Lawrence J. Fogel
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Dr. Lawrence Jerome Fogel (March 2, 1928 – February 18, 2007) was a pioneer in evolutionary computation and human factors analysis. He is known as the inventor of
active noise cancellation Active noise control (ANC), also known as noise cancellation (NC), or active noise reduction (ANR), is a method for reducing unwanted sound by the addition of a second sound specifically designed to cancel the first. The concept was first develop ...
and the father of
evolutionary programming Evolutionary programming is one of the four major evolutionary algorithm paradigms. It is similar to genetic programming, but the structure of the program to be optimized is fixed, while its numerical parameters are allowed to evolve. It was fir ...
. His scientific career spanned nearly six decades and included electrical engineering, aerospace engineering, communication theory, human factors research, information processing, cybernetics, biotechnology,
artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech r ...
, and
computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (includi ...
.


Aerospace engineering and antenna design

During 1948-1949, shortly after completing his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...
, Lawrence Fogel worked at Watson Laboratories (USAF) computing radiation patterns for VHF and UHF radio direction finders for use in ground-to-air operations. He designed feedback amplifier filters to improve the signal-to-noise ratio for these radio systems. At Eglin Air Force Base, he controlled the final flight test program for the Diversity Antenna Array. Between 1950 and 1953, Fogel worked for Coles Signal Laboratory (U.S. Army Signal Corps) as an engineer in charge of the installation of electronic communication and navigation equipment in Army aircraft and helicopters. He completed his master's degree in electrical engineering at this same time from
Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...
. During his time with Stavid Engineering, Inc. (New Jersey) between 1953 and 1956, he directed field operations of the
Regulus Missile The SSM-N-8A Regulus or the Regulus I was a United States Navy-developed ship-and-submarine-launched, nuclear-capable turbojet-powered second generation cruise missile, deployed from 1955 to 1964. Its development was an outgrowth of U.S. Navy ...
guidance system for submarines and also assisted with the design of flight instrumentation, communications, and electronics for aircraft and helicopters. As a part of this research, he formulated a solution for a mathematical model of the human operator as part of an aircraft flight control system that included such qualities as anticipation, development of a computer facility incorporating such a mode for use in the design of more effective human-machine relations. His efforts also led to five patents between 1958 and 1961 regarding
active noise cancellation Active noise control (ANC), also known as noise cancellation (NC), or active noise reduction (ANR), is a method for reducing unwanted sound by the addition of a second sound specifically designed to cancel the first. The concept was first develop ...
to reduce noise in helicopter cockpit environments for improved communication. These were the first patents in noise-cancelling headphone systems.


Information theory and human factors research

Fogel was also interested in information theory and communications, especially those associated with aircraft instrument displays. He published several articles intended to link communication theory and instrument design., These investigations led to other strategies to help with air traffic control, as this was similar to the information transfer of knowledge to humans that was experienced in the cockpit.


General Dynamics - Convair

In 1956, Fogel moved to
San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...
to work for
Convair Convair, previously Consolidated Vultee, was an American aircraft manufacturing company that later expanded into rockets and spacecraft. The company was formed in 1943 by the merger of Consolidated Aircraft and Vultee Aircraft. In 1953, i ...
, a division of
General Dynamics Corporation General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded, aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales, and 5th largest in the U ...
. He worked as head of the Reliability Group with the responsibility for maintaining and improving the overall reliability of systems such as the F-102 Delta Dagger,
F-106 Delta Dart The Convair F-106 Delta Dart was the primary all-weather interceptor aircraft of the United States Air Force from the 1960s through to the 1980s. Designed as the so-called "Ultimate Interceptor", it proved to be the last specialist interceptor ...
, Convair 880 transport, and other missile and electronics products. He was responsible for human engineering systems design and analysis for manned aircraft. Fogel initiated a program of investigation into the use of anticipatory displays that allow the pilot to "fly ahead" of the aircraft system being controlled. He invented and patented a new display called the "Kinelog," which for the first time offered the pilot inter-sensory compatibility as a protection against the onset of vertigo.


