Jorma Rissanen

Jorma Johannes Rissanen
BornOctober 20, 1932 (1932-10-20)
DiedMay 9, 2020(2020-05-09) (aged 87)
Los Gatos, California, United States
Alma materHelsinki University of Technology
Known forarithmetic coding and the minimum description length principle
AwardsIEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal (1993)
Claude E. Shannon Award (2009)
Scientific career
FieldsInformation Theory
InstitutionsIBM
Linköping University
Tampere University of Technology
Doctoral advisorHans Blomberg

Jorma Johannes Rissanen (October 20, 1932 – May 9, 2020) was an information theorist, known for originating the minimum description length (MDL) principle and practical approaches to arithmetic coding for lossless data compression. His work inspired the development of the theory of stochastic chains with memory of variable length.