Stephen Wolfram (; born 29 August 1959) is a British-American computer scientist, physicist, and businessman. He is known for his work in
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 Applied science, practical discipli ...
,
mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
, and
theoretical physics
Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experim ...
. In 2012, he was named a fellow of the
American Mathematical Society
The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meeting ...
. He is currently an adjunct professor at the
University of Illinois Department of Computer Science
The University of Illinois Department of Computer Science is the academic department encompassing the discipline of computer science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. According to U.S. News & World Report, both its undergraduate ...
.
As a businessman, he is the founder and CEO of the software company
Wolfram Research
Wolfram Research, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational company that creates computational technology. Wolfram's flagship product is the technical computing program Wolfram Mathematica, first released on June 23, 1988. Other products include ...
where he works as chief designer of
Mathematica
Wolfram Mathematica is a software system with built-in libraries for several areas of technical computing that allow machine learning, statistics, symbolic computation, data manipulation, network analysis, time series analysis, NLP, optimiza ...
and the
Wolfram Alpha
WolframAlpha ( ) is an answer engine developed by Wolfram Research. It answers factual queries by computing answers from externally sourced data.
WolframAlpha was released on May 18, 2009 and is based on Wolfram's earlier product Wolfram Mat ...
answer engine.
Early life
Family
Stephen Wolfram was born in London in 1959 to
Hugo and
Sybil
Sibyls were oracular women believed to possess prophetic powers in ancient Greece.
Sybil or Sibyl may also refer to:
Films
* ''Sybil'' (1921 film)
* ''Sybil'' (1976 film), a film starring Sally Field
* ''Sybil'' (2007 film), a remake of the 19 ...
Wolfram, both
German Jewish
The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...
refugees to the United Kingdom. His maternal grandmother was British
psychoanalyst
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might ...
Kate Friedlander
Kate Friedlander (born Käte Frankl; also Käte Misch-Frankl or Kate Friedländer-Frankl; 1902–1949) was a pioneering female psychoanalyst, who left Germany for England in 1933, and became a member of the British Psychoanalytical Society.
Train ...
.
Wolfram's father,
Hugo Wolfram, was a textile manufacturer and served as managing director of the Lurex Company—makers of the fabric
Lurex
Lurex is the registered brand name of the Lurex Company, Ltd. for a type of yarn with a metallic appearance. The yarn is made from synthetic film, onto which a metallic aluminium, silver, or gold layer has been vaporized. "Lurex" may also refer t ...
.
[Telling a good yarn by Jenny Lunnon](_blank)
Oxford Times, Thursday 21 September 2006. Wolfram's mother,
Sybil Wolfram
Sybil Wolfram (born Sybille Misch; 1931–1993) was an English philosopher and writer, of German Jewish origin. She was a Fellow and Tutor in philosophy at Lady Margaret Hall at University of Oxford from 1964 to 1993.
Work
She published two b ...
, was a Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy at
Lady Margaret Hall
Lady Margaret Hall (LMH) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located on the banks of the River Cherwell at Norham Gardens in north Oxford and adjacent to the University Parks. The college is more form ...
at
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
from 1964 to 1993.
Stephen Wolfram is married to a mathematician. They have four children together.
Education
Wolfram was educated at
Eton College
Eton College () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI of England, Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. i ...
, but left prematurely in 1976. As a young child, Wolfram had difficulties learning arithmetic. At the age of 12, he wrote a directory of physics. By age 14, he had written three books on particle physics. He entered
St. John's College, Oxford, at age 17 and left in 1978 without graduating to attend the
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
the following year, where he received a PhD
in particle physics in 1980.
Wolfram's
thesis committee
A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...
was composed of
Richard Feynman,
Peter Goldreich,
Frank J. Sciulli and
Steven Frautschi, and chaired by
Richard D. Field.
Early career
Wolfram, at the age of 15, began research in applied
quantum field theory
In theoretical physics, quantum field theory (QFT) is a theoretical framework that combines classical field theory, special relativity, and quantum mechanics. QFT is used in particle physics to construct physical models of subatomic particles and ...
and
particle physics
Particle physics or high energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and forces that constitute matter and radiation. The fundamental particles in the universe are classified in the Standard Model as fermions (matter particles) an ...
and published scientific papers in
peer-reviewed
Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer revie ...
scientific journal
In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research.
Content
Articles in scientific journals are mostly written by active scientists such ...
s including ''
Nuclear Physics
Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies atomic nuclei and their constituents and interactions, in addition to the study of other forms of nuclear matter.
Nuclear physics should not be confused with atomic physics, which studies t ...
