John D. Hunter

John D. Hunter
Born (1968-08-01)August 1, 1968
Dyersburg, Tennessee
Died August 28, 2012(2012-08-28) (aged 44)
Chicago, Illinois
Fields Neurobiology
Institutions NumFOCUS Foundation
Alma mater University of Chicago
Known for matplotlib
Spouse Miriam
Children Rahel, Ava and Clara

John D. Hunter (1968 – 2012) was an American neurobiologist and the original author of matplotlib.[1]

Biography

He was brought up in Dyersburg, Tennessee. He graduated from McCallie High School. He studied initially at Princeton University, later he obtained a Ph.D. in neurobiology from the University of Chicago in 2004.[2][3] In 2005, he joined TradeLink Securities as a Quantitative Analyst.[4] Later, he was one of the founding director of NumFOCUS Foundation.[5]

matplotlib

The idea of writing matplotlib was originally conceived to visualize Electrocorticography (ECoG) data of epilepsy patients during post-doctoral research in Neurobiology.[6] The open-source tool emerged as the most widely used plotting library for the Python programming language, and a core component of the scientific Python stack, along with Numpy, Scipy and IPython.[7] Matplotlib was used for data visualization during landing of the Phoenix spacecraft in 2008.[8]

Personal life

He was diagnosed with malignant colon cancer and died from cancer treatment complications on August 28, 2012.[9][10][11] His memorial service was held at the University of Chicago's Rockefeller Chapel (which was also the location of his Ph.D. graduation) on October 1, 2012.[12] He is survived by his wife Miriam, and three daughters: Clara, Ava, and Rahel.[13] A memorial fund (as a way to honor his work) has been established to help with the education of his three daughters.[14]

Awards

Python Software Foundation awarded first Distinguished Service Award—the Foundation's highest honor [15] to Hunter in order to recognize his long-term excellence in the Python community.[16][17]

Legacy

From 2013 onwards, the SciPy Conference has hosted the annual John Hunter Excellence in Plotting Contest in his honor to continue the advancement of scientific plotting, where the first prize winner is awarded with $1000.[18]

References

  1. ↑ Hunter, John D. "Matplotlib: A 2D graphics environment." Computing in science and engineering 9.3 (2007): 90-95.
  2. ↑ http://paw.princeton.edu/issues/2012/12/12/sections/memorials/2519/
  3. ↑ Pardalos, P. M., Sackellares, J. C., Carney, P. R., & Iasemidis, L. D. (Eds.). (2004). Quantitative neuroscience: models, algorithms, diagnostics, and therapeutic applications (Vol. 2). Springer Science & Business Media.
  4. ↑ Brown, A., & Wilson, G. (2012). The architecture of open source applications, volume ii. Kristian Hermansen.
  5. ↑ http://numfocus.org/foundation/minutes/board-meeting-minutes2012-05-16.html NumFOCUS First Minutes of Meeting
  6. ↑ Brown, A., & Wilson, G. (2012). The architecture of open source applications, volume ii. Kristian Hermansen.
  7. ↑ Sheppard, K. (2014). Introduction to Python for econometrics, statistics and data analysis. Selfpublished, University of Oxford, version, 2.
  8. ↑ http://matplotlib.org/xkcd/users/screenshots.html#ellipses
  9. ↑ https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/pydata/FpwXp3sX6N8/mxopkZ1PkBQJ
  10. ↑ http://www.stategazette.com/story/1892051.html
  11. ↑ http://mag.uchicago.edu/university-news/university-obituaries-8
  12. ↑ http://blog.fperez.org/2013/07/in-memoriam-john-d-hunter-iii-1968-2012.html
  13. ↑ http://matplotlib.org/
  14. ↑ http://numfocus.org/news/2012/08/28/johnhunter /
  15. ↑ https://www.python.org/community/awards/psf-distinguished-awards/
  16. ↑ http://pyfound.blogspot.in/2012/09/announcing-2012-distinctive-service.html
  17. ↑ https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/numfocus/R0KKd_3NQzM
  18. ↑ http://www.scipy2015.scipy.org/ehome/115969/276538/?&
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