National Science Foundation

On leave from Convair, Lawrence Fogel served as Special Assistant to the Associate Director (Research) at the
National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...
(NSF) from July 1960 to July 1961. While at the NSF, Fogel represented the Associate Director at technical and professional meetings related to the merit of individual research proposals or to the effect of national policies on future manpower and economic and military strength. He devised mathematical models for the projection of the economic value of science funding. These projections were coordinated with many agencies including the
Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philipp ...
, National Aeronautics and Space Administration,
Department of Health, Education, and Welfare The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is ...
, and the
United States Atomic Energy Commission The United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by U.S. Congress to foster and control the peacetime development of atomic science and technology. President ...
. This effort culminated in a report to the U.S. Congress on the worth of investing in scientific progress. While at NSF, Fogel's interest in cybernetics,
biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used ...
, and consciousness led to a hypothesis that a simulation of evolution on computers could be used to generate
artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech r ...
without the need for expert systems. These theories were first tested successfully upon his return to Convair in 1961. In 1960, Fogel served as a member of the founding editorial board for the journal ''IRE Transactions on Human Factors in Electronics.'' He remained as a part of that editorial board as that journal transitioned to the IEEE and became ''IEEE Transactions on Man-Machine Systems,'' a predecessor to ''IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics.''


General Dynamics - astronautics

While at Convair during 1961-1965, Fogel explored
evolutionary programming Evolutionary programming is one of the four major evolutionary algorithm paradigms. It is similar to genetic programming, but the structure of the program to be optimized is fixed, while its numerical parameters are allowed to evolve. It was fir ...
for time-series prediction. These experiments validated the merit of the approach and this became the basis of Fogel's Ph.D. dissertation "On the Organization of Intellect" at the
University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...
where he received the Ph.D. in 1964 in biotechnology with minors in mathematics and communication theory. His was the first dissertation in the field of evolutionary computation. The dissertation became the basis of several papers as well as the first book in the field of evolutionary computation ''Artificial Intelligence Through Simulated Evolution'' co-authored with Alvin Owens and Michael Walsh, also from Convair. Fogel continued to publish on these concepts in the scientific literature. In his role as Senior Staff Scientist in Astronautics for General Dynamics, he provided improved the reliability of complex missile systems and information processing systems. Fogel devised the COFEC Reliability Data System for the
Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geograp ...
rocket. The Atlas was built at Convair in San Diego as America's first intercontinental ballistic missile. The Atlas D was used for
Project Mercury Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. An early highlight of the Space Race, its goal was to put a man into Earth orbit and return him safely, ideally before the Soviet Un ...
to launch astronauts into low-Earth orbit in the 1960s. He also focused on how humans sense and process information. Fogel also became associated with the burgeoning field of cybernetics and served as the third president of the
American Society for Cybernetics The American Society for Cybernetics (ASC) is an American non-profit scholastic organization for the advancement of cybernetics as a science , a discipline, a meta-discipline and the promotion of cybernetics as basis for an interdisciplinary di ...
in 1969, following
Warren McCulloch Warren Sturgis McCulloch (November 16, 1898 – September 24, 1969) was an American neurophysiologist and cybernetician, known for his work on the foundation for certain brain theories and his contribution to the cybernetics movement.Ken Aizawa ( ...
. He also served as the founding editor-in-chief for the ''Journal of Cybernetics'' and helped organize the second and third annual symposia of the American Society for Cybernetics (1964, 1965).


