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PREFACE
If you are fortunate, you may find someone who changes your life for the good – such as a caring relative, a powerful role model, or a best friend. This book is a significant part of a project I started in 2017 as a tribute to my mentor and friend, Richard Wesley Hamming (1915–1998). He was an exceptional engineer, mathematician, computer scientist, and scholar. He was also my doctoral advisor at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS).
While Hamming is primarily known for inventing error-correcting codes (ECC), he contributed foundationally to coding and information theory, digital filters, and numerical methods. He applied his critical thinking skills to problems in mathematics, computer science, and telecommunications.
In early 2017, I rediscovered a letter Hamming wrote in 1983 and reflected on the significant benefits I received from being his protégé. My first thought was to publish just a few articles to perpetuate his legacy. However, this evolved after my research uncovered personal and unpublished writings he created while working at AT&T Bell Telephone Laboratories (1946 – 1976) and the NPS (1976 – 1998).
I focused on understanding Hamming’s most important influences - the people, places, events, and challenges that impacted his development. This biography corrects misconceptions in the literature and reveals previously unpublished stories of his life and accomplishments. Fortune allowed me to identify fifteen people who knew Hamming well and were willing to share their recollections and understand his impact on them. These findings about his life, world-class contributions, and the many individuals he motivated helped me to put this tribute biography in the context of my driving vision for this tribute:
More than just a list of individual accomplishments left for others,
an individual’s legacy should also reveal how they inspired and
enabled succeeding generations of successful individuals.
Hamming had many qualities, including his noble pursuit of excellence and sincere desire to help others. He chose to work on fundamental problems, focus on significant ideas, and focus on the details. His extensive writings across many fields continue to influence others, and his guidance is a timeless gift to the world.
In his lectures, Hamming said that an effective way to write history is to focus on the creation, development, and mastery of ideas and inventions that happened. In this legacy tribute biography, I endeavored to describe my mentor in his exact style, including personal stories and anecdotes, which were some of his writing techniques. As Hamming did with his books, I shared an early draft of each chapter with colleagues and lectured at Universities to gain feedback.
After two years of research, writing this book took me six years. The reviews, editing, and rewrites took me four years - much longer than an experienced biographer would have taken. With the help of my writing coach and editors, I learned on the job and slowly developed this version. It is almost like I did not want to finish and leave this story of my mentor until I could finish the tribute and say goodbye on my way.
The book has extensive references, including links to the NPS Hamming Open Archive for unique source material inaccessible elsewhere. My website, www.RichardWesleyHamming.com, supports sharing information, reader engagement, and more accessible updates.
As part of my tribute to Hamming, I chose to advance my proceeds from book sales as endowments that support needs-based conference expenses for students at two colleges he attended: The University of Chicago and the University of Illinois–Urbana Champaign.
Whether you are interested in the history of Science and Mathematics in the 20th Century, how Hamming developed his wisdom and insightful contributions, or the timeless lessons he left for us – I hope that this biography and open archive will give readers an exciting and inspiring view of Hamming’s life, innovations, teachings and the timeless lessons he left us all.
As Hamming often said at the start of class lectures - Let us begin.
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COMMENTS ABOUT THIS BOOK AND RICHARD WESLEY HAMMING
"The research reported in this book is extensive, the organization is effective, and the narrative is enjoyable to read. Very few researchers or professors have such a complete biography, which is a fitting tribute to this distinguished scholar."
- Hersch Loomis, Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the Naval Postgraduate School.
"As is true of very intelligent men, Hamming was able to explain the most difficult problem in simple terms to me, the person in the room with the non-scientific mind. I'm sure you have heard the saying, ‘Little men discuss people, ordinary men discuss events, great men discuss ideas.” Dick discussed ideas."
- Shirley Loomis, a longtime friend.
"Dick Hamming was a true original. He often said that he was just an ordinary person, but one who thought all the time about his life and how to make the most of it. And that he did.”
- Brian Kernighan, a co-worker at AT&T Bell Labs and a
Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Princeton University.
"Richard Wesley Hamming was one of the twentieth century's great thinkers. He paid attention. Early in life, he decided that the best way to make great contributions was to pay attention to great contributors and learn from their examples. By studying the actions of immensely talented scientists and engineers, he observed patterns that led to successful accomplishments. Anecdotes relay his insights, perhaps best summed up by his favorite saying from Louis Pasteur: 'Luck favors the prepared mind.' Hamming's lessons and encouragement deserve study by every aspiring scientist and engineer looking to broaden human knowledge, thereby making the world better, through their research."
- Donald Brutzman, a professor at NPS and former student.
"Richard Wesley Hamming: Man, Mathematician and Mentor is an exceptional tribute biography of an influential American mathematician known for his work in computer engineering and telecommunications. The result of exhaustive research, this book interweaves stories, photographs, video footage, and interviews that give insight into Hamming’s life experiences and accomplishments from those whom he enabled. Martin Mandelberg, the biographer, presents a comprehensive chronology with narratives that cause us to reflect on those who have influenced us and those we, in turn, might influence. This story and its timeless lessons deserve reading by those looking to improve the world".
- From the Publisher.
Themes of the Book
“If you don’t work on important problems, it’s not likely that you’ll do important work.”
“The Purpose of Computing is insight, not numbers.”
“It is better to do the right problem the wrong way, than the wrong problem the right way.”
- Richard Wesley Hamming
“A person’s legacy should not be limited to just what they attempt and accomplish in their lifetime; it should include what is attempted and accomplished by succeeding generations of individuals that they helped enable.” - Martin Mandelberg
