Ingrid Daubechies, James B. Duke distinguished professor emerita of mathematics, was named a recipient of the National Medal of Science by President Joe Biden for her trailblazing work on signal processing, which has become the backbone for much of the field today.
The National Medal of Science is the nation’s highest level of recognition among scientists, engineers and mathematicians. First established by Congress in 1959, the award is presented to individuals who exemplify excellence in the fields of physical sciences, mathematics, engineering, behavioral sciences and social sciences, as well as “outstanding contributions to science in service to the United States.”
“Dr. Daubechies is an exemplary, exemplary figure in mathematics who not only made fundamental, profound and long-lasting contributions in mathematics and sciences, but also to our society,” said Hongkai Zhao, Ruth F. DeVarney distinguished professor of mathematics and chair of the department.
Daubechies is one of 14 National Medal of Science honorees this year, joining the ranks of 515 recipients throughout the award’s history. She is just the second to come from Duke — the first being Robert Lefkowitz, The Chancellor’s distinguished professor of medicine and professor of chemistry, pathology and biochemistry, who received the honor in 2008 and went on to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2012.
Her research focuses primarily on wavelet theory, which she has used to pioneer advances in both efficient image compression and high-accuracy image reconstruction. Daubechies’ mathematical methods have been used in everything from converting sound to MP3 files and reconstructing images from the Hubble Space telescope to compressing images for movies, earning her the nickname “the godmother of the digital image.”
“Ingrid’s work on wavelets was a revolution — a tour de force — in the way the information in images and other signals are stored compactly in computers,” wrote Cynthia Rudin, Gilbert, Louis and Edward Lehrman distinguished professor and a former doctoral student of Daubechies, in an email to The Chronicle.
Rudin explained that prior to Daubechies’ work, efficient image storage was nearly impossible. But through her mathematical research, Daubechies invented a way to compress images using patterns in pixels, making it possible to shrink them while still storing the necessary information to reconstruct the original picture for the human eye.
“Anyone who has seen this math cannot help but be stunned by its elegance, and this derivation boosted Ingrid into legendary status among the mathematical world,” Rudin wrote.
In 2023, Daubechies was awarded the Wolf Prize, once considered the “Nobel Prize of Mathematics,” for her groundbreaking research. She was the first woman to receive the honor.
Daubechies has brought her mathematical models to other disciplines, including arts restoration, neurology and archaeology. She assisted the FBI with their digital fingerprint database in the 1990s and has also worked with geologists to analyze seismic activity below the Earth’s crust.
“Her work can be applied and can benefit the whole society in many different ways,” Zhao said.
Beyond academics, Daubechies is also known for her humility and kindness. When she’s not revolutionizing the field of signal processing, she also helps run a summer program for high school students interested in math and science.
“Ingrid is a force of nature, but she never let it get to her head,” Rudin wrote.
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Srilakshmi Venkatesan is a Trinity first-year and a staff reporter for the news department.
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