Andrew Viterbi, the founder of Qualcomm, has donated $50 million to the Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, the Israeli business website Globes reported today.

Viterbi, an Italian-born Jew, has lived in the US for most of his life. He studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and received a doctorate from the University of Southern California (USC). He is currently a professor of electrical engineering at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of California in San Diego (UCSD).

In addition to founding chip company Qualcomm, currently traded on Nasdaq at a $109 billion market cap, Viterbi, 80, also invented the Viterbi Algorithm for decoding signals. The code is used to this day to correct errors in cellular communications transmission, speech identification, and even newer applications, such as DNA analysis. Viterbi helped develop the CDMA standard for cellular telephone communications networks. …

“I am extremely proud to have my name associated with the Technion, Israel’s leading science and technology university, and one of the top institutions of its kind in the world,” Prof. Viterbi said. “Technion electrical engineering graduates are in large part responsible for creating and sustaining Israel’s high-tech industry, which has been essential for Israel’s economic success.”

Viterbi’s main contribution to communications science is his algorithm, which provides a means for clearing up mobile signals. As the Times of Israel explained:

His Viterbi Algorithm allows rapid and accurate decoding of numerous overlapping signals, helping to eliminate signal interference. …

His mathematical formula is used in all four international standards for digital cellular telephones, as well as in data terminals, digital satellite broadcast receivers and deep space telemetry. Other applications include voice recognition programs and DNA analysis.

Viterbi was awarded a National Medal of Science by President George W. Bush in 2008.

[Photo: UCLA / YouTube ]