Dana Scott facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Dana Stewart Scott
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| Born | October 11, 1932 |
| Education | UC Berkeley (B.A., 1954) Princeton University (Ph.D., 1958) |
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| Thesis | Convergent Sequences of Complete Theories (1958) |
| Doctoral advisor | Alonzo Church |
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Dana Stewart Scott (born October 11, 1932) is an American expert in computer science, philosophy, and mathematical logic. He is a retired professor from Carnegie Mellon University and now lives in Berkeley, California. He won the Turing Award in 1976 for his work on automata theory, which studies how machines can solve problems. He also helped create the modern way to understand the meaning of programming languages with his work alongside Christopher Strachey in the 1970s. He has also studied modal logic (logic about possibility and necessity), topology (the study of shapes and spaces), and category theory (a way to connect different math ideas).
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Early Discoveries
Dana Scott earned his first degree in Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1954. He then went to Princeton University for his Ph.D. (a higher degree). His Ph.D. paper was about "Convergent Sequences of Complete Theories," and his advisor was Alonzo Church, a famous logician.
After finishing his Ph.D. in 1958, he worked at the University of Chicago. In 1959, he wrote an important paper with Michael O. Rabin, a friend from Princeton. This paper, called Finite Automata and Their Decision Problem, introduced the idea of "nondeterministic machines" to automata theory. Imagine a machine that can make choices; a nondeterministic machine can explore all possible choices at once. This idea was very important for understanding how computers solve problems. Because of this groundbreaking work, Scott and Rabin both received the Turing Award, which is like the Nobel Prize for computer science.
Back to Berkeley: 1960–1963
Scott became an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley. Here, he focused on classic topics in mathematical logic, especially set theory (the study of collections of objects) and model theory (how mathematical ideas relate to real-world structures). He showed that a certain idea in set theory, called the axiom of constructibility, doesn't fit with another idea, the existence of a measurable cardinal. This was a big step forward in set theory.
During this time, he also started guiding students who were working on their Ph.D. degrees.
Logic of Possibility and Time
Scott also began to explore modal logic, which deals with concepts like possibility and necessity. He worked with John Lemmon and became interested in Arthur Prior's ideas about tense logic, which is about how time is handled in language. He also teamed up with Richard Montague, whom he had known since his college days. Scott and Montague later found a new way to understand modal and tense logic, called Scott-Montague semantics.
Scott and Lemmon started writing a textbook on modal logic. Even though Lemmon passed away before it was finished, Scott shared the incomplete book. It introduced important methods for understanding modal logic, which are still used today. Scott eventually published the work as An Introduction to Modal Logic in 1977.
New Ideas in Set Theory: 1963–1972
While at Stanford, Amsterdam, and Princeton, Scott developed the idea of a Boolean-valued model. This was a new way to think about mathematical structures using "Boolean values" (like true/false). In 1967, Scott used these models to show that the continuum hypothesis (a famous problem in mathematics) is independent, meaning it cannot be proven or disproven from the basic rules of set theory. This work earned him the Leroy P. Steele Prize in 1972.
Oxford and Programming Languages: 1972–1981
In 1972, Scott became a professor at the University of Oxford in England. While there, he worked closely with Christopher Strachey. Together, they created a mathematical way to understand the meaning of programming languages. This is known as the Scott–Strachey approach to denotational semantics. It was a very important contribution to theoretical computer science.
One of Scott's key ideas was domain theory. This theory helps us understand how computer programs work, especially those that repeat actions (like loops) or call themselves (recursive functions). It also provided a way to understand information that is endless or continuous.
His work during this time led to several awards:
- The 1990 Harold Pender Award for applying logic and algebra to programming languages.
- The 1997 Rolf Schock Prize for creating domain theory, which helped apply mathematical meaning to programming languages.
- The 2001 Bolzano Prize for his achievements in mathematical sciences.
- The 2007 EATCS Award for his contributions to theoretical computer science.
Carnegie Mellon University: 1981–2003
At Carnegie Mellon University, Scott suggested a new theory called equilogical spaces. This theory was an improvement over domain theory for some purposes. In 1994, he was recognized as a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery, a leading group for computer professionals. In 2012, he also became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society.
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Dana Stewart Scott
See also
In Spanish: Dana Scott para niños
