Jeff Westbrook

Jeff Westbrook presenting a talk on the math in The Simpsons.

Jeff Westbrook is a TV writer best known for his work on The Simpsons and Futurama, for which he is a three-time winner of the WGA Award.^[1][2][3]

Prior to becoming a TV writer, Westbrook was a successful algorithms researcher. After majoring in physics and history of science at Harvard University, he studied computer science with Robert Tarjan at Princeton University, receiving his Ph.D. in 1989 with a thesis entitled Algorithms and Data Structures for Dynamic Graph Algorithms.^[4] He then took a faculty position at Yale University, later becoming a researcher for AT&T Laboratories before leaving research for Hollywood. Westbrook's Erdős number is three due to his research collaborations with Tarjan and others. His Bacon number is also three, due to his appearance as an extra in the movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, giving a combined Erdős–Bacon number of six.^[5]

Writing credits

Futurama episodes

• "Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles"
• "The 30% Iron Chef"
• "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid"

The Simpsons episodes

• "On a Clear Day I Can't See My Sister"
• "The Wettest Stories Ever Told"
• "Kill Gil: Vols. 1 & 2" – Won 2007 WGA Award in the Animation category^[1]
• "Apocalypse Cow" – Won 2008 WGA Award in the Animation category^[2]
• "No Loan Again, Naturally"
• "Pranks and Greens"
• "The Ned-Liest Catch"
• "The Man in the Blue Flannel Pants"
• "Ned 'n Edna's Blend" – Won 2012 WGA Award in the Animation category^[3]
• "Treehouse of Horror XXIV"
• "The Man Who Grew Too Much"
• "The Wreck of the Relationship"
• "Let's Go Fly a Coot"
• “The Nightmare After Krustmas”

References

1. McNary, Dave (2008-02-09). "Cody, Coen bros. top WGA Awards". Variety. Retrieved 2008-02-09.
2. Littleton, Cynthia (2009-02-07). "'Milk,' 'Slumdog' top WGA Awards". Variety. Retrieved 2009-02-09.
3. "WGA Awards: Complete List of Winners", Hollywood Reporter, February 17, 2013.
4. Jeffery Westbrook at the Mathematics Genealogy Project.
5. See http://bluewaterracing.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=46:who-created-it&catid=31:general&Itemid=50

External links

• Jeff Westbrook at the Internet Movie Database
• Dr. Sarah's Mathematical Backgrounds of the Simpsons Writers
• A Futurama Math Conversation with Dr. Jeff Westbrook
• Jeffery Westbrook: list of publications from the DBLP Bibliography Server