NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Stephen Wolfram

Stephen Wolfram (born August 29, 1959 in London) is a physicist known for his work in theoretical particle physics, cellular automata, complexity theory, and computer algebra, and is the creator of the computer program Mathematica. Image File history File links StephenWolfram-wolframscience-media-page. ... is the 241st day of the year (242nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_England. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... Location in Massachusetts Coordinates: , Country United States State Massachusetts County Middlesex County Settled 1630 Incorporated 1636 Government - Type Mayor-council city - Mayor Kenneth Reeves (D) Area - City 7. ... Leonhard Euler, considered one of the greatest mathematicians of all time A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study and research is the field of mathematics. ... Wolfram Research is part of the Wolfram Group which consists of four companies: Wolfram Research Inc. ... The University of Oxford, located in the city of Oxford in England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (commonly known as Caltech) is a private, coeducational university located in Pasadena, California, in the United States. ... For other uses, see Mathematica (disambiguation). ... A New Kind of Science is a controversial book by Stephen Wolfram, published in 2002. ... The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private, independent grantmaking institution. ... is the 241st day of the year (242nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Not to be confused with physician, a person who practices medicine. ... Thousands of particles explode from the collision point of two relativistic (100 GeV per nucleon) gold ions in the STAR detector of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. ... A cellular automaton (plural: cellular automata) is a discrete model studied in computability theory, mathematics, and theoretical biology. ... Complexity theory can refer to more than one thing: Computational complexity theory: a field in theoretical computer science and mathematics dealing with the resources required during computation to solve a given problem Systems theory (or systemics or general systems theory): an interdisciplinary field including engineering, biology and philosophy that incorporates... A computer algebra system (CAS) is a software program that facilitates symbolic mathematics. ... For other uses, see Mathematica (disambiguation). ...

Early life

Wolfram's father, Hugo Wolfram, was a novelist and his mother, Sybil Wolfram, was a professor of philosophy at the University of Oxford. Wolfram was educated at Eton public school. Often described as a child prodigy, he published an article on particle physics at age 16^[1] and entered Oxford University (St John's College) at age 17. He received his Ph.D. in particle physics from Caltech at age 20^[2] and joined the faculty there. His work with Geoffrey Fox on the theory of the strong interaction is still used today in experimental particle physics.^[3] For other uses, see Philosophy (disambiguation). ... The University of Oxford (usually abbreviated as Oxon. ... The Kings College of Our Lady of Eton beside Windsor, commonly known as Eton College or just Eton, is a public school (privately funded and independent) for boys, founded in 1440 by King Henry VI. It is located in Eton, near Windsor in England, north of Windsor Castle, and... A public school, in current English, Welsh and Northern Ireland usage, is a (usually) prestigious independent school, for children usually between the ages of 11 or 13 and 18, which charges fees and is not financed by the state. ... A child prodigy is someone who is a master of one or more skills or arts at an early age. ... Thousands of particles explode from the collision point of two relativistic (100 GeV per nucleon) gold ions in the STAR detector of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. ... The University of Oxford (usually abbreviated as Oxon. ... College name St Johns College Collegium Divi Joannis Baptistae Named after Saint John the Baptist Established 1555 Sister College Sidney Sussex College President Sir Michael Scholar KCB JCR President Rhys Jones Undergraduates 381 Graduates 184 Homepage Boatclub St Johns College is one of the constituent colleges of the... Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated Ph. ... California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (commonly known as Caltech) is a private, coeducational university located in Pasadena, California, in the United States. ... Quantum chromodynamics (abbreviated as QCD) is the theory of the strong interaction (color force), a fundamental force describing the interactions of the quarks and gluons found in hadrons (such as the proton, neutron or pion). ...

Professional life

He 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.^[4] 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. 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. 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. Cole and Stephen Wolfram at Caltech circa 1979 and initially developed in the Caltech physics department under Wolframs leadership with contributions from Geoffrey C. Fox, Jeffrey M. Greif, Eric D. Mjolsness, Larry J. Romans... For other uses, see Mathematica (disambiguation). ... For the 2006 film, see Intellectual Property (film). ... The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private, independent grantmaking institution. ... Fuld Hall The Institute for Advanced Study, located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States, is one of the worldâ€™s leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. ...

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. In 1987 he co-founded a company called Wolfram Research, which continues to extend the program and market it with success. As of today Stephen Wolfram is the majority shareholder. Image File history File links MathematicaBox. ... Image File history File links MathematicaBox. ... For other uses, see Mathematica (disambiguation). ... Fuld Hall The Institute for Advanced Study, located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States, is one of the worldâ€™s leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. ... A Corner of Main Quad The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, or simply Illinois), is the oldest, largest, and most prestigious campus in the University of Illinois system. ... Wolfram Research is part of the Wolfram Group which consists of four companies: Wolfram Research Inc. ...

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. Additionally, it argued that for fundamental reasons these types of systems, rather than traditional mathematics, are needed to model and understand complexity in nature. Image File history File links Newsciendfsdfs. ... Image File history File links Newsciendfsdfs. ... 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. ...

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.

Discovery of the simplest universal Turing machine

In the NKS book, Wolfram found the simplest known Universal Turing machine, the one with 2 states and 5 colors. 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 among candidates he selected one he had intuition it might indeed be the simplest universal Turing machine. A 25.000 USD prize^[5] 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 is not. Alex Smith, a 20-year-old undergraduate from Birmingham, UK, claimed to have proved the universality of Wolfram's 2,3 Turing machine and was awarded the prize.^[6] This proof was later found to be in error, by Stanford University's Vaughan Pratt.^[7] [Disproving is also disputed, please see the talk page.] The Turing machine is an abstract machine introduced in 1936 by Alan Turing to give a mathematically precise definition of algorithm or mechanical procedure. As such it is still widely used in theoretical computer science, especially in complexity theory and the theory of computation. ... In his A New Kind of Science, Stephen Wolfram found a universal 2-state 5-color Turing machine, and conjectured that a particular 2-state 3-color Turing machine (hereinafter (2,3) Turing machine) might be universal as well. ... Alexander Ian Smith (born April 15, 1987 in Birmingham), an undergraduate studying electronic and computer engineering at the University of Birmingham, UK,[1] is known for his winning the Stephen Wolframs research prize in October 2007 for proving that a particular 2,3 Turing machine is the simplest Universal... This article is about the British city. ... â€œStanfordâ€ redirects here. ... Vaughan Pratt is Professor Emeritus of Computer Science at Stanford University. ...

References

^ Hadronic Electrons?. Note that the SPIRES date of April 1975 refers to the date the preprint was received, not the date of journal publication.
^ Thesis listing: Some Topics In Theoretical High-Energy Physics
^ See A Model for Parton Showers in QCD and Observables for the Analysis of Event Shapes in e+ e- Annihilation and Other Processes
^ Kolata, Gina. "Caltech Torn by Dispute Over Software," Science, 27 May 1983 (Vol. 220, No. 4600) issue, pgs. 932-934.
^ The Prize Anouncement; Looking for the formal proof.
^ The Prize Is Won; The Simplest Universal Turing Machine Is Proved. The October 24 entry at Wolfram Research's blog announcing the news.
^ Argument against the proof.

External links

NNDB, ostensibly standing for Notable Names Database, produced by Soylent Communications, is an online database of biographical details of notable people. ...

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