Lawrence Paulson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Lawrence Paulson
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Paulson in 2017
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Lawrence Charles Paulson
1955 (age 69–70) |
| Citizenship | US/UK |
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| Institutions | University of Cambridge Technical University of Munich |
| Thesis | A Compiler Generator for Semantic Grammars (1981) |
| Doctoral advisor | John L. Hennessy |
Lawrence Charles Paulson is an American computer scientist. He is a professor at the University of Cambridge in England. He teaches about computational logic, which is how computers use rules to solve problems. He is also a Fellow at Clare College, Cambridge.
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Lawrence Paulson's Education Journey
Paulson started his higher education at the California Institute of Technology. He graduated from there in 1977.
Getting a PhD in Computer Science
He then went to Stanford University. In 1981, he earned his PhD in Computer Science. His research focused on programming languages. These are the special languages used to write computer programs. He also studied compiler-compilers, which are tools that help create new programming languages. His advisor for this work was John L. Hennessy.
What Does Lawrence Paulson Research?
Lawrence Paulson joined the University of Cambridge in 1983. He became a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge in 1987. He is well-known for his book about the ML programming language. The book is called ML for the Working Programmer.
Working with Isabelle: A Proof Assistant
A big part of his research involves a tool called Isabelle. He created Isabelle in 1986. Isabelle is an interactive theorem prover. This means it's a computer program that helps people check if mathematical proofs are correct. It's like a super-smart helper for tricky logic problems.
Checking Computer Security with Logic
Paulson has used Isabelle to check the safety of cryptographic protocols. These are the secret rules that keep your online information safe. He uses special methods called inductive definitions to make sure these rules work perfectly. He also worked on formalizing the constructible universe of Kurt Gödel. This is a very complex idea in mathematics.
Creating New Tools: MetiTarski
More recently, he built a new theorem prover called MetiTarski. This tool helps solve problems involving special mathematical functions. These functions are often used in science and engineering.
Teaching Computer Science at Cambridge
Paulson teaches a course at the University of Cambridge called Logic and Proof. This course teaches students about automated theorem proving. This is about making computers solve logic problems on their own. He used to teach another course that introduced functional programming. This is a way of writing computer programs using functions.
Awards and Recognitions
Lawrence Paulson has received several important awards for his work.
Becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society
In 2017, he was chosen as a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). This is a very high honor for scientists in the United Kingdom. It means he is recognized for his outstanding contributions to science.
Other Important Awards
In 2008, he became a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery. This is a major award for computer scientists around the world. He is also a Distinguished Affiliated Professor at the Technical University of Munich.
Lawrence Paulson's Family Life
Lawrence Paulson has two children from his first marriage. His first wife, Dr Susan Mary Paulson, passed away in 2010. Since 2012, he has been married to Dr Elena Tchougounova.
