Peter Gacs

Professor, Computer Science, CAS

Before coming to BU, Peter studied in Budapest, worked at the Hungarian Academy of Science with trips to Moscow, obtained a PhD in Frankfurt, did postdoc work at Stanford, and taught in Rochester. Professor Gacs has worked on problems derived from information theory (classical, and algorithmic) and reliable computation. With Ahlswede and Körner wrote some of the earliest papers of multi-user information theory. In algorithmic information theory (Kolmogorov complexity), Gacs also had some part in developing the fundamental results (earlier with Levin, later with Vitányi and others). In reliable computation, his main contributions are to the probabilistic cellular automaton model: in some sense the most natural one, but mathematically difficult. He has been the principal investigator of several NSF grants, and is an external member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.