John D. Hunter (August 1, 1968 – August 28, 2012) was an American neurobiologist and the original author of Matplotlib.[1]
John D. Hunter | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | August 28, 2012 | (aged 44)
Education | Princeton University University of Chicago |
Known for | Matplotlib |
Spouse | Miriam |
Children | 3 |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Neurobiology |
Institutions | NumFOCUS Foundation |
Hunter was brought up in Dyersburg, Tennessee, and attended The McCallie School. He graduated from Princeton University in 1990 and obtained a Ph.D. in neurobiology from the University of Chicago in 2004.[2][3] In 2005, he joined TradeLink Securities as a Quantitative Analyst.[4] Later, he was one of the founding directors of NumFOCUS Foundation.[5]
Hunter initially developed Matplotlib during his postdoctoral research in neurobiology to visualize electrocorticography (ECoG) data of epilepsy patients.[4] The open-source tool emerged as the most widely used plotting library for the Python programming language and a core component of the scientific Python stack, along with NumPy, SciPy and IPython.[6] Matplotlib was used for data visualization during the 2008 landing of the Phoenix spacecraft on Mars and for the creation of the first image of a black hole.[7][8]
Hunter was diagnosed with malignant colon cancer and died from cancer treatment complications on August 28, 2012.[9][10][11] His memorial service was held at the University of Chicago's Rockefeller Chapel (also the location of his Ph.D. graduation) on October 1, 2012.[12] He was survived by his wife Miriam and three daughters: Clara, Ava, and Rahel.[13]
Two weeks after Hunter's death, the Python Software Foundation announced it had voted unanimously to create its Distinguished Service Award, intended as the foundation's highest honor,[14] and issued the first award to Hunter.[15][16]
From 2013 onwards, the SciPy Conference has hosted the annual John Hunter Excellence in Plotting Contest in his honor, with a $1000 prize to continue the advancement of scientific plotting.[17]