B'', ''
Australian Journal of Physics'', ''
Nuovo Cimento
''Nuovo Cimento'' is a series of peer-reviewed scientific journals of physics. The series was first established in 1855, when Carlo Matteucci and Raffaele Piria started publishing ''Il Nuovo Cimento'' as the continuation of ''Il Cimento'', which ...
'', and ''
Physical Review
''Physical Review'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal established in 1893 by Edward Nichols. It publishes original research as well as scientific and literature reviews on all aspects of physics. It is published by the American Physical ...
D''. Working independently, Wolfram published a widely cited paper on heavy
quark
A quark () is a type of elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. All commonly ...
production at age 18
and nine other papers.
Wolfram's work with
Geoffrey C. Fox on the theory of the
strong interaction
The strong interaction or strong force is a fundamental interaction that confines quarks into proton, neutron, and other hadron particles. The strong interaction also binds neutrons and protons to create atomic nuclei, where it is called th ...
is still used in experimental particle physics.
Following his PhD, Wolfram joined the faculty at Caltech and became the youngest recipient of a
MacArthur Fellowship in 1981, at age 21.
Later career
Complex systems and cellular automata
In 1983, Wolfram left for the School of Natural Sciences of the
Institute for Advanced Study
The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent schola ...
in Princeton. By that time, he was no longer interested in particle physics. Instead, he began pursuing investigations into
cellular automata,
mainly with computer simulations. He produced a series of papers systematically investigating the class of
elementary cellular automata, conceiving the
Wolfram code, a naming system for one-dimensional cellular automata, and a
classification scheme for the complexity of their behaviour. He conjectured that the
Rule 110 cellular automaton might be
Turing complete
Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical ...
, which was later proved correct.
Wolfram's cellular-automata work came to be cited in more than 10,000 papers.
In the mid-1980s, Wolfram worked on simulations of physical processes (such as
turbulent fluid flow) with cellular automata on the
Connection Machine alongside
Richard Feynman and helped initiate the field of
complex systems
A complex system is a system composed of many components which may interact with each other. Examples of complex systems are Earth's global climate, organisms, the human brain, infrastructure such as power grid, transportation or communication sy ...
. In 1984, he was a participant in the Founding Workshops of the
Santa Fe Institute, along with Nobel laureates
Murray Gell-Mann,
Manfred Eigen, and
Philip Warren Anderson, and future laureate
Frank Wilczek. In 1986, he founded the Center for Complex Systems Research (CCSR) at the
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Un ...
.
In 1987, he founded the journal ''
Complex Systems
A complex system is a system composed of many components which may interact with each other. Examples of complex systems are Earth's global climate, organisms, the human brain, infrastructure such as power grid, transportation or communication sy ...
''.
Symbolic Manipulation Program
Wolfram led the development of the
computer algebra system
A computer algebra system (CAS) or symbolic algebra system (SAS) is any mathematical software with the ability to manipulate mathematical expressions in a way similar to the traditional manual computations of mathematicians and scientists. The ...
SMP (''
Symbolic Manipulation Program'') in the Caltech physics department during 1979–1981. A dispute with the administration over the intellectual property rights regarding SMP—patents, copyright, and faculty involvement in commercial ventures—eventually led him to resign from Caltech.
SMP was further developed and marketed commercially by Inference Corp. of Los Angeles during 1983–1988.
Mathematica
In 1986, Wolfram left the
Institute for Advanced Study
The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent schola ...
for the
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Un ...
where he founded their Center for Complex Systems Research and started to develop the computer algebra system Mathematica, which was first released on 23 June 1988, when he left academia. In 1987, he founded
Wolfram Research
Wolfram Research, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational company that creates computational technology. Wolfram's flagship product is the technical computing program Wolfram Mathematica, first released on June 23, 1988. Other products include ...
which continues to develop and market the program.
''A New Kind of Science''
From 1992 to 2002, Wolfram worked on his controversial book ''
A New Kind of Science'',
which presents an empirical study of simple computational systems. Additionally, it argues that for fundamental reasons these types of systems, rather than traditional mathematics, are needed to model and understand complexity in nature. Wolfram's conclusion is that the universe is discrete in its nature, and runs on fundamental laws which can be described as simple programs. He predicts that a realization of this within scientific communities will have a revolutionary influence on physics, chemistry, biology, and a majority of scientific areas in general, hence the book's title. The book was met with skepticism and criticism that Wolfram took credit for the work of others.
Wolfram Alpha computational knowledge engine
In March 2009, Wolfram announced Wolfram Alpha, an
answer engine
Question answering (QA) is a computer science discipline within the fields of information retrieval and natural language processing (NLP), which is concerned with building systems that automatically answer questions posed by humans in a natural ...
