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Stephen Wolfram
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Born August 29, 1959 (1959-08-29) (age 48)
Flag of England London, England, UK
Residence Cambridge, Massachusetts
Nationality British
Fields Mathematician
Institutions Wolfram Research
Alma mater Oxford University, Caltech
Known for Creator of Mathematica
Author of A New Kind of Science
Notable awards MacArthur Fellowship

Stephen Wolfram (born August 29, 1959 in London) is a British physicist, mathematician and businessman known for his work in theoretical particle physics, cellular automata, complexity theory, and computer algebra, and is the creator of the computer program Mathematica. Events 708 - Copper coins are minted in Japan for the first time (Traditional Japanese date: August 10, 708) The year 1959 ( MCMLIX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Cambridge Massachusetts is a City in the Greater Boston area of Massachusetts, United States. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study and research is the field of Mathematics. Alma mater is Latin for "nourishing mother" It was used in Ancient Rome as a title for the mother Goddess, and in Medieval The University of Oxford (informally "Oxford University" or simply "Oxford" located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England is the The California Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Caltech) is a private, Coeducational research university located in Pasadena Mathematica is a computer program used widely in scientific engineering and mathematical fields A New Kind of Science is a Controversial book by Stephen Wolfram, published in 2002 The MacArthur Fellows Program or MacArthur Fellowship (sometimes Nicknamed the "genius grant") is an award given by the John D Events 708 - Copper coins are minted in Japan for the first time (Traditional Japanese date: August 10, 708) The year 1959 ( MCMLIX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. A physicist is a Scientist who studies or practices Physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study and research is the field of Mathematics. A businessperson (also businessman or businesswoman) is someone who is employed at usually a profit-oriented enterprise, or more specifically someone Particle physics is a branch of Physics that studies the elementary constituents of Matter and Radiation, and the interactions between them A cellular automaton (plural cellular automata) is a discrete model studied in computability theory, Mathematics, Theoretical biology A computer algebra system ( CAS) is a software program that facilitates Symbolic mathematics. Mathematica is a computer program used widely in scientific engineering and mathematical fields

Contents

Biography

Stephen Wolfram's parents were Jewish refugees who immigrated to England in 1933. PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland [1] [2] Wolfram's father, Hugo Wolfram, was a novelist, and his mother, Sybil Wolfram, was a professor of philosophy at the University of Oxford. Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language The University of Oxford (informally "Oxford University" or simply "Oxford" located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England is the Wolfram was educated at Eton public school. Eton College, or just Eton, is a world-famous British Independent school for boys founded in 1440 by King Henry VI. An independent school in the United Kingdom is a school relying upon private sources for all of its funding predominantly in the form of school fees Often described as a child prodigy, he published an article on particle physics at age 16[3] and entered Oxford University (St John's College) at age 17. List of child prodigies|Fictional child prodigies A child prodigy is a one who masters one or more skills or arts at an early age Particle physics is a branch of Physics that studies the elementary constituents of Matter and Radiation, and the interactions between them The University of Oxford (informally "Oxford University" or simply "Oxford" located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England is the __FORCETOC__ St John's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. He wrote a widely cited paper on heavy quark production at age 17. In Physics, a quark (kwɔrk kwɑːk or kwɑːrk is a type of Subatomic particle. [2]

He received his Ph.D. in particle physics from Caltech at age 20[4] and joined the faculty there. "PhD" redirects here for other uses see PhD (disambiguation. The California Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Caltech) is a private, Coeducational research university located in Pasadena He became highly interested in cellular automata at age 21. A cellular automaton (plural cellular automata) is a discrete model studied in computability theory, Mathematics, Theoretical biology [2] His work with Geoffrey Fox on the theory of the strong interaction is still used today in experimental particle physics. Quantum chromodynamics (abbreviated as QCD is a theory of the Strong interaction ( color force a Fundamental force describing the interactions of the [5]

Stephen Wolfram was in 1987 founding editor of the journal Complex systems. Year 1987 ( MCMLXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar) Complex Systems is an Interdisciplinary Scientific journal. Its subject matter of Complex systems ranges across a number of more narrow

Work

Symbolic Manipulation Program

Wolfram led the development of the computer algebra system SMP (Symbolic Manipulation Program: SMP was essentially Version Zero of Mathematica) in the Caltech physics department during 1979–1981, but a dispute with the administration over the intellectual property rights regarding SMP -- patents/copyrights and faculty involvement in commercial ventures -– eventually caused him to resign from Caltech. A computer algebra system ( CAS) is a software program that facilitates Symbolic mathematics. Symbolic Manipulation Program, usually called SMP, was a Computer algebra system designed by Chris A Mathematica is a computer program used widely in scientific engineering and mathematical fields Intellectual property ( IP) is a legal field that refers to creations of the mind such as musical literary and artistic works inventions and symbols names [6] SMP was further developed and marketed commercially by Inference Corp. of Los Angeles during the period 1983–1988.

