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 education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

and

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

, 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 U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. His research interests included

mathematical logic Mathematical logic is the study of logic, 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 for ...

, 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 ultim ...

, 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 sy ...

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 The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

, 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 higher le ...

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

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''.

References

External links

Official Berkeley page

A 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 {{US-philosopher-stub

Biography

Achievements

See also

References

External links