Vitold Belevitch

Vitold Belevitch
Vitold Belevitch
	Belevitch in an undated photo
Born	2 March 1921; Terijoki, Karelia, Finland
Died	26 December 1999 (aged 78)
Education	Université de Namur; Catholic University of Leuven;
Known for	Belevitch's theorem; Scattering parameters; Network synthesis;
Awards	IEEE Centennial Medal (1984)
	Scientific career
Fields	Mathematics; Electrical engineering;
Workplaces	Bell Telephone Manufacturing Company; Philips Research Laboratories Belgium;
Thesis	Insertion loss and effective phase-shift in composite filters at cut-off frequency (1945)
Doctoral advisor	Charles Lambert Manneback; Wilhelm Cauer;

Vitold Belevitch (2 March 1921 – 26 December 1999) was a Belgian mathematician and electrical engineer of Russian origin who produced some important work in the field of electrical network theory. Born to parents fleeing the Bolsheviks, he settled in Belgium where he worked on early computer construction projects. Belevitch is responsible for a number of circuit theorems and introduced the now well-known scattering parameters.

Belevitch had an interest in languages and found a mathematical derivation of Zipf's law. He also published on machine languages. Another field of interest was transmission lines, where he published on line coupling. He worked on telephone conferencing and introduced the mathematical construct of the conference matrix.