In 1981, Wolfram was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. The MacArthur Fellows Program or MacArthur Fellowship (sometimes Nicknamed the "genius grant") is an award given by the John D In 1983, he left for the School of Natural Sciences of the Institute for Advanced Study, where he studied cellular automata, mainly with computer simulations. The Institute for Advanced Study, located in Princeton New Jersey, United States is a center for theoretical research In the middle 1980s Wolfram worked on simulations of physical processes (such as turbulent fluid flow) with cellular automata on the Connection Machine alongside Richard Feynman. In Fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is a fluid regime characterized by chaotic Stochastic property changes A cellular automaton (plural cellular automata) is a discrete model studied in computability theory, Mathematics, Theoretical biology The Connection Machine was a series of Supercomputers that grew out of Danny Hillis's research in the early 1980s at MIT on alternatives to the traditional Richard Phillips Feynman (ˈfaɪnmən May 11 1918 – February 15 1988 was an American Physicist known for the Path integral formulation of quantum [7]

Mathematica

Main article: Mathematica

In 1986 Wolfram left the Institute for Advanced Study for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he founded their Center for Complex Systems Research and started to develop the computer algebra system Mathematica, which was first released in 1988, when he left academia. Mathematica is a computer program used widely in scientific engineering and mathematical fields The Institute for Advanced Study, located in Princeton New Jersey, United States is a center for theoretical research This article is about the flagship campus For other uses and locations of University of Illinois, see University of Illinois (disambiguation The University of In 1987 he co-founded a company called Wolfram Research which continues to develop and market the program. [2]. Stephen Wolfram is currently the majority shareholder.

A New Kind of Science

Main article: A New Kind of Science

From 1992 to 2002, Wolfram worked on his controversial book A New Kind of Science (NKS), which presents an empirical study of very simple computational systems. A New Kind of Science is a Controversial book by Stephen Wolfram, published in 2002 A New Kind of Science is a Controversial book by Stephen Wolfram, published in 2002 Additionally, it argued that for fundamental reasons these types of systems, rather than traditional mathematics, are needed to model and understand complexity in nature.

Since the release of the NKS book in 2002, Wolfram has split his time between developing Mathematica and encouraging people to get involved with NKS by giving talks, holding NKS conferences, and starting an NKS summer school.

The simplest universal Turing machine

In the NKS book, Wolfram claimed to have found the simplest known Universal Turing machine, the one with 2 states and 5 colors. This article is a supplement to the article Turing machine. Alan Turing 's "universal computing machine" (alternately "universal Because it was known that no machine with 2 states and 2 colors can be universal, Wolfram afterwards made an empirical investigation of 2,985,984 possible 2,3 Turing machines and from among these candidates he selected one that he had an intuition might indeed be the simplest universal Turing machine.

A US$25,000 prize[8] was announced to be awarded to the first person or group who would provide a formal proof that that particular candidate is universal or that it is not. Alex Smith, a 20-year-old undergraduate from Birmingham, UK, claimed to have proven the universality of Wolfram's 2,3 Turing machine and was awarded the prize. Alexander Ian Smith (born April 15, 1987 in Birmingham) an undergraduate studying electronic and computer engineering at the University of Birmingham Birmingham ( ˈbɜːmɪŋəm Ber -ming-um [9] Computer scientist Vaughan Pratt later claimed to have found an error in the reasoning of the proof. Vaughan Ronald Pratt (born 1944 a Professor Emeritus at Stanford University, was one of the earliest pioneers in the field of Computer science. [10] Wolfram Research and Alex Smith disputed Pratt's claim on the same discussion group. [11][12][13]

References

  1. ^ Jüdische Schriftsteller in Westfalen: Hugo Wolfram, <http://www.juedischeliteraturwestfalen.de/index.php?valex=101&vArticle=1&author_id=00000308&id=1> 
  2. ^ a b c d Stephen Wolfram, <http://www.nndb.com/people/325/000022259/> 
  3. ^ Hadronic Electrons?. Note that the SPIRES date of April 1975 refers to the date the preprint was received, not the date of journal publication.
  4. ^ Thesis listing: Some Topics In Theoretical High-Energy Physics
  5. ^ See A Model for Parton Showers in QCD and Observables for the Analysis of Event Shapes in e+ e- Annihilation and Other Processes
  6. ^ Kolata, Gina. "Caltech Torn by Dispute Over Software," Science, 27 May 1983 (Vol. 220, No. 4600) issue, pgs. 932-934.
  7. ^ W. Daniel Hillis (1989-02). Richard Feynman and The Connection Machine. Physics Today. Retrieved on 3 November 2006.
  8. ^ The Prize Anouncement; Looking for the formal proof.
  9. ^ The Prize Is Won; The Simplest Universal Turing Machine Is Proved. The October 24 entry at Wolfram Research's blog announcing the news.
  10. ^ Argument against the proof claimed in the FOM list.
  11. ^ Stephen Wolfram reply in the FOM list.
  12. ^ Todd Rowland reply to Vaughan Pratt in the FOM list.
  13. ^ Alex Smith reply to Vaughan Pratt in the FOM list.

Further reading

External links

Persondata
NAME Wolfram, Stephen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION British mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH August 29, 1959
PLACE OF BIRTH London, England, UK
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
Events 708 - Copper coins are minted in Japan for the first time (Traditional Japanese date: August 10, 708) The year 1959 ( MCMLIX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located
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