Elwyn Ralph Berlekamp  (September 6, 1940 – April 9, 2019) was the 1993 Shannon Lecturer known for his work in coding theory and other disciplines. He was a professor emeritus of mathematics and EECS at the University of California, Berkeley. Berlekamp was co-inventor of the Berlekamp–Welch algorithm and the Berlekamp–Massey algorithms, which are used for efficient decoding of Reed–Solomon codes. He was also known for using information theory in money management.

Elwyn Berlekamp also discovered an algorithm for factoring polynomials over finite fields, which is included in computer algebra systems such as Pari. He wrote a classic 1968 monograph on Algebraic Coding Theory, which is still in use, as well as a well-known multi-volume set "Winning Ways for Your Mathematical Plays" (with John H. Conway and Richard Guy).

Read Elwyn's obituary at  Berkeley News .

— Emina Soljanin and Alexander Barg

Update: Read In Memoriam: Elwyn Berlekamp for more details of Elwyn's life.