Jeffrey Hawkins is a co-founder of the companies
Palm Computing
Palm, Inc. was an American company that specialized in manufacturing personal digital assistants (PDAs) and various other electronics. They were the designer of the PalmPilot, the first PDA successfully marketed worldwide, as well as the Treo 60 ...
, where he co-created the
PalmPilot
The PalmPilot Personal and PalmPilot Professional are the second generation of Palm PDA devices produced by Palm Inc (then a subsidiary of U.S. Robotics, later 3Com). These devices were launched on March 10, 1997.
Accessories and pricing
Pal ...
, and
Handspring
Handspring may refer to:
*Handspring (company), a company that made personal digital assistants
*Handspring (gymnastics), a gymnastics move involving forward or backward rotation of the body
*Rising handspring or nip-up, an acrobatic transition fr ...
, where he was one of the creators of the
Treo.
[Jeff Hawkins, ''On Intelligence'', p.28]
He subsequently turned to work on
neuroscience
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, development ...
, founding the
Redwood Center for Theoretical Neuroscience in 2002. In 2005 he founded Numenta, where he leads a team in efforts to reverse-engineer the neocortex and enable machine intelligence technology based on brain theory.
He is the co-author of ''
On Intelligence
''On Intelligence: How a New Understanding of the Brain will Lead to the Creation of Truly Intelligent Machines'' is a 2004 book by Jeff Hawkins and Sandra Blakeslee. The book explains Hawkins' memory-prediction framework theory of the brain an ...
'' (2004), which explains his
memory-prediction framework
The memory-prediction framework is a theory of brain function created by Jeff Hawkins and described in his 2004 book ''On Intelligence''. This theory concerns the role of the mammalian neocortex and its associations with the hippocampi and the th ...
theory of the brain, and the author of ''A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence'' (2021).
Education
Hawkins attended
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
, where he received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1979.
Career
Hawkins joined
GRiD Systems in 1982, where he developed
rapid application development
Rapid application development (RAD), also called rapid application building (RAB), is both a general term for adaptive software development approaches, and the name for James Martin's method of rapid development. In general, RAD approaches to ...
(RAD) software called ''GRiDtask''.
His interest in
pattern recognition
Pattern recognition is the automated recognition of patterns and regularities in data. It has applications in statistical data analysis, signal processing, image analysis, information retrieval, bioinformatics, data compression, computer graphi ...
for speech and text input to computers led him to enroll in the biophysics program at the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
in 1986. While there he patented a "pattern classifier" for handwritten text, but his PhD proposal on developing a theory of the neocortex was rejected, apparently because none of the professors there were working on anything similar. The setback led him back to GRiD, where, as vice president of research from 1988 to 1992, he developed their
pen-based computing
Pen computing refers to any computer user-interface using a pen or stylus and tablet, over input devices such as a keyboard or a mouse.
Pen computing is also used to refer to the usage of mobile devices such as tablet computers, PDAs and GPS recei ...
initiative that in 1989 spawned the
GRiDPad, one of the first
tablet computer
A tablet computer, commonly shortened to tablet, is a mobile device, typically with a mobile operating system and touchscreen display processing circuitry, and a rechargeable battery in a single, thin and flat package. Tablets, being comput ...
s.
[''Pen Computing'' Jeff Hawkins 2]
/ref>
Hawkins founded Palm Inc.
Palm, Inc. was an American company that specialized in manufacturing personal digital assistants (PDAs) and various other electronics. They were the designer of the PalmPilot
The PalmPilot Personal and PalmPilot Professional are the second ...
, in January 1992. In 1998 he left the company along with Palm co-founders Donna Dubinsky
Donna Dubinsky is an American business leader who played an integral role in the development of personal digital assistants (PDAs) serving as CEO of Palm, Inc. and co-founding Handspring with Jeff Hawkins in 1995. Dubinsky co-founded Numenta in ...
and Ed Colligan to start Handspring
Handspring may refer to:
*Handspring (company), a company that made personal digital assistants
*Handspring (gymnastics), a gymnastics move involving forward or backward rotation of the body
*Rising handspring or nip-up, an acrobatic transition fr ...
