Viral B Shah (Hindi: वीरल बी. शाह) is an Indian computer scientist, best known for being a co-creator of the Julia programming language.[2][3][4][5][6][7] He was also actively involved in the initial design of the Aadhaar project in India which provides a 12-digit unique identity number to each Indian resident based on their biometric and demographic data. Based on his experiences implementing Aadhaar and other complex technology projects in government, he co-authored the book Rebooting India with Nandan Nilekani.[8]
Viral B. Shah | |
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| Born | Mumbai, India |
| Alma mater | UC Santa Barbara PVPP COE[1] |
| Known for |
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| Awards | J. H. Wilkinson Prize for Numerical Software (2019) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | |
| Thesis | An Interactive System for Combinatorial Scientific Computing with an Emphasis on Programmer Productivity (2007) |
| Doctoral advisor | John R. Gilbert |
| Website | Viral B. Shah on X |
Shah is currently the CEO of JuliaHub (former company name Julia Computing), which he co-founded as Julia Computing with Julia co-creators, Jeff Bezanson, Alan Edelman, Stefan Karpinski as well as Keno Fischer and Deepak Vinchhi.[9] In July 2021, Julia Computing raised $24 Million in Series A round led by Dorilton Ventures, with participation from Menlo Ventures, General Catalyst, and HighSage Ventures.[10]
Awards
- In 2013, Shah received The Spatial Ecology and Telemetry Working Group (SETWG) award for co-creating Circuitscape with Brad McRae.[11][12]
- In 2019, Shah was awarded the J. H. Wilkinson Prize for Numerical Software with Jeff Bezanson and Stefan Karpinski for their work on the Julia programming language.[13]