Florence Jessie MacWilliams | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 4, 1917 Stoke-on-Trent, England |
| Died | May 27, 1990 (aged 73) |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge, BA, 1938, MA, 1939, Johns Hopkins University, Harvard University, PhD under Andrew Gleason |
| Occupation(s) | Mathematician, programmer |
| Employer | Bell Labs |
| Known for | The MacWilliams identities in coding theory |
| Notable work | The Theory of Error-Correcting Codes, with Neil Sloane[1] |
| Children | Daughter Anne, two sons |
Florence Jessie Collinson MacWilliams (4 January 1917 – 27 May 1990) was an English mathematician who contributed to the field of coding theory, and was one of the first women to publish in the field. MacWilliams' thesis "Combinatorial Problems of Elementary Group Theory" (or "Combinatorial Problems of Elementary Abelian Groups")[2] contains one of the most important combinatorial results in coding theory, which is now known as the MacWilliams Identity.