist who has acquired knowledge of computer science, the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their application in computer systems....
, number theorist
Number theory
Number theory is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers. Number theorists study prime numbers as well...
, a noted advocate for civil liberties on the Internet, and a noted critic of intelligent design
Intelligent design
Intelligent design is the proposition that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection." It is a form of creationism and a contemporary adaptation of the traditional teleological argument for...
. He is married to Anna Lubiw, also a computer scientist.
Early life and education
Shallit was born in Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
in 1957. His father was Joseph Shallit
Joseph Shallit
Joseph Shallit was an American mystery novelist and science fiction author. He was the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants from Vitebsk , born in Philadelphia under the name Joseph Shaltz...
, a journalist and author, and a son of Jewish immigrants from Vitebsk
Vitebsk
Vitebsk, also known as Viciebsk or Vitsyebsk , is a city in Belarus, near the border with Russia. The capital of the Vitebsk Oblast, in 2004 it had 342,381 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth largest city...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
(now in Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
). His mother was Louise Lee Outlaw Shallit, a writer. He has one brother, Jonathan Shallit, a music professor.
He earned a Bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
from Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
in June 1979. He received a Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
, also in mathematics, from the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
in June 1983. His doctoral thesis was entitled Metric Theory of Pierce Expansions and his advisor was Manuel Blum
Manuel Blum
Manuel Blum is a computer scientist who received the Turing Award in 1995 "In recognition of his contributions to the foundations of computational complexity theory and its application to cryptography and program checking".-Biography:Blum attended MIT, where he received his bachelor's degree and...
.
Advocacy
Since 1996, Shallit has held the position of Vice-President of Electronic Frontier CanadaElectronic Frontier Canada
Electronic Frontier Canada is a Canadian on-line civil rights organization founded to ensure that the principles embodied in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms remain protected as new computing, communications, and information technologies are introduced into Canadian society.EFC was...
.
In 1997, he gained attention for the publication on the Internet of Holocaust Revised: Lies of Our Times (also called the Shallit Report), a reprint of an article he had written for a Waterloo student publication in 1993, which detailed the backgrounds and past statements of various persons whom he accused of being Holocaust deniers
Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial is the act of denying the genocide of Jews in World War II, usually referred to as the Holocaust. The key claims of Holocaust denial are: the German Nazi government had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews, Nazi authorities did not use extermination camps and gas...
, notably David Irving
David Irving
David John Cawdell Irving is an English writer,best known for his denial of the Holocaust, who specialises in the military and political history of World War II, with a focus on Nazi Germany...
, Fred A. Leuchter
Fred A. Leuchter
Frederick A. Leuchter, Jr. is an American Federal Court qualified expert in execution technology and author of forensic Holocaust denial material. He claims to have improved the design of instruments for capital punishment and had execution equipment contracts with several states...
, and Eustace Mullins
Eustace Mullins
Eustace Clarence Mullins, Jr. was a populist American political writer, biographer, and antisemite. His most famous and influential work is The Secrets of The Federal Reserve, described by congressman Wright Patman as 'a very fine book [which] has been very useful to me'...
. This triggered a public exchange of letters between him and Irving.
Shallit has been a critic of the work of William Dembski promoting intelligent design. He has coauthored a paper with Wesley Elsberry demonstrating problems with Dembski's mathematical work, and would have appeared as a witness opposing Dembski in the Kitzmiller v. Dover trial had Dembski not dropped out.
Professional life
Shallit is currently a Professor in the School of Computer Science at the University of WaterlooUniversity of Waterloo
The University of Waterloo is a comprehensive public university in the city of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The school was founded in 1957 by Drs. Gerry Hagey and Ira G. Needles, and has since grown to an institution of more than 30,000 students, faculty, and staff...
. His primary academic interests are combinatorics on words
Combinatorics on words
Combinatorics on words is a branch of mathematics which applies combinatorics to words and formal languages. The study of combinatorics on words arose independently within several branches of mathematics, e.g. number theory, group theory and probability...
, formal languages, automata theory
Automata theory
In theoretical computer science, automata theory is the study of abstract machines and the computational problems that can be solved using these machines. These abstract machines are called automata...
, and algorithmic number theory. He has been recognized by 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...
as a Distinguished Scientist (2008).
His publications include the books Algorithmic Number Theory (with Eric Bach
Eric Bach
Eric Bach is an American computer scientist who has made contributions to computational number theory. Bach did his undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and got his Ph.D. in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1984 under the supervision of...
), a noted text on algorithms, Automatic Sequences: Theory, Applications, Generalizations (with Jean-Paul Allouche), and A Second Course in Formal Languages and Automata Theory.
He has an Erdős number
Erdos number
The Erdős number describes the "collaborative distance" between a person and mathematician Paul Erdős, as measured by authorship of mathematical papers.The same principle has been proposed for other eminent persons in other fields.- Overview :...
of 1, from a joint publication with Paul Erdős
Paul Erdos
Paul Erdős was a Hungarian mathematician. Erdős published more papers than any other mathematician in history, working with hundreds of collaborators. He worked on problems in combinatorics, graph theory, number theory, classical analysis, approximation theory, set theory, and probability theory...
in 1991 concerning Engel expansion.