Edward Feigenbaum facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ed Feigenbaum
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| Born |
Edward Albert Feigenbaum
January 20, 1936 |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Carnegie Mellon University (BS, PhD) |
| Known for | Expert systems EPAM DENDRAL project Feigenbaum test |
| Awards | Turing Award (1994) Computer Pioneer Award AAAI Fellow (1990) ACM Fellow (2007) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Computer science Artificial intelligence |
| Institutions | Stanford University United States Air Force |
| Doctoral advisor | Herbert A. Simon |
| Doctoral students |
Ramanathan V. Guha
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Edward Albert Feigenbaum, born on January 20, 1936, is a famous computer scientist. He works in the field of artificial intelligence, which is often called AI. He won the Turing Award in 1994. Many people call him the "father of expert systems."
Contents
Early Life and Education
Feigenbaum was born in Weehawken, New Jersey, in 1936. He grew up in North Bergen. When he was 16, he left home to start college. He went to Weehawken High School because it helped students prepare for college. In 1996, he was honored in his high school's hall of fame.
He studied at Carnegie Institute of Technology, which is now Carnegie Mellon University. He earned his first degree in 1956. Then, he completed his Ph.D. in 1960. For his Ph.D. project, he created EPAM. This was one of the first computer programs that showed how people learn. His professor, Herbert A. Simon, helped him with this work.
During his college years, he met Herbert Simon. Simon told him about a new "thinking machine" called the Logic Theorist. Feigenbaum was very excited about this idea. He read a manual for an early computer, the IBM 701, in one night. He later said this experience changed his life.
Career and Research
After finishing his studies, Feigenbaum received a special scholarship called a Fulbright Fellowship. He used it to work at the National Physical Laboratory (United Kingdom). In 1960, he started teaching at the University of California, Berkeley.
In 1965, he joined Stanford University. He helped start its computer science department. From 1965 to 1968, he was in charge of the Stanford Computation Center. He also created the Knowledge Systems Laboratory at Stanford.
Feigenbaum worked on many important projects. These included computer systems for medicine, like MYCIN and Dendral. He also helped start two companies, IntelliCorp and Teknowledge. These companies aimed to make expert systems useful for businesses.
In 2000, Feigenbaum became a Professor Emeritus at Stanford University. This means he retired but still has a special title. Some of his former students include Peter Karp and Niklaus Wirth.
What Are Expert Systems?
Expert systems are computer programs that try to think like human experts. They use a lot of knowledge about a specific topic. For example, a medical expert system might help doctors diagnose illnesses. Feigenbaum is known as the "father" of these systems because he did so much to develop them.
Honors and Awards
Feigenbaum has received many awards for his work:
- 1986: He became a member of the National Academy of Engineering. This was for his work on expert systems and his leadership in artificial intelligence.
- 1994: He won the Turing Award. This is one of the highest honors in computer science. He shared it with Raj Reddy. They won for creating large AI systems and showing how useful they could be.
- 1997: He received the U.S. Air Force Exceptional Civilian Service Award.
- 2012: He was honored by the Computer History Museum. This was for his groundbreaking work in artificial intelligence and expert systems.
- 2013: He received the IEEE Computer Society Computer Pioneer Award. This was for his early work in AI, especially for developing knowledge-based systems.
Images for kids
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A robot, symbolizing artificial intelligence.
See also
In Spanish: Edward Feigenbaum para niños
