Ingo Althöfer (born 1961) is a German mathematician at the

University of Jena The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (german: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The un ...

, where he holds the chair of

operations research Operations research ( en-GB, operational research) (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a discipline that deals with the development and application of analytical methods to improve deci ...

. Althöfer earned his PhD in 1986 at

Bielefeld University Bielefeld University (german: Universität Bielefeld) is a university in Bielefeld, Germany. Founded in 1969, it is one of the country's newer universities, and considers itself a "reform" university, following a different style of organization a ...

. His dissertation, ''Asymptotic Properties of Certain Competition Systems in Artificial Intelligence and Ecology'', was supervised by

Rudolf Ahlswede Rudolf F. Ahlswede (15 September 1938 – 18 December 2010) was a German mathematician. Born in Dielmissen, Germany, he studied mathematics, physics, and philosophy. He wrote his Ph.D. thesis in 1966, at the University of Göttingen, with the ...

Contributions

Topics in Althöfer's professional research include the realization of

finite metric space In mathematics, a metric space is a Set (mathematics), set together with a notion of ''distance'' between its Element (mathematics), elements, usually called point (geometry), points. The distance is measured by a function (mathematics), functio ...

s by shortest path metrics in graphs and their approximation by greedy spanners,

algorithmic game theory Algorithmic game theory (AGT) is an area in the intersection of game theory and computer science, with the objective of understanding and design of algorithms in strategic environments. Typically, in Algorithmic Game Theory problems, the input t ...

and

combinatorial game theory Combinatorial game theory is a branch of mathematics and theoretical computer science that typically studies sequential games with perfect information. Study has been largely confined to two-player games that have a ''position'' that the players ...

, and heuristic

search algorithm In computer science, a search algorithm is an algorithm designed to solve a search problem. Search algorithms work to retrieve information stored within particular data structure, or calculated in the search space of a problem domain, with eith ...

s for optimization problems. Althöfer is also known for his inventions of games and puzzles, including dice game EinStein würfelt nicht!, for his experiments with

self-assembly Self-assembly is a process in which a disordered system of pre-existing components forms an organized structure or pattern as a consequence of specific, local interactions among the components themselves, without external direction. When the ...

Lego Lego ( , ; stylized as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of variously colored interlocking ...

building blocks by running them through a

washing machine A washing machine (laundry machine, clothes washer, washer, or simply wash) is a home appliance used to wash laundry. The term is mostly applied to machines that use water as opposed to dry cleaning (which uses alternative cleaning fluids and ...

, and for his innovations in computer-human chess playing. In the 1990s he tested his "drei hirn" 3-brains"system, in which a human decides between the choices of two computer chess players, against strong human players including grandmaster

David Bronstein David Ionovich Bronstein (russian: Дави́д Ио́нович Бронште́йн; February 19, 1924 – December 5, 2006) was a Soviet and Ukrainian chess player. Awarded the title of International Grandmaster by FIDE in 1950, he narr ...

and woman grandmaster

Sofia Polgar Sofia Polgar ( hu, Polgár Zsófia, ); born November 2, 1974) is a Hungarian and Israeli chess player, teacher, and artist. She holds the FIDE titles of International Master and Woman Grandmaster. A former chess prodigy, she is the middle sister ...

. In 2004 he and Timo Klaustermeyer introduced

freestyle chess Advanced chess is a form of chess in which each human player uses a computer chess program to explore the possible results of candidate moves. Despite this computer assistance, it is the human player who controls and decides the game. Also called c ...

, a style of human chess playing allowing arbitrary consultation with computers or other people.

Books

* * He has also self-published other books through his personal publishing company, ''3-Hirn Verlag'', and is one of the editors of the multi-volume book series ''Rudolf Ahlswede’s Lectures on Information Theory''.

Selected Papers

* * * *

Selected Board Games

* ''EinStein würfelt nicht!'' (2005) * ''Galtoni'' (2012), a mixture of

Connect Four Connect Four (also known as Connect 4, Four Up, Plot Four, Find Four, Captain's Mistress, Four in a Row, Drop Four, and Gravitrips in the Soviet Union) is a two-player connection board game, in which the players choose a color and then take tur ...

and the

Galton board The Galton board, also known as the Galton box or quincunx or bean machine, is a device invented by Sir Francis Galton to demonstrate the central limit theorem, in particular that with sufficient sample size the binomial distribution approxim ...

* ''San Jego'' (2015), a variant of

Clobber Clobber is an abstract strategy game invented in 2001 by combinatorial game theorists Michael H. Albert, J.P. Grossman and Richard Nowakowski. It has subsequently been studied by Elwyn Berlekamp and Erik Demaine Erik D. Demaine (born Febr ...

References

External links

Home page3-Hirn Verlag
Althöfer's book publishing company {{DEFAULTSORT:Althofer, Ingo 1961 births Living people 20th-century German mathematicians Operations researchers Bielefeld University alumni Academic staff of the University of Jena 21st-century German mathematicians