About the Author
Vladimir Kushnir obtained his Ph.D. in physics at the Institute for Solid State Physics,
Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Since that time, Vladimir worked as an experimental
physicist, using FORTRAN, C, and then C++, while working at Northwestern Uni-
versity and later at the Argonne National Laboratory. He then went to work with Wall
Street firms, focusing mostly on calculations called “financial analytics,” and having
special interest in taking a calculation and making it run faster, sometimes by an order
of magnitude. He lives with his wife Daria in Connecticut and when not programming
in C++, enjoys jazz music and underwater photography in his spare time.
