Michael Burrows

Michael Burrows: Computer Scientist and Innovator

Burrows-Wheeler Transform and AltaVista

Michael Burrows, born in 1963, is a British computer scientist best known for his work on the Burrows-Wheeler transform (BWT) and the founding of the AltaVista search engine.

The BWT, developed with David Wheeler, is a data compression algorithm that has become a cornerstone of text compression. Burrows also collaborated with Paul Flaherty and Louis Monier to create AltaVista, one of the earliest successful web search engines.

Contributions to Google

After AltaVista, Burrows joined Google, where he made substantial contributions to the company's distributed computing network. He is also credited with leading the design of Google's file system and distributed lock manager.

Burrows is considered a pioneer in the field of data compression and has been recognized with numerous awards, including the ACM Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award.

Awards and Recognition

In 2018, Burrows and Giovanni Manzini received the ACM Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award for their work on the BWT and FM-index, which have revolutionized the field of compressed data structures.

Burrows remains an active researcher and is currently a Fellow of the Royal Society and an Adjunct Professor at Carnegie Mellon University.