E. Allen Emerson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
E. Allen Emerson
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| Born | June 2, 1954 Dallas, Texas, U.S.
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| Died | October 15, 2024 (aged 70) |
| Citizenship | United States |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Computer science |
| Institutions | UT Austin, United States |
| Doctoral advisor | Edmund M. Clarke |
Ernest Allen Emerson II (June 2, 1954 – October 15, 2024) was an American computer scientist. He was a professor at the University of Texas at Austin. He won the important Turing Award in 2007.
Emerson is famous for helping create and develop something called model checking. This is a special way to check if computer software and hardware designs work correctly. He worked on this with Edmund M. Clarke and Joseph Sifakis. His ideas also helped create computation tree logic (CTL) and CTL*. These are used to check complex computer systems. He also helped develop symbolic model checking. This helps solve big problems that come up when checking many parts of a computer system.
Contents
Early Life and Learning
Ernest Allen Emerson was born in Dallas, Texas on June 2, 1954. When he was young, he learned about early computer languages. These included BASIC, Fortran, and ALGOL 60. He used these on big computer systems of his time.
He went to the University of Texas at Austin. There, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics in 1976. Later, he got his Doctor of Philosophy degree in applied mathematics. This was from Harvard University in 1981.
His Big Idea: Model Checking
In the early 1980s, Emerson and his teacher, Edmund M. Clarke, created new ways to check computer systems. They wanted to make sure these systems followed their exact rules. They called this new method model checking. Another scientist, Joseph Sifakis, also worked on similar ideas.
The word "model" here means the computer system itself. They checked if this "model" worked like it was supposed to. Emerson's work helped make these checks faster and more efficient. He also created special "temporal logics" to describe how systems should behave over time.
Awards and Recognition
In 2007, Emerson, Clarke, and Sifakis received the Turing Award. This award is like the Nobel Prize for computing. They won it for making model checking a very useful way to check computer hardware and software.
Emerson also won the 1998 ACM Paris Kanellakis Award. He shared this award with Randal Bryant, Clarke, and Kenneth L. McMillan. They won for creating symbolic model checking. This method is widely used to check computer designs. It is also becoming useful for checking software.
His Passing
Ernest Allen Emerson passed away on October 15, 2024. He was 70 years old.
See Also
In Spanish: E. Allen Emerson para niños
