John Platt | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1963 (age 61–62) |
| Alma mater | California Institute of Technology |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Google,Microsoft Research |
| Thesis | Constraint methods for neural networks and computer graphics (1989) |
| Doctoral advisor | Alan H. Barr Carver Mead John Hopfield |
| Website | ai |
John Carlton Platt (born 1963) is an Americancomputer scientist. He is currently a Fellow atGoogle,[1] where he leads the Applied Science branch of Google Research.[2] Formerly he was a deputy managing director atMicrosoft Research Redmond Labs.[3] Platt worked for Microsoft from 1997 to 2015. Before that, he served as director of research atSynaptics.
Platt was born inElgin, Illinois, and matriculated atCalifornia State University, Long Beach, at the age of 14. After graduating from CSULB at the age of 18, he enrolled in a computer science PhD program atCalifornia Institute of Technology.[citation needed]
While a student at Caltech under astronomerGene Shoemaker, he discovered two asteroids,3259 Brownlee and3237 Victorplatt atPalomar Observatory on 25 September 1984. The latter he named after his father Victor Platt, while the former was named by Gene Shoemaker. Shoemaker allowed Platt to name one of his discoveries,3927 Feliciaplatt, which he named after his mother.
In 1998, Platt inventedsequential minimal optimization, a widely used algorithm for speeding up the training ofsupport vector machines, which fixed the issue thatquadratic programming brought to early machine learning techniques.[4]
In 1999, Platt continued his work into support vector machines, creatingPlatt scaling, a method to turn SVMs (and other classifiers) into probability models.[5]
In August 2005,Apple Computer had its application for apatent on the interface of the populariPod music player rejected by theUnited States Patent and Trademark Office. The reason appears to be that Platt had submitted a patent application for a similar interface design five months prior to Apple's claim.[6]
Platt shared a 2005 Scientific and Technical Achievement Oscar from theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences withDemetri Terzopoulos for their pioneering work in physically-based computer-generated techniques used to simulate realistic cloth in motion pictures.[7]
