<p>The Viterbi algorithm, one of the workhorse techniques of the signal processing and communications fields, was developed by Andrew Viterbi when he was a professor at UCLA.</p>
<p>The algorithm was discovered when Viterbi was attempting to clarify certain ideas in an information theory class to his students. That makes it doubly cool, since it wasn’t simply a result of private research work, but instead came directly from the classroom.</p>
<p>Viterbi went on to become one of the founders of Qualcomm.</p>