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Solomon Kullback | |
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| Born | April 3, 1907 Brooklyn, New York, United States |
| Died | August 5, 1994 (aged 87) |
| Alma mater | City College of New York (B.A., 1927; M.A., 1929) George Washington University (Ph.D., Mathematics, 1934) |
| Known for | Work in Information theory, Kullback–Leibler divergence |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | cryptanalysis, mathematics, information theory |
| Institutions | George Washington University, National Security Agency |
| Doctoral advisor | Frank M. Weida |
| Doctoral students | Hubert Lilliefors |
Solomon Kullback (April 3, 1907 – August 5, 1994) was an American cryptanalyst and mathematician, who was one of the first three employees hired by William F. Friedman at the US Army's Signal Intelligence Service (SIS) in the 1930s, along with Frank Rowlett and Abraham Sinkov. He went on to a long and distinguished career at SIS and its eventual successor, the National Security Agency (NSA). Kullback was the Chief Scientist at the NSA until his retirement in 1962, whereupon he took a position at the George Washington University.
The Kullback–Leibler divergence is named after Kullback and Richard Leibler.