Herbert Freeman

Timeline

1. 1948–1960

   From Union to Sperry

   He earns a B.S.E.E. at Union, then master's and Doctor of Engineering Science degrees at Columbia in 1948 and 1956. From 1948 to 1960, he works at Sperry and designs SPEEDAC, the company's first digital computer, completed in 1953.

2. 1958–1961

   The chain code

   At MIT in 1958, he formulates the chain code to describe line drawings on a digital grid. His 1961 paper presents methods for encoding geometric configurations so computers can analyze and manipulate curves.

3. 1960–1975

   Chairing NYU engineering

   He joins NYU's electrical engineering faculty in 1960 and becomes department chair in 1968. In 1970, he and Azriel Rosenfeld start the Journal of Computer Graphics and Image Processing. He moves to RPI in 1975.

4. 1973–1988

   Leading IAPR

   He helps organize the first International Joint Conference on Pattern Recognition in 1973 and helps form IAPR in 1978. He serves as IAPR president from 1978 to 1980 and as treasurer from 1982 to 1988.

5. 1975–1985

   From RPI to Rutgers

   From 1975 to 1985, he directs RPI's Image Processing Laboratory. In 1985, he joins Rutgers as State of New Jersey Professor of Computer Engineering and serves as the first director of its Center for Computer Aids for Industrial Productivity.

6. 1994–1999

   Two computing honors

   At IAPR's 1994 conference, he receives the King-Sun Fu Prize for his chain code work and becomes an IAPR Fellow. The IEEE Computer Society gives him the 1999 Computer Pioneer Award for SPEEDAC and contributions to computer graphics and image processing.

7. 1997–2005

   MapText and the Census

   He founds MapText in 1997 to automate map-feature labels, and the company wins a U.S. Census Bureau contract for more than 20 million Census 2000 maps. In 2005, Lufthansa Systems acquires the company, and he retires.

8. 2020

   Death in 2020

   He dies in 2020 at age 94.