Karen Spärck Jones (computer scientist)

Karen Spärck Jones was a pioneering computer scientist who significantly advanced information retrieval and natural language processing. She is best known for developing the concept of inverse document frequency (IDF), a core element of search engines that helps determine the importance of words in large text documents. Her work made it easier for computers to find relevant information quickly, laying the foundation for modern search engines like Google. Spärck Jones’s contributions have had a lasting impact on how we access and organize information digitally, helping us find what we need more efficiently.