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Finding Aid for the Andrew J. and Erna Viterbi Family Archives, 1905-2007
0335
0335
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Table of contents
Title: Andrew J. and Erna Viterbi Family Archives
Date (inclusive): 1905-2007
Collection number: 0335
creator:
Viterbi, Erna Finci
creator:
Viterbi, Andrew J.
Physical Description:
20.0 Linear feet
47 document cases, 1 small box, 1 oversize box
35000 digital objects
Location:
University Archives row A
Contributing Institution:
USC Libraries Special Collections
Doheny Memorial Library 206
3550 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles, California, 90089-0189
Language of Material:
English
Language of Material: The bulk of the materials are written in English, however other languages are represented as well. These additional languages include Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, and Japanese.
Conditions Governing Access note
There are materials within the archives that are marked confidential or proprietary, or that contain information that is obviously
confidential. Examples of the latter include letters of references and recommendations for employment, promotions, and awards;
nominations for awards and honors; resumes of colleagues of Dr. Viterbi; and grade reports of students in Dr. Viterbi's classes
at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of California, San Diego.
These restricted items were not scanned and, therefore, are not included in the USC Digital Archive.
Researchers wishing to see any of the restricted materials should consult with the USC Libraries Special Collections staff.
The archives contains published articles and book chapters authored or co-authored by Dr. Viterbi and others. Researchers
are reminded of the copyright restrictions imposed by publishers on reusing their articles and chapters. It is the responsibility
of researchers to acquire permission from publishers when reusing such materials.
[Identification of item], Andrew J. and Erna Viterbi Family Archives, Collection 335, University of Southern California, Los
Angeles.
Immediate Source of Acquisition note
The Andrew J. and Erna Viterbi Family Archives was primarily obtained through gifts from Dr. Andrew J. Viterbi. Additional
donations were made by Dr. William C. Lindsey, and Dr. Solomon Golomb, both of the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering
at the University of Southern California (USC). Other materials were collected and by the Viterbi Family Archivist, Dr. Michael
Hooks, who obtained them from the JPL Archives, Dr. Viterbi's professional colleagues, and Web sources.
Andrew James Viterbi was born on March 9, 1935 in Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy, the only child of Dr. Achille and Maria Viterbi.
In 1939, the Viterbi family immigrated to the United States due to the anti-Semitic laws passed in fascist Italy. They lived
first in New York City, and then moved to Boston, Massachusetts, when Andrew was six years old. Andrew attended the public
schools in Boston, and graduated from Boston Latin School in 1952. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1957, and the Ph.D. from the University of Southern California (USC) in 1962.
Andrew Viterbi currently serves as President of the Viterbi Group, LLC, founded in 2000 in San Diego, California. The Viterbi
Group advises and invests in startup companies, predominantly in wireless communications, network infrastructure and imaging.
In July 1985, Dr. Viterbi co-founded QUALCOMM Incorporated, a developer and manufacturer of mobile satellite communications
and digital wireless telephony, where he served as Vice Chairman until 2000 and as Chief Technical Officer until 1996. Under
his leadership, QUALCOMM received international recognition for innovative technology in the areas of digital wireless communication
systems and products based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technologies. Previously in 1968, Dr. Viterbi co-founded
LINKABIT Corporation, a digital communications company, where he served as Executive Vice President and later as President
in the early 1980s.
From 1963 to 1973, Dr. Viterbi served as a Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, (UCLA) School of Engineering
and Applied Science, where he did fundamental work in digital communication theory and wrote numerous research papers and
two books, for which he has received international recognition. He continued teaching on a part-time basis at the University
of California, San Diego (UCSD), until 1994, where he is currently Professor Emeritus. Also in 2001 he was invited by Technion,
Israel Institute of Technology, to become a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Electrical Engineering and in 2004 he was
named to the President's Chair in the Department of Electrical Engineering Systems at USC.
From 1957 to 1963, Dr. Viterbi was a member of the Communications Research Section of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL),
an operting division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, California. While at JPL, he was one
of the first communication engineers to recognize the potential of and propose digital transmission techniques for space and
satellite telecommunication systems.
Dr. Viterbi has received numerous awards and recognition for his leadership and substantial contributions to communications
theory and its industrial applications over the years. He has received honorary doctorates from universities in the United
States, Canada, Italy and Israel, and has been otherwise honored in Japan, Germany, Italy and the United States. He is a Fellow
of the IEEE, a Marconi Fellow, and a Member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences
and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. From 1997 until 2001, he served as a member of the U.S. President's Information
Technology Advisory Committee. He is currently a trustee of the University of Southern California, a Board Member of the Scripps
Research Institute in La Jolla, California, a trustee of the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley, California,
and a member of the California Council on Science and Technology.
All four international standards for digital cellular telephony utilize the Viterbi algorithm for interference suppression,
as do most digital satellite communication systems, both for business applications and for direct satellite broadcast to the
home.
