Rūsiņš Mārtiņš Freivalds

Rūsiņš Mārtiņš Freivalds (10 November 1942 – 4 January 2016) was a Latvian computer scientist and mathematician. He was celebrated for founding ultrametric algorithms and for fundamental contributions to the theory of computation, probabilistic algorithms, inductive inference, and quantum computing. He is best known for Freivalds' algorithm, a simple randomized procedure to check matrix multiplication in less time than recomputing it. He was a member of the Latvian Academy of Sciences from 1992. He also taught at the University of Latvia, with students including Daina Taimiņa and Andris Ambainis. He was born in Cesvaine and studied at Moscow State University (MSU).

Early life and education

Freivalds was born in Cesvaine, then under German occupation, and grew up in the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic. He studied physics and mathematics at the Peteris Stučka Latvian State University, graduating in 1965 at its Faculty of Physics and Mathematics.