James W. Cooley
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James Cooley recalls the history of the Fast Fourier Transform algorithm (FFT). He discusses aspects of numerical analysis, computer implementation, and applications. He also touches on the role of scientific societies in disseminating significant advances.
Key words: crystallography, seismic monitoring, acoustic detection, discrete Fourier transform, digital filtering, spectral analysis, speech processing, music processing image processing, radix 2 algorithm, nlog(n) timing
Time frame: 1960's
People: Dick Garwin, John Tukey, George Sande, Peter Welch, Peter Lewis, Norman Brenner, Phillip Rudnick, G. C. Danielson, Cornelius Lanczos,
Location: Watson Scientific Laboratory of Columbia University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Arden House, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (San Diego)
Copyright: Reprinted from "A History of Scientific Computing," Stephen G.
Nash, editor, pp. 133 -140. (c) 1990 ACM Press (Association for Computing
Machinery, Inc.) by permission.