Evolutionary programming

In 1965, Fogel left General Dynamics to form a new company, Decision Science, Inc. in San Diego, specifically for applications of evolutionary programming. He served as President and directed research and real-world applications in the areas of information science, computer simulation, prediction, and systems control. Decision Science, Inc. was the first company specifically applying evolutionary computation to solve real-world problems. The methods were further developed through the efforts of Alvin Owens and George Burgin and formed the basis of a new generation of flight simulator first deployed at Langley Research Center for the purpose of air-to-air combat training. This approach was called the Adaptive Maneuvering Logic. While at Decision Science, Fogel and Burgin also experimented with simulations of co-evolutionary games. He also continued applying evolutionary computation in many ways including modeling of human operators and thinking about biological communication. In 1982, Decision Science, Inc. was acquired by the Titan Corporation, a defense contractor in San Diego. Fogel continued working as a Vice President at Titan, and later in 1988 as a Vice President of ORINCON Corporation. In 1993, he was a co-founder in the formation of a new company, Natural Selection, Inc., which continues to apply methods of
computational intelligence The expression computational intelligence (CI) usually refers to the ability of a computer to learn a specific task from data or experimental observation. Even though it is commonly considered a synonym of soft computing, there is still no c ...
to real-world problems. Lawrence Fogel was the President of Natural Selection, Inc. until his death in 2007.


Personal life

Fogel was also well known for his interest in radio-controlled sailboats and sailplanes. He was a passionate enthusiast and preservation advocate for the
Torrey Pines Gliderport The Torrey Pines Gliderport is a city-owned private-use glider airport located in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States, 11 nautical miles (20 km) northwest of the city's central business district. It was first ...
in San Diego. In the 1970s, he wrote a monthly column on RC soaring for ''Model Builder'' magazine. He was twice president of the Torrey Pines Gulls R/C Soaring Club, co-founded the Torrey Pines Scale Soaring Society, and was president of the National Soaring Society from 1975 to 1977. He was recognized with the highest membership grade of Fellow by the
Academy of Model Aeronautics The Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA), based in Muncie, Indiana, United States at , is a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of model aviation as a recognized sport as well as a recreational activity. It is the largest organizati ...
in 1996. Fogel also enjoyed music and was proficient on piano, flute, saxophone, clarinet, and other instruments. He often enjoyed playing jazz at the Catamaran Hotel and other locations in San Diego and Washington, D.C.


Professional societies

*
Acoustical Society of America The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is an international scientific society founded in 1929 dedicated to generating, disseminating and promoting the knowledge of acoustics and its practical applications. The Society is primarily a voluntary org ...
*
American Rocket Society The American Rocket Society (ARS) began its existence on , under the name of the American Interplanetary Society. It was founded by science fiction writers G. Edward Pendray, David Lasser, Laurence Manning, Nathan Schachner, and others. Pendra ...
*
American Society for Cybernetics The American Society for Cybernetics (ASC) is an American non-profit scholastic organization for the advancement of cybernetics as a science , a discipline, a meta-discipline and the promotion of cybernetics as basis for an interdisciplinary di ...
*Evolutionary Programming Society *Human Factors Society of America *
Institute of Radio Engineers The Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) was a professional organization which existed from 1912 until December 31, 1962. On January 1, 1963, it merged with the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) to form the Institute of Electrical ...
* Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (Fellow) *International Association for Cybernetics *
New York Academy of Sciences The New York Academy of Sciences (originally the Lyceum of Natural History) was founded in January 1817 as the Lyceum of Natural History. It is the fourth oldest scientific society in the United States. An independent, nonprofit organization wi ...
(Life Member) * Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics


Scientific honors

*IEEE Fellow *1996 - Lifetime Achievement Award, Evolutionary Programming Society *1998 - IEEE Neural Networks Council Pioneer Award in Evolutionary Computation (inaugural awardee) *2003 - SPIE Computational Intelligence Pioneer Award (jointly with his son David B. Fogel) *2006 -
IEEE Frank Rosenblatt Award The IEEE Frank Rosenblatt Award is a Technical Field Award established by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Board of Directors in 2004. This award is presented for outstanding contributions to the advancement of the design, ...
(inaugural awardee)


