Paul John Werbos (born 1947) is an American social scientist and machine learning pioneer. He is best known for his 1974 dissertation, which first described the process of training

artificial neural network Artificial neural networks (ANNs), usually simply called neural networks (NNs) or neural nets, are computing systems inspired by the biological neural networks that constitute animal brains. An ANN is based on a collection of connected unit ...

s through

backpropagation In machine learning, backpropagation (backprop, BP) is a widely used algorithm for training feedforward neural network, feedforward artificial neural networks. Generalizations of backpropagation exist for other artificial neural networks (ANN ...

of errors. He also was a pioneer of

recurrent neural networks A recurrent neural network (RNN) is a class of artificial neural networks where connections between nodes can create a cycle, allowing output from some nodes to affect subsequent input to the same nodes. This allows it to exhibit temporal dynamic ...

. Werbos was one of the original three two-year Presidents of the International

Neural Network A neural network is a network or circuit of biological neurons, or, in a modern sense, an artificial neural network, composed of artificial neurons or nodes. Thus, a neural network is either a biological neural network, made up of biological ...

Society (INNS). In 1995, he was awarded the IEEE Neural Network Pioneer Award for the discovery of

and other basic neural network learning frameworks such as Adaptive

Dynamic Programming Dynamic programming is both a mathematical optimization method and a computer programming method. The method was developed by Richard Bellman in the 1950s and has found applications in numerous fields, from aerospace engineering to economics. I ...

. Werbos has also written on quantum mechanics and other areas of physics. He also has interest in larger questions relating to consciousness, the foundations of physics, and human potential. He served as program director in the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

for several years until 2015.

References

External links

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Werbos, Paul 1947 births Living people History of artificial intelligence Harvard University alumni American computer scientists