Herbert A. Simon
Pioneer of bounded rationality and artificial intelligence
He is best known for the theories of "bounded rationality" and "satisficing" in decision-making within organizations.[1] An American scholar, Herbert Alexander Simon, impacted cognitive psychology, economics, and computer science through his work.[1]
Quick Facts
- Birth name
- Herbert Alexander Simon
- Born
- 15 June 1916
- Birthplace
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
- Died
- 9 February 2001
- Place of death
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
- Spouse
- Dorothea Isabel Pye (1939)
- Children
- 3
- Field
- Economics
- Artificial intelligence
- Computer science
- Political science
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
His father was a Jewish electrical engineer and inventor who emigrated from Germany, and his mother was an accomplished pianist.[2] Simon died on February 9, 2001, from complications following surgery for a cancerous tumor.[3][4] Herbert Alexander Simon came into the world on June 15, 1916, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[2] The University of Chicago granted Simon a B.A. in political science in 1936 and a Ph.D. in the same field in 1943.[5]
In 1949, Simon started as a professor of administration at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, an institution later renamed Carnegie-Mellon University.[6] Simon played a key role in establishing the Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science, which was among the earliest computer science departments globally.[7]
What the cited sources add
The same source states that Simon secured his position at Illinois Institute of Technology through the intercession of a friend.[4] That account also states that Simon's Heuristic Compiler from 1961 was apparently the first system with capabilities for automatic programming.[8] The Quote Investigator analysis confirms that Simon predicted in his 1960 book that machines would be capable of doing any work a man can do within twenty years.[9] A research assistantship led Simon to direct a research group at the University of California, Berkeley, a position he held from 1939 to 1942.[4]
In 1956, a model of problem-solving based on heuristic search was first articulated by Simon, together with Allen Newell and J. C. (Cliff) Shaw.[8]
References
- Wikipedia, "Herbert A. Simon" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Guru: Herbert Simon", The Economist, March 20, 2009; Artinger, "Satisficing: Integrating Two Traditions", Journal of Economic Literature, 2022, p. 598–635; Heyck, "Herbert A. Simon – A.M. Turing Award Laureate", amturing.acm.org; "The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 1978", NobelPrize.org (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Herbert A. Simon" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Herbert A. Simon: The Bounds of Reason in Modern America by Hunter Crowther-Heyck, (JHU 2005), p. 25.; Simon 1991, pp. 3, 23; Simon 1991 p. 20; Simon 1991 p.3 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Herbert A. Simon" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Dorothea Simon Obituary – Pittsburgh, PA", Post-Gazette.com (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- "Herbert A. Simon – Biographical", nobelprize.org. facts only, no text reused. nobelprize.org
- Wikipedia, "Herbert A. Simon" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Herbert Simon, "Autobiography" , in Nobel Lectures, Economics 1969–1980, Editor Assar Lindbeck, World Scientific Publishing Co., Singapore, 1992.; Augier & March 2001; Simon 1991 p. 64 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Herbert A. Simon" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Simon 1991 p. 136; "Herbert A. Simon – Biographical", nobelprize.org; "Princeton University, Department Of Philosophy, Faculty Since 1949" , at philosophy.princeton.edu accessed 2014-Oct-13 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Herbert A. Simon" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Edward Feigenbaum, "Herbert A. Simon, 1916–2001", Science, 2001, p. 2107; Simon, "Nobel Lectures, Economics 1969–1980", World Scientific Publishing Co., 1978 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- "Computer Pioneers – Herbert A. Simon", history.computer.org. facts only, no text reused. history.computer.org
- Machines Will Be Capable, Within Twenty Years, of Doing Any Work That a Man Can Do. facts only, no text reused. quoteinvestigator.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Herbert A. Simon (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.
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