. WolframAlpha later launched in May 2009, and a paid-for version with extra features launched in February 2012 that was met with criticism for its high price that was later dropped from $50.00 to $2.00. The engine is based on
natural language processing
Natural language processing (NLP) is an interdisciplinary subfield of linguistics, computer science, and artificial intelligence concerned with the interactions between computers and human language, in particular how to program computers to proc ...
and a large library of algorithms. The
application programming interface
An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how ...
allows other applications to extend and enhance Wolfram Alpha.
Touchpress
In 2010, Wolfram co-founded
Touchpress along with
Theodore Gray
Theodore W. "Theo" Gray is a co-founder of Wolfram Research, science author, and co-founder of app developer Touch Press.
Education
Theodore Gray was educated at the University of Illinois Laboratory High School. He would later graduate w ...
, Max Whitby, and John Cromie. The company specialised in creating in-depth premium apps and games covering a wide range of educational subjects designed for children, parents, students, and educators. Since the launch, Touchpress has published more than 100 apps. The company is no longer active.
Wolfram Language
In March 2014, at the annual
South by Southwest
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, ...
(SXSW) event, Wolfram officially announced the
Wolfram Language
The Wolfram Language ( ) is a general multi-paradigm programming language developed by Wolfram Research. It emphasizes symbolic computation, functional programming, and rule-based programming and can employ arbitrary structures and data. It ...
as a new general
multi-paradigm programming language
Programming paradigms are a way to classify programming languages based on their features. Languages can be classified into multiple paradigms.
Some paradigms are concerned mainly with implications for the execution model of the language, suc ...
, though it was previously available through Mathematica and not an entirely new programming language. The documentation for the language was pre-released in October 2013 to coincide with the bundling of
Mathematica
Wolfram Mathematica is a software system with built-in libraries for several areas of technical computing that allow machine learning, statistics, symbolic computation, data manipulation, network analysis, time series analysis, NLP, optimiza ...
and the Wolfram Language on every
Raspberry Pi computer with some controversy because of the proprietary nature of the Wolfram Language. While the Wolfram Language has existed for over 30 years as the primary programming language used in
Mathematica
Wolfram Mathematica is a software system with built-in libraries for several areas of technical computing that allow machine learning, statistics, symbolic computation, data manipulation, network analysis, time series analysis, NLP, optimiza ...
, it was not officially named until 2014, and is not widely used.
Wolfram Physics Project
In April 2020, Wolfram announced the "Wolfram Physics Project" as an effort to reduce and explain all the laws of physics within a paradigm of a
hypergraph that is transformed by minimal
rewriting rules that obey the
Church-Rosser property. The effort is a continuation of the ideas he originally described in ''A New Kind of Science.'' Wolfram claims that "From an extremely simple model, we're able to reproduce special relativity, general relativity and the core results of quantum mechanics." Physicists are generally unimpressed with Wolfram's claim, and state that Wolfram's results are non-quantitative and arbitrary.
Personal interests and activities
Wolfram has an extensive log of personal analytics, including emails received and sent, keystrokes made, meetings and events attended, phone calls, even physical movement dating back to the 1980s. In the preface of ''A New Kind of Science'', he noted that he recorded over one-hundred million keystrokes and one-hundred mouse miles. He has stated "
ersonal analyticscan give us a whole new dimension to experiencing our lives."
Stephen Wolfram was involved as a scientific consultant for the 2016 film ''
Arrival''. He and his son Christopher wrote some of the code featured on-screen, such as the code in graphics depicting an analysis of the alien logograms, for which they used the
Wolfram Language
The Wolfram Language ( ) is a general multi-paradigm programming language developed by Wolfram Research. It emphasizes symbolic computation, functional programming, and rule-based programming and can employ arbitrary structures and data. It ...
.
He livestreams meetings centered around improving the
Wolfram Language
The Wolfram Language ( ) is a general multi-paradigm programming language developed by Wolfram Research. It emphasizes symbolic computation, functional programming, and rule-based programming and can employ arbitrary structures and data. It ...
on YouTube.
Bibliography
*''Combinators: A Centennial View'' (2021)
*'' A Project to Find the Fundamental Theory of Physics'' (2020), Publisher: Wolfram Media,
*''Adventures of a Computational Explorer'' (2019)
*''Idea Makers: Personal Perspectives on the Lives & Ideas of Some Notable People'' (2016)
*''Elementary Introduction to the Wolfram Language'' (2015)
Stephen Wolfram Aims to Democratize His Software
by Steve Lohr, ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', 14 December 2015.
*
*''The Mathematica Book'' (multiple editions)
*''Cellular Automata and Complexity: Collected Papers'' (1994)
*''Theory and Applications of Cellular Automata'' (1986)
References
External links
*
Wolfram Foundation
*
*
*
*
*
*
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