Dr. Douglas H. Wiedemann , 67, a longtime resident of Princeton, died on November 12, 2020 at the Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center in Plainsboro.

Dr. Wiedemann was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to the late Herbert P. and Henrietta P. Wiedemann.  Early in his life, it became clear that he possessed an exceptional gift for mathematics and this became his lifelong passion. Dr. Wiedemann received a BS degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University in 1975, an MS in computer engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 1977, and a Ph.D in mathematics from the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, in 1986.

As an undergraduate, Dr. Wiedemann started to work during the summer at the Institute for Defense Analysis in Princeton. This was the beginning of his long career as a research staff member at the Institute's Center for Communication Research, where he remained active up until the time of his death. His career at the Center for Communication Research was punctuated by short stints at Thinking Machines Corporation and Sun Microsystems. Dr. Wiedemann was well-known for his work on sparse systems of linear equations over finite fields, which is used in addressing mathematical problems such as factoring integers in an efficient way.

Dr. Wiedemann was interested in a great range of matters, from the tangible and physical to the theoretical and abstract. His imaginative and original observations were unique. One of his supervisors wrote the following when Dr. Wiedemann was only 29 years of age: "The beautiful new mathematics that you have discovered and continue to extend in so many directions is one of the most exciting developments in modern cryptanalysis.  I understand that you were recently able to use your new techniques to solve an important problem that had defied solution for several years."

Dr. Wiedemann will be greatly missed by his colleagues and family.  He remained single throughout his life. He is survived by his brother, Herbert P. Wiedemann MD, of Shaker Heights, Ohio and his wife, Patricia Barz, and their children, Sarah Wiedemann of Denver, Colorado and Andrew Wiedemann of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as well as aunts, nieces and nephews.

Cremation arrangements were provided by the Kimble Funeral Home of Princeton. Dr. Wiedemann's ashes were interred next to those of his parents at the Providence Presbyterian Church in Hilton Head, South Carolina.

A private service for the family will be held there when the COVID pandemic resolves.

Memorial gifts can be made to the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation through the Give Now tab on the home page of their website: https://www.crohnscolitisfoundation.org/.