Patents

# - ''Method of Improving Intelligence Under Random Noise Interference'' - 1958 December 30 # - ''System for Improving Intelligibility'' - 1960 January 5 # - ''Advance Flight Control Instrumentation and Control System'' - 1960 November 22 # - ''Apparatus for Improving Intelligence Under High Ambient Noise Levels'' - 1960 December 27 # Canadian Patent 631136 - ''Method of Improving Intelligence Under High Ambient Noise Levels'' - 1961 November 14 # - ''Method and Apparatus for Training a Neural Network using Evolutionary Programming'' - 1993 May 25


Selected journal publications

* Fogel, L. J. "The Human Computer in Flight Control," ''IRE Transactions on Electronic Computers'', Vol. EC-6, No. 3, pages 197-202, 1957. * Fogel, L. J. "A New Concept: The Kinalog System," ''Journal of the Human Factors Society'', Vol. 1, No. 2, pages 30–37, April 1959. * Fogel L. J. and Lyman J "The Human Component," Chapter 2 in Volume 3 of ''The Handbook of Automation, Computation, and Control'', edited by E. M. Grabbe, S. Ramo, and D. E. Woolridge, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, 1961. * Fogel L. J. "Autonomous Automata," ''Industrial Research Magazine'', Vol. 4, No. 2, pages 14–19, February 1962. * Fogel L. J., Owens AJ, and Walsh, MJ "On the Evolution of Artificial Intelligence," ''Proceedings of the Fifth National Symposium on Human Factors in Electronics'', IEEE, San Diego, May 5–6, 1964, pages 63–76. * Fogel L. J., Owens AJ, and Walsh, MJ "An Evolutionary Prediction Technique," ''IEEE International Symposium on Microwaves, Circuit Theory, and Information Theory'', September 1964, pages 173-174. * Fogel, L. J., Owens AJ, and Walsh, MJ "Artificial Intelligence Through a Simulation of Evolution," Chapter 14 of ''Biophysics and Cybernetic Sciences Symposium'', edited by M. Maxfield, A. Callahan, and L. J. Fogel, Spartan Book Co., Washington, D.C., pages 131-155. * Fogel L. J., Owens AJ, and Walsh, MJ "Application of Evolutionary Programming," ''IEEE Systems Science and Cybernetics Conference'', October 17 and 18, 1966, Washington, D.C. * Fogel L. J., "Inanimate Intellect Through Evolution," ''Naval Research Reviews'', Vol. XX, No. 11, November 1967, pages 9–18.


Selected books


Fogel, Lawrence J. ''Biotechnology: Concepts and Applications.'' Prentice Hall, New York, 1963. (reprinted in 2012 by Literary Licensing, LLC).

Maxfield, Miles, Callahan, Arthur, and Fogel, Lawrence J. ''Biophysics and Cybernetic Systems: Proceedings of the Second Cybernetic Sciences Symposium.'' Allan Hancock Foundation., 1965.

Fogel, Lawrence J., Owens, A.J., and Walsh, M.J. ''Artificial Intelligence Through Simulated Evolution.'' Wiley. New York, 1966.

Fogel, Lawrence J. ''Progress in Biomedical Engineering.'' Spartan Books. 1967.

Fogel, Lawrence J. ''Human Information Processing.'' Prentice Hall, New York, 1967.

Amosov, N.M., Finegold, L. and Fogel, Lawrence J. ''Modeling of Thinking and the Mind.'' Spartan Books. New York, 1967.

Fogel, Lawrence J. ''Composite Index to Marine Science and Technology.'' Alfo Publishing Co., San Diego, 1968.

Fogel, Lawrence J. ''Intelligence Through Simulated Evolution: Forty Years of Evolutionary Programming'' Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1999.


Other information


Biography in model aviation


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fogel, Lawrence J. 1928 births 2007 deaths American aerospace engineers American computer scientists 20th-century American inventors Artificial intelligence researchers Businesspeople from San Diego American cognitive scientists Complex systems scientists Cyberneticists Fellow Members of the IEEE People from Brooklyn Rutgers University alumni Theoretical computer scientists UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni Polytechnic Institute of New York University alumni Scientists from New York (state) Researchers of artificial life 20th-century American businesspeople