Matthew Hennessy is an
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
computer scientist who has contributed especially to
concurrency,
process calculi
In computer science, the process calculi (or process algebras) are a diverse family of related approaches for formally modelling concurrent systems. Process calculi provide a tool for the high-level description of interactions, communications, and ...
and
programming language semantics.
Career
During 1976–77, Matthew Hennessy was an assistant professor at the
University of Waterloo
The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to "Uptown" Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also operates ...
in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
.
Then during 1977–78, he was a visiting professor at the
Universidade Federal de Pernambuco
Federal University of Pernambuco ( pt, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, UFPE) is a public university in Recife, Brazil, established in 1946. UFPE has 70 undergraduate courses and 175 postgraduate courses. , UFPE had 35,000 students and 2,0 ...
in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. Subsequently, he was a research associate (1979–81) and then lecturer (1981–85) at the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
. During 1985, he was a guest lecturer/researcher at the
University of Aarhus
Aarhus University ( da, Aarhus Universitet, abbreviated AU) is a public research university with its main campus located in Aarhus, Denmark. It is the second largest and second oldest university in Denmark. The university is part of the Coimbra Gr ...
in
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark
, establish ...
.
Hennessy was Professor of
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 ...
at the Department of Informatics,
University of Sussex
, mottoeng = Be Still and Know
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £14.4 million (2020)
, budget = £319.6 million (2019–20)
, chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar
, vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil
, ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, from 1985 until 2008. Since then, Hennessy has held a research professorship at the Department of
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 ...
,
Trinity College, Dublin.
Hennessy's research interests are in the area of the semantic foundations of
programming and
specification language
A specification language is a formal language in computer science used during systems analysis, requirements analysis, and systems design to describe a system at a much higher level than a programming language, which is used to produce the execu ...
s, particularly involving
distributed computing
A distributed system is a system whose components are located on different networked computers, which communicate and coordinate their actions by passing messages to one another from any system. Distributed computing is a field of computer sci ...
, including
mobile computing. He also has an interest in
verification
Verify or verification may refer to:
General
* Verification and validation, in engineering or quality management systems, is the act of reviewing, inspecting or testing, in order to establish and document that a product, service or system meets ...
tools. His co-authors include
Robin Milner
Arthur John Robin Gorell Milner (13 January 1934 – 20 March 2010), known as Robin Milner or A. J. R. G. Milner, was a British computer scientist, and a Turing Award winner. and
Gordon Plotkin
Gordon David Plotkin, (born 9 September 1946) is a theoretical computer scientist in the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. Plotkin is probably best known for his introduction of structural operational semantics (SOS) and h ...
.
Hennessy is a member of the
Academy of Europe.
He held a
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
/
Leverhulme Trust
The Leverhulme Trust () is a large national grant-making organisation in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1925 under the will of the 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), with the instruction that its resources should be used to suppo ...
Senior Research Fellowship during 2005–06 and has a
Science Foundation Ireland
Science Foundation Ireland (SFI; ga, Fondúireacht Eolaíochta Éireann) is the statutory body in Republic of Ireland, Ireland with responsibility for funding oriented basic and applied research in the areas of science, technology, engineering ...
Research Professorship at Trinity College Dublin.
Books
Matthew Hennessy has written a number of books:
* Hennessy, Matthew. ''A Distributed Pi-Calculus''.
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer.
Cambridge University Pre ...
, Cambridge, UK, 2007. .
* Hennessy, Matthew. ''Algebraic Theory of Processes''.
The MIT Press
The MIT Press is a university press affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts (United States). It was established in 1962.
History
The MIT Press traces its origins back to 1926 when MIT publish ...
, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1988. .
* Hennessy, Matthew. ''The Semantics of Programming Languages: An Elementary Introduction using Structural Operational Semantics''.
John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1990. .
See also
*
Hennessy–Milner logic In computer science, Hennessy–Milner logic (HML) is a dynamic logic used to specify properties of a labeled transition system (LTS), a structure similar to an automaton. It was introduced in 1980 by Matthew Hennessy and Robin Milner in their pap ...
*
Ó hAonghusa
Ó hAonghusa is the surname of at least two distinct Gaelic-Irish families. It is now anglicised as Hennessy and Hennessey.
One Ó hAonghusa family were located at Cill Bheagáin, in the Kingdom of Uí Failghe, in the Irish midlands.
Another fa ...
References
External links
Matthew Hennessy Trinity College Dublin home page*
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
20th-century Irish people
21st-century Irish people
Irish computer scientists
Formal methods people
Computer science writers
University of Waterloo faculty
Academics of the University of Edinburgh
Academics of the University of Sussex
Fellows of Trinity College Dublin
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