Historical Figures Codexery

Douglas Hofstadter

Cognitive scientist, author of Gödel, Escher, Bach, and discoverer of Hofstadter's butterfly.

Douglas Richard Hofstadter is an American cognitive and computer scientist born on 15 February 1945 in New York City.[1][2] The Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction and a National Book Award for Science were awarded to his 1979 book Gödel, Escher, Bach.[3] The Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Science and Technology was awarded to his 2007 book I Am a Strange Loop.[3]

Quick Facts

Birth name
Douglas Richard Hofstadter
Born
15 February 1945
Birthplace
New York City, US
Fields
  • Cognitive science
  • Philosophy of mind
  • Artificial intelligence
  • Physics
Workplaces
  • Indiana University
  • Stanford University
  • University of Oregon
  • University of Michigan
Education
Stanford University (BS); University of Oregon (PhD)
Thesis year
1975
Doctoral advisor
Gregory Wannier

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Hofstadter grew up on the Stanford University campus, where his father was a Nobel Prize-winning physicist.[2] He graduated with distinction in mathematics from Stanford in 1965 but dropped out of graduate mathematics after feeling unable to keep up.[4] Hofstadter coined the term ambigram in 1983-1984 to describe calligraphic compositions that yield different meanings depending on orientation.[5] Hofstadter has translated poetry and novels, including a verse translation of Pushkin's Eugene Onegin.[6]

He became a vegetarian in his teenage years due to his attitudes about consciousness and empathy.[7] The fractal called Hofstadter's butterfly was discovered as a result of his graduate research.[4] At Indiana University, he has been the College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science and Comparative Literature since 1988, and he also directs the Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition.[8]

What the cited sources add

The same source notes Hofstadter believes that "rules that change themselves, directly or indirectly, are at the core of intelligence"[9] Hofstadter's book Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies was the first item ever ordered on Amazon.com on April 3, 1995.[10] A source describes Hofstadter's approach to the mind as coming from computer science, involving both hardware and software aspects of human intelligence.[9] The Open Library record for Création et créativité lists Éditions Castella as its publisher and 1986 as its publication year.[11]

The Open Library record for Eye Twisters lists Sterling as its publisher and April 1, 2008 as its publication date.[12]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Douglas Hofstadter" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hofstadter, "I Am a Strange Loop", Basic Books, 2008; Hofstadter, "Who shoves whom around inside the careenium? Or what is the meaning of the word "I"?", Synthese, 1982, p. 189–218; ; "Definition of ambigram", Merriam-Webster (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Douglas Hofstadter" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Stanford News Service,Nancy Hofstadter, widow of Nobel laureate in physics, dead at 87 , 17 August 2007. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Douglas Hofstadter" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "General Nonfiction" . Past winners and finalists by category. The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved 17 March 2012.; A bedside book of paradoxes , New York Times; "National Book Awards – 1980" . National Book Foundation. Retrieved 7 March 2012.; "And the L.A. Times Book Prize winners are...", Los Angeles Times, 26 April 2008; "Book Prizes – Los Angeles Times Festival of Books» Winners by Award"; ; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Douglas Hofstadter" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hofstadter, "Some Reflections on Mathematics from a Mathematical Non-mathematician", Mathematics in School, 2012, p. 2–4; Hofstadter, "The Energy Levels of Bloch Electrons in a Magnetic Field", 1975; Hofstadter, "Energy levels and wave functions of Bloch electrons in rational and irrational magnetic fields", Physical Review B, 1976, p. 2239–2249; Hofstadter, "Some Reflections on Mathematics from a Mathematical Non-mathematician", Mathematics in School, 2012, p. 2–4; Hofstadter, "Energy levels and wave functions of Bloch electrons in en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Douglas Hofstadter" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Definition of ambigram", Merriam-Webster; Polster, "Mathemagical Ambigrams"; "Douglas R. Hofstadter", Indiana University, 2007-03-21; ; "Definition of ambigram", Merriam-Webster (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Douglas Hofstadter" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Hofstadter, Douglas R. Le Ton Beau de Marot. New York: Basic Books, 1997, pp. 16–17.; Hofstadter, Douglas R. Le Ton Beau de Marot, Chapter "How Jolly the Lot of an Oligoglot", New York: Basic Books, 1997, pp. 15–62. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Douglas Hofstadter" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gardner, "Do Loops Explain Consciousness? Review of I Am a Strange Loop", Notices of the American Mathematical Society, August 2007, p. 853; Hofstadter, "I Am a Strange Loop", Basic Books, 2007, p. 13–14 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Douglas Hofstadter" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition: Indiana University Bloomington"; Shore, "New Light on the New Age CSICOP's Chicago conference was the first to critically evaluate the New Age movement.", The Skeptical Inquirer, 1988, p. 226–235; "American Academy of Arts & Sciences"; "Home - American Philosophical Society"; Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition: Indiana University Bloomington . Cogsci.indiana.edu. Retrieved on 6 October 2013. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Consciousness In The Cosmos: Perspective of Mind: Douglas Hofstadter. facts only, no text reused. bizcharts.com
  10. McCullough, "What Was The First Item Ever Ordered On Amazon?", 3 April 2015. facts only, no text reused. internethistorypodcast.com
  11. Open Library record, ISBN 9782880870263 ("Création et créativité"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org
  12. Open Library record, ISBN 9781402757983 ("Eye Twisters"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Douglas Hofstadter (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

More in Scientists & Inventors

Robert NozickRobert M. PirsigHilary PutnamWillard Van Orman QuineHenry David ThoreauA. J. AyerSimone de BeauvoirHenri BergsonGilles DeleuzeHans-Georg GadamerFélix GuattariJürgen Habermas

Elsewhere in Historical Figures

Max Ernst · Artists & ComposersMusa ibn Nusayr · Rulers & LeadersVitruvius · Notable FiguresAshoka · Notable FiguresFrancis Crick · Notable FiguresAntonio Banderas · Writers & Journalists

Spotted an error? Know more?

Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced

Comments

Loading…
Open in the interactive codex →