William Craig (November 13, 1918
– January 13, 2016) was an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
academic
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...
and
philosopher, who taught 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
Berkeley
Berkeley most often refers to:
*Berkeley, California, a city in the United States
**University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California
* George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher
Berkeley may also refer ...
,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
. His research interests included
mathematical logic
Mathematical logic is the study of formal logic within mathematics. Major subareas include model theory, proof theory, set theory, and recursion theory. Research in mathematical logic commonly addresses the mathematical properties of formal ...
, and the
philosophy of science
Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. The central questions of this study concern what qualifies as science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ult ...
,
and he is best known for the
Craig interpolation In mathematical logic, Craig's interpolation theorem is a result about the relationship between different logical theories. Roughly stated, the theorem says that if a formula φ implies a formula ψ, and the two have at least one atomic variable s ...
theorem.
Biography
William Craig was born in
Nuremberg
Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
,
German Empire, on November 13, 1918. He graduated from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
with a
Ph.D
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
in 1951. He married Julia Rebecca Dwight Wilson and had four children: Ruth,
Walter
Walter may refer to:
People
* Walter (name), both a surname and a given name
* Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968)
* Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 19 ...
, Sarah, and Deborah. In 1959 he moved to UC Berkeley. He died on January 13, 2016, at the age of 97.
Achievements
Craig is particularly remembered in two theorems that bear his name:
* the
Craig interpolation In mathematical logic, Craig's interpolation theorem is a result about the relationship between different logical theories. Roughly stated, the theorem says that if a formula φ implies a formula ψ, and the two have at least one atomic variable s ...
theorem, and
*
Craig's theorem In mathematical logic, Craig's theorem states that any recursively enumerable set of well-formed formulas of a first-order language is (primitively) recursively axiomatizable. This result is not related to the well-known Craig interpolation theore ...
, also known as ''Craig's axiomatization theorem'' or ''Craig's reaxiomatization theorem''.
See also
*
American philosophy
*
List of American philosophers
This is a list of American philosophers; of philosophers who are either from, or spent many productive years of their lives in the United States.
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References
External links
Official Berkeley pageA conference in honor of William Craig*
1918 births
2016 deaths
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American mathematicians
20th-century American philosophers
20th-century educators
20th-century essayists
20th-century German male writers
20th-century German mathematicians
20th-century German non-fiction writers
20th-century German philosophers
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American mathematicians
21st-century American philosophers
21st-century educators
21st-century essayists
American educators
American logicians
American male essayists
American male non-fiction writers
Analytic philosophers
Computability theorists
German educators
German emigrants to the United States
German logicians
German male essayists
German male non-fiction writers
Harvard University alumni
Philosophers of logic
Philosophers of mathematics
Philosophers of science
Philosophy academics
Philosophy teachers
Proof theorists
University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty
Writers from Nuremberg
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