.[''Pen Computing'' Jeff Hawkins 3]
/ref>
In March 2005, Hawkins, together with Dubinsky (Palm's original CEO) and Dileep George
Dileep George is an artificial intelligence and neuroscience researcher.
Career
George received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 2006 and was a visiting fellow at the Redwood Center for Theoretical Neuroscience a ...
, founded Numenta, Inc.
Neuroscience
In 2002, after two decades of finding little interest from neuroscience institutions that he did not have a stake in, Hawkins founded the Redwood Neuroscience Institute
The Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute (HWNI) at the University of California, Berkeley was created in 1997, through a bequest from eight-time Wimbledon champion Helen Wills Moody, an alumna of UC Berkeley.
History
The Berkeley Neuroscience Cen ...
in Menlo Park, California.
In 2004, he co-authored ''On Intelligence
''On Intelligence: How a New Understanding of the Brain will Lead to the Creation of Truly Intelligent Machines'' is a 2004 book by Jeff Hawkins and Sandra Blakeslee. The book explains Hawkins' memory-prediction framework theory of the brain an ...
'' with Sandra Blakeslee
Sandra Blakeslee (born 1943) is an American science correspondent of over four decades for ''The New York Times'' and science writer, specializing in neuroscience. Together with neuroscientist V. S. Ramachandran, she authored the 1998 popular sci ...
, laying out a theory on his "memory-prediction framework
The memory-prediction framework is a theory of brain function created by Jeff Hawkins and described in his 2004 book ''On Intelligence''. This theory concerns the role of the mammalian neocortex and its associations with the hippocampi and the th ...
" of how the brain works.
One of Hawkins' areas of interest is cortical columns
Cortex or cortical may refer to:
Biology
* Cortex (anatomy), the outermost layer of an organ
** Cerebral cortex, the outer layer of the vertebrate cerebrum, part of which is the ''forebrain''
*** Motor cortex, the regions of the cerebral cortex i ...
. In 2016, he hypothesized that cortical columns did not capture just a sensation, but also the relative location of that sensation, in three dimensions rather than two ( situated capture), in relation to what was around it. Hawkins explains, "When the brain builds a model of the world, everything has a location relative to everything else".[Cade Metz ''The New York Times'' (15 October 2018) "A new view of how we think" pp.B1,B4]
see: 'Clarity Over a Coffee Cup'
In 2021, he published ''A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence'', a framework for intelligence and cortical computation. The book details the advances he and the Numenta team made that led to the discovery of how the brain understands the world and what it means to be intelligent. It also details how the "thousand brains" theory can affect machine intelligence, and how an understanding of the brain impacts the threats and opportunities facing humanity. It also offers a theory of what's missing in current AI.
Board and institute memberships
In 2003, Hawkins was elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering
The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy ...
"for the creation of the hand-held computing paradigm and the creation of the first commercially successful example of a hand-held computing device." He also serves on the Advisory Board of the Secular Coalition for America
The Secular Coalition for America is an advocacy group located in Washington D.C. It describes itself as "representing the interests of atheists, humanists, freethinkers, agnostics, and other nontheistic Americans."
The Secular Coalition has chap ...
where he has advised on the acceptance and inclusion of nontheism in American life.
Books
* Hawkins, Jeff with Sandra Blakeslee (2004). ''On Intelligence
''On Intelligence: How a New Understanding of the Brain will Lead to the Creation of Truly Intelligent Machines'' is a 2004 book by Jeff Hawkins and Sandra Blakeslee. The book explains Hawkins' memory-prediction framework theory of the brain an ...
'', Times Books, Henry Holt and Co. .
* Hawkins, Jeff (2021). ''A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence'', Basic Books. .
References
External links
Numenta
Redwood Center for Theoretical Neuroscience
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawkins, Jeff
1957 births
Living people
American computer businesspeople
Artificial intelligence researchers
Businesspeople from the San Francisco Bay Area
Businesspeople in computing
Cornell University College of Engineering alumni
Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering
Palm, Inc.
People from Huntington, New York
Scientists from the San Francisco Bay Area
University of California, Berkeley alumni