Ingo Rechenberg (November 20, 1934 - September 25, 2021) was a German researcher and professor in the field of

bionics Bionics or biologically inspired engineering is the application of biological methods and systems found in nature to the study and design of engineering systems and modern technology. The word ''bionic'', coined by Jack E. Steele in August 1 ...

. Rechenberg was a pioneer of the fields of

evolutionary computation In computer science, evolutionary computation is a family of algorithms for global optimization inspired by biological evolution, and the subfield of artificial intelligence and soft computing studying these algorithms. In technical terms, th ...

and

artificial evolution In computational intelligence (CI), an evolutionary algorithm (EA) is a subset of evolutionary computation, a generic population-based metaheuristic optimization algorithm. An EA uses mechanisms inspired by biological evolution, such as reproduct ...

. In the 1960s and 1970s he invented a highly influential set of optimization methods known as

evolution strategies In computer science, an evolution strategy (ES) is an optimization technique based on ideas of evolution. It belongs to the general class of evolutionary computation or artificial evolution methodologies. History The 'evolution strategy' optimizat ...

(from German ''Evolutionsstrategie''). His group successfully applied the new algorithms to challenging problems such as

aerodynamic Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dyn ...

wing design. These were the first serious technical applications of

, an important subset of the still growing field of

. Rechenberg was born in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

. He was educated at the

Technical University of Berlin The Technical University of Berlin (official name both in English and german: link=no, Technische Universität Berlin, also known as TU Berlin and Berlin Institute of Technology) is a public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was ...

and at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. Since 1972 he was a full professor at the Technical University of Berlin, where he headed the Department of Bionics and Evolution Techniques. His awards include the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Evolutionary Programming Society (US, 1995) and the Evolutionary Computation Pioneer Award of the

IEEE Neural Networks Society The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operatio ...

(US, 2002). In 1954, Rechenberg also became world champion in the field of model aeroplanes.Ingo Rechenber
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ingo Rechenberg's Homepage
The

Moroccan flic-flac spider ''Cebrennus rechenbergi'', also known as the Moroccan flic-flac spider and cartwheeling spider, is a species of huntsman spider indigenous to the sand dunes of the Erg Chebbi desert in Morocco. If provoked or threatened it can escape by doubling ...

, ''Cebrennus rechenbergi'', was named in his honor, as he first collected specimens in the Moroccan desert.

Selected bibliography

* Ingo Rechenberg (1971): Evolutionsstrategie - Optimierung technischer Systeme nach Prinzipien der biologischen Evolution (PhD thesis). Reprinted by Fromman-Holzboog (1973). * Ingo Rechenberg: Evolutionsstrategie '94. Stuttgart: Frommann-Holzboog 1994.

External links

*Rechenberg'
Bionic's Lab in Berlin
(in German) and i

Notes

1934 births Living people German computer scientists Scientists from Berlin Technical University of Berlin alumni Technical University of Berlin faculty Alumni of the University of Cambridge {{Germany-academic-bio-stub