Dr. Bishnu Saroop Atal, whose foundational work in linear predictive coding and code-excited linear prediction revolutionized digital voice transmission across cellular networks globally, passed away on August 19, 2026, at the age of 93, as IEEE Spectrum reported.
Born in Kanpur, India, Atal built a distinguished career spanning decades at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey, and later at&T’s Shannon Laboratory in Florham Park, New Jersey. His speech compression methods increased wireless network capacity to handle more simultaneous calls.
Colleagues remembered his profound impact on the discipline and his personal warmth. “I was lucky enough to interview Bishnu Nanaji about his life as a scientist when I was in eighth grade, and at the time I couldn’t even fathom having the academic passion he did, the kind of curiosity that drove him to move continents and be a pioneer,” an interviewer recalled on flintofts.com.
Atal joined Bell Labs in 1961 as a communications researcher. His early investigations centered on speaker identification technology before shifting toward speech analysis and compression methodologies.
Throughout the 1960s, he helped develop linear predictive coding (LPC). This technique established itself as the most widely utilized method for encoding speech at low bit rates.
Atal eventually led the acoustics and speech research departments at Bell Laboratories. The institution named him a Bell Labs Fellow in 1994, and following the 1996 corporate split, he continued his work at the AT&T Florham Park headquarters.
His academic and professional honors included election to the National Academy of Engineering in 1987 and the National Academy of Sciences in 1993. He also received the 2013 IEEE Jack S. Kilby Signal Processing Medal and the 2018 International Speech Communication Association Medal for Scientific Achievement.
Dr. Atal is survived by his daughters, Alka Atal-Barrio and Namita Paranjothi, along with extended family members across the United States, Canada, and India.
