https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Joy_A._ThomasJoy A. Thomas - Revision history2026-07-31T15:10:59ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Joy_A._Thomas&diff=506623&oldid=prevGJSAnnie74 at 00:55, 15 February 20262026-02-15T00:55:54Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Indian-born American information theorist (1963–2020)}}<br />
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{{Infobox person<br />
| honorific_prefix = <br />
| name = Joy A. Thomas<br />
| honorific_suffix = <br />
| image = <!-- filename only, no "File:" or "Image:" prefix, and no enclosing [[brackets]] --><br />
| image_upright = <br />
| birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name --><br />
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1963|01|01|df=y}}<br />
| birth_place = [[Kerala]], India<br />
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2020|09|28|1963|01|01|df=y}}<br />
| death_place = [[Mountain View, California]], [[United States]]<br />
| death_cause = <!--should only be included when the cause of death has significance for the subject's notability--><br />
| alma_mater = [[IIT Madras]]<br>[[Stanford University]]<br />
| occupation = [[Information theorist]], [[data scientist]], author<br />
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| spouse = Priya<br />
| children = Two children<br />
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'''Joy Aloysius Thomas''' (1 January 1963 &ndash; 28 September 2020) was an Indian-born American [[information theorist]], author and a senior [[data scientist]] at [[Google]]. He was known for his contributions to information theory and was the co-author of ''Elements of Information Theory'', a popular text book which he co-authored with [[Thomas M. Cover]]. He also held a number of patents and was the founder of startups such as 'Insights One'.<br />
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== Biography ==<br />
Joy Thomas, born on January 1, 1963, in the south Indian state of [[Kerala]], did his schooling at [[St Joseph's Boys' High School, Bangalore]].<ref name="India-born global expert in Information Theory, Joy Thomas, passes away in US">{{Cite web |title=India-born global expert in Information Theory, Joy Thomas, passes away in US |url=https://www.indiatechonline.com/it-happened-in-india.php?id=3995 |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=www.indiatechonline.com}}</ref> He stood first in the IIT [[Joint Entrance Examination]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Narayan |first1=Shoba |title=A word of advice for the IITs |date=28 January 2011 |url=https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/YHBBTKOcB0jFmPCsNphZqM/A-word-of-advice-for-the-IITs.html |publisher=Mint |accessdate=22 October 2020}}</ref> After graduating from the [[Indian Institute of Technology, Madras]], he migrated to the US where he continued his studies to secure a PhD from [[Stanford University]] in 1984.<ref name="Bloomberg profile">{{Cite web |title=Bloomberg profile |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/person/17863043 |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=www.bloomberg.com}}</ref> It was here that he met [[Thomas M. Cover]], the renowned [[information theorist]],<ref name="ഇൻഫർമേഷൻ തിയറി വിദഗ്ധൻ ഡോ. ജോയ് തോമസ് അന്തരിച്ചു">{{Cite web |title=ഇൻഫർമേഷൻ തിയറി വിദഗ്ധൻ ഡോ. ജോയ് തോമസ് അന്തരിച്ചു |url=https://www.manoramaonline.com/news/kerala/2020/10/04/dr-joy-thomas-died.html |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=ManoramaOnline |language=ml}}</ref> and together they wrote a book in 1991, ''Elements of Information Theory'', which is considered by many as a benchmark text book on the subject.<ref name="Thomas Cover, acclaimed information theorist and electrical engineer, dies at 73">{{Cite web |last=Andrew Myers |date=2012-04-12 |title=Thomas Cover, acclaimed information theorist and electrical engineer, dies at 73 |url=http://news.stanford.edu/news/2012/april/thomas-cover-041212.html |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=Stanford University |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Book Review-Elements of Information Theory (Thomas M. Cover and Joy A. Thomas)">{{Cite journal |last=Kieffer |first=John |date=1994 |title=Book Review-Elements of Information Theory (Thomas M. Cover and Joy A. Thomas) |url=http://epubs.siam.org/doi/10.1137/1036124 |journal=SIAM Review |language=en |volume=36 |issue=3 |pages=509–511 |doi=10.1137/1036124 |issn=0036-1445|url-access=subscription }}</ref> In 1990, he joined the [[IBM Research]] at the [[Thomas J. Watson Research Center]] as a research staff member where he worked until he became involved in the founding of Stratify, a startup founded in 1991, which was later rebranded as Iron Mountain Digital. Later, he founded InsightsOne, another startup which was subsequently acquired by [[Apigee]] in 2014.<ref name="Apigee discloses $20M transaction after buying InsightsOne">{{Cite web |title=Apigee discloses $20M transaction after buying InsightsOne |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2014/01/08/apigee-discloses-20m-financing-after.html |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=www.bizjournals.com}}</ref><br />