Erna Finci Viterbi was born on January 20, 1934, in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. Her parents were Joseph and Lenka Finci. Andrew
and Erna married on June 15, 1958, in Los Angeles, California. They have 3 adult children: one daughter, Audrey M., and two
sons, Alan R., and Alex.
The Andrew J. and Erna Viterbi Family Archives documents the career and professional activities of Dr. Andrew Viterbi, noted
researcher, scholar, innovator, and businessman, as well as provide information about the Viterbi and Finci families. The
professional papers consist of audio materials, awards, certificates, clippings, correspondence, memoranda, manusciprt materials,
patents, photographs, presentations, publications and reprints, research materials, and reports that are useful in following
Dr. Viterbi's career and provide insight into his constributions to the field of digital communication.
The family materials provide information about the Viterbi and Finci families. The materials include certificates, clippings,
correspondence, diplomas, drawings, photographs, publications, and research materials.
Oversize materials, such as newspaper pages, manuscript galleys, and drawings, were separated and rehoused in an oversize
box. DVDs and an audio tape were separated and rehoused in a small box. Duplicate materials were removed and retained for
returning to Dr. Viterbi.
The archives is organized into 18 series, arranged alphabetically:
Series 1. Academic Affiliations;
Series 2. Academic Files;
Series 3. Biographical Information;
Series 4. Business Plan;
Series 5. Committees and Boards/Professional Affiliations;
Series 6. Correspondence;
Series 7. Honors, with 3 subseries: Academies, Awards, and Honorary Degrees;
Series 8. Mementos;
Series 9. News Items;
Series 10. Oral History;
Series 11. Papers Authored;
Series 12. Patents;
Series 13. Philanthropic Activities;
Series 14. Presentations;
Series 15. Prior Art;
Series 16. Publications;
Series 17. Technical Information; and
Series 18. Viterbi Family Materials
The initial accession consists of 17 banker's boxes packed and brought to the Special Collections Department by Michael Hooks,
Viterbi Family Archivist, and Jackie Morin, Processing Archivist, on November 28, 2006. Dr. Viterbi delivered an additional
box of materials on February 26, 2007. An additional envelope of materias was received from Dr. Viterbi on June 8, 2007. Lastly,
colleagues of Dr. Viterbi donated items at the request of Michael Hooks.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego.
United Jewish Federation of San Diego County.
National Academy of Engineering. NAE.
PITAC. President's Information Technology Advisory C.
University of California, Los Angeles . UCLA.
Jacobs, Irwin Mark
Viterbi, Olga
LINKABIT, Inc..
Marconi Fellowship.
Viterbi, Eugenio
Luria, Amalia
Deep Space Network.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Pasadena, CA). NASA. California Institute of Technology.
Alexander Graham Bell Medal. IEEE.
NEC Corporation. C&C Award.
Information Theory Society. IEEE.
The Green Foundation.
Boston Latin School (Mass.).
National Academy of Sciences. NAS.
Lusignan, Bruce
Golomb, Solomon W. (Solomon Wolf)
University of California, San Diego. UCSD.
Finci, Erna
Lawrence Family Jewish Community Centers (San Diego, CA).
Viterbi, Maria
Viterbi, Alan
Marconi Institute (New York, N.Y.).
University of Notre Dame.
Cristoforo Colombo Award.
University of Rome "Tor Vergata".
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. MIT.
Harvey Prize. Technion - Israel Institute of Technoloby.
QUALCOMM, Inc..
Finci, Laura
San Diego Jewish Academy.
GLOBALSTAR.
Viterbi, Achille
Finci, Kalmi
Scripps Research Institute.
Eduard Rhein Foundation Award.
Viterbi, Alex
National Aeronautics and Space Administration.. NASA.
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.. IEEE.
Viterbi , Audrey M.
Omura, Jim K.
Eta Kappa Nu.
Albert Einstein Award.
Claude E. Shannon Award. Information Theory Society. IEEE.
Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Los Alamos National Laboratory. Department of Energy. University of California.
Franklin Institute (Philadelphia, Pa.).
OmniTRACS Corporation.
Luria, Giacomo
UCLA Center for Jewish Studies.
University of Southern California .
Lindsey, William C.
Finci, Atifa
Padovani, Roberto
KPBS (Television station : San Diego, Calif.).
C&C Prize.
Shannon, Claude E.
Guglielmo Marconi Foundation.
Levi, Primo, 1854-1988
Rechtin, Eberhardt
Space Communications
Magnetic Recording
Gaussian channel
GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications)
Coding theory
Phase-locked loops
Viterbi algorithm
Concatenated Codes
TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access)
Personal Communication Network
Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum
Cellular telephones
Digital communications
Trellis-coded modulation
CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access)
OmniTRACS® mobile communications system
Cellular Networks
Telemetry, Aerospace
3G System
Memoryless channels
Shannon Limit
Wireless communications
Digital modulation
Telecommunications
Digital Signal Processing
Personal Communications Services
Convolutional codes
Information theory
Turbo Codes
Soft handoff
Low-Earth Orbit Satellites
Signal Processing
Spread spectrum
Viterbi Decoder
Doppler