Allen Kent
| Allen Kent | |
|---|---|
| Born |
October 24, 1921 Harlem, New York City |
| Died |
May 1, 2014 (aged 92) Scott, New York |
| Occupation | information scientist |
| Years active | 1952–1992 |
Allen Kent (October 24, 1921 – May 1, 2014) was an information scientist.
Early life
He was born in Harlem, New York City.[1] At City College of New York he earned a degree in chemistry.[2] During World War II, he served in the Army Air Corps.[2] After the war, he worked on a classified project at MIT in mechanized document encoding and search.[1]
Career
In 1955, he helped found the Center for Documentation Communication Research at Western Reserve University.[3] This was "the first academic program in the field of mechanized information retrieval, first using cards, then utilizing new reel-to-reel tape technology."[1] In the same year he introduce the measures of precision and recall in Perry, Kent & Berry (1955). He joined the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh in 1963, where in 1970 he began the Department of Information Science.[4] He retired from the university in 1992.[4] At the time of his death, he was Distinguished Service Professor in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh[4] The school named a scholarship after him.[5]
Selective bibliography
- Perry, James W.; Kent, Allen; Berry, Madeline M. (1955). "Machine literature searching X. Machine language; factors underlying its design and development". American Documentation 6 (4): 242–254. doi:10.1002/asi.5090060411.
- "A Machine That Does Research," (April 1959), Harper's Magazine
- Information Analysis and Retrieval, 1962
- The Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science
- The Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology
- The Encyclopedia of Microcomputers
Awards
- 1968 Eastman Kodak Award for significant contributions to the Science of Information Technology
- 1977 Award of Merit from ASIS[6]
- 1980 Best Information Science Book from ASIS[7]
References
- 1 2 3 Dr. Allen Kent, Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Pittsburgh, Passed Away at 92 Years ASIS&T obituary, 2014
- 1 2 Obituary: Allen Kent / A pioneer in field of information sciences: Oct. 24, 1921 - May 1, 2014 By Molly Born Pittsburgh Post-Gazette May 3, 2014
- ↑ Case Western Reserve University history, in Dr. Thomas J. Froehlich's Index of Organizations involved in information science
- 1 2 3 Obituary: Allen Kent The University Times, University of Pittsburgh, May 15, 2014.
- ↑ iSchool remembers Professor Allen Kent University of Pittsburgh School of Information Sciences May 2, 2014.
- ↑ ASIS&T: Award of Merit
- ↑ ASIS&T Best Information Science Book Award past winners, for The Structure and Governance of Library Networks by Allen Kent and Thomas Galvin
Archival Materials
- Archival materials 1952–1988 are held by the University of Pittsburgh per Worldcat holdings record: Allen Kent papers. 1952–1988