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Joy Thomas was an adjunct professor at Columbia University and Stanford University and held a number of patents.<ref name="Joy Aloysius Thomas Inventions, Patents and Patent Applications">{{Cite web |title=Joy Aloysius Thomas Inventions, Patents and Patent Applications |url=https://patents.justia.com/inventor/joy-aloysius-thomas |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=patents.justia.com}}</ref> He died on September 28, 2020, at [[Mountain View, California]], at the age of 57, survived by his wife, Priya, and children, Joshua and Leah.<ref name="India-born global expert in Information Theory, Joy Thomas, passes away in US" /><br />
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== Patents ==<br />
* {{Cite web |title=US Patent – API specification generation (Patent # 10,747,505 issued August 18, 2020) – Justia Patents Search |url=https://patents.justia.com/patent/10747505 |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=patents.justia.com}}<br />
* {{Cite web |title=US Patent – Automatically extracting profile feature attribute data from event data (Patent # 10,255,300 issued April 9, 2019) – Justia Patents Search |url=https://patents.justia.com/patent/10255300 |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=patents.justia.com}}<br />
* {{Cite web |title=US Patent – Method and apparatus for prediction of computer system performance based on types and numbers of active devices (Patent # 8,234,229 issued July 31, 2012) – Justia Patents Search |url=https://patents.justia.com/patent/8234229 |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=patents.justia.com}}<br />
* {{Cite web |title=US Patent – Techniques for organizing data to support efficient review and analysis (Patent # 7,945,600 issued May 17, 2011) – Justia Patents Search |url=https://patents.justia.com/patent/7945600 |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=patents.justia.com}}<br />
* {{Cite web |title=US Patent Application – Method and apparatus for prediction of computer system performance based on types and numbers of active devices (Application #20030023719 issued January 30, 2003) – Justia Patents Search |url=https://patents.justia.com/patent/20030023719 |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=patents.justia.com}}<br />
* {{Cite web |title=US Patent – Adaptive multiple dictionary data compression (Patent # 5,870,036 issued February 9, 1999) – Justia Patents Search |url=https://patents.justia.com/patent/5870036 |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=patents.justia.com}}<br />
* {{Cite web |title=US Patent – Parallel compression and decompression using a cooperative dictionary (Patent # 5,729,228 issued March 17, 1998) – Justia Patents Search |url=https://patents.justia.com/patent/5729228 |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=patents.justia.com}}<br />
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== Selected bibliography ==<br />
=== Books ===<br />
* {{Cite book |last1=Cover |first1=Thomas M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EuhBluW31hsC |title=Elements of Information Theory |last2=Thomas |first2=Joy A. |date=2006-07-11 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-0-471-74881-6 |language=en}}<br />
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=== Articles ===<br />
* {{Cite journal |last1=Cover |first1=Thomas M. |last2=Thomas |first2=A. |date=1988 |title=Determinant Inequalities via Information Theory |url=http://epubs.siam.org/doi/10.1137/0609033 |journal=SIAM Journal on Matrix Analysis and Applications |language=en |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=384–392 |doi=10.1137/0609033 |issn=0895-4798|url-access=subscription }}<br />
* {{Cite journal |last1=Dembo |first1=A. |last2=Cover |first2=T.M. |last3=Thomas |first3=J.A. |date=1991 |title=Information theoretic inequalities |journal=IEEE Transactions on Information Theory |volume=37 |issue=6 |pages=1501–1518 |doi=10.1109/18.104312}}<br />
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== References ==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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== External links ==<br />
* {{Cite web |title=dblp: Joy A. Thomas |url=https://dblp.org/pid/94/1920.html |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=dblp.org |language=en}}<br />
* {{Cite web |title=On Amazon |url=https://www.amazon.in/ |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=www.amazon.in |language=en-in}}<br />
* {{Cite web |date=10 July 2012 |title=Joy Thomas's Tribute to Thomas Cover |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IztJ9eQ56_M |access-date=2020-10-05 |website=ISL Stanford |publisher=YouTube}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Joy A.}}<br />
[[Category:1963 births]]<br />
[[Category:2020 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:Writers from Kerala]]<br />
[[Category:American information theorists]]<br />
[[Category:American data scientists]]<br />
[[Category:American inventors]]<br />
[[Category:IIT Madras alumni]]<br />
[[Category:Stanford University alumni]]<br />
[[Category:Stanford University faculty]]<br />
[[Category:Columbia University faculty]]<br />
[[Category:American writers of Indian descent]]<br />
[[Category:Indian emigrants to the United States]]<br />
[[Category:American people of Malayali descent]]</div>GJSAnnie74