Karen Spärck Jones

Karen Ida Boalth Spärck Jones was a self-taught programmer and a pioneering British computer scientist responsible for the concept of inverse document frequency (IDF), a technology that underlies most modern search engines. She was an advocate for women in computer science, her slogan being, "Computing is too important to be left to men." In 2019, The New York Times published her belated obituary in its series Overlooked, calling her "a pioneer of computer science for work combining statistics and linguistics, and an advocate for women in the field." From 2008, to recognize her achievements in the fields of information retrieval (IR) and natural language processing (NLP), the Karen Spärck Jones Award is awarded to a new recipient with outstanding research in one or both of her fields.

26 August 1935

Born on the same birth date (26 August 1935): Geraldine Ferraro

Born on the same birth day (26 August): Chris Pine • David Hurley • Frederick V of the Palatinate • Hans Kammler • Jayson Nix • Jet Black • Jorge Paulo Lemann • Kevin Ryan (rugby) • Macaulay Culkin • Mattia Cassani • Noah Welch • Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha • Zadok Malka

Born in the same month (August 1935): Bobby Richardson • Ernie Broglio • Fortunato Baldelli • Frank Yablans • Geoff Pullar • Georgy Shonin • Geraldine Ferraro • Hank Cochran • John Erman • John Laws • Lee Corso • Melvin Charney • Mudcat Grant • Octavio Getino • Rahsaan Roland Kirk • Roy Benavidez • Roy Strong • Régine Deforges