Gerald Jay Sussman (August 9, 1947) is the Panasonic Professor of Electrical Engineering Electrical engineering, sometimes referred to as electrical and electronic engineering, is a field of engineering that deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological research. MIT is one of two private land-grant universities[b] and is also a sea- (MIT). He received his S.B. A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years (see below) and Ph.D. Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated Ph.D. or PhD for the Latin philosophiæ doctor, meaning "teacher of philosophy", or, more rarely, D.Phil., for the equivalent doctor philosophiæ, is an advanced academic degree awarded by universities. In many, but not all countries in the English-speaking world, it has become the highest degree one can degrees in mathematics Mathematics is the study of quantity, structure, space, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns.They formulate new conjectures and establish truth by rigorous deduction from appropriately chosen axioms and definitions from MIT in 1968 and 1973 respectively. He has been involved in artificial intelligence Artificial Intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science which aims to create it. Major AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents," where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions which maximize its chances of success. John research at MIT since 1964. His research has centered on understanding the problem-solving strategies used by scientists and engineers, with the goals of automating parts of the process and formalizing it to provide more effective methods of science and engineering education. Sussman has also worked in computer languages, in computer architecture and in VLSI Very-large-scale integration is the process of creating integrated circuits by combining thousands of transistor-based circuits into a single chip. VLSI began in the 1970s when complex semiconductor and communication technologies were being developed. The microprocessor is a VLSI device. The term is no longer as common as it once was, as chips design.
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Academic work
Sussman is a coauthor (with Hal Abelson and Julie Sussman) of the introductory computer science textbook used at MIT. This textbook, Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, has been translated into several languages.
Sussman's contributions to artificial intelligence Artificial Intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science which aims to create it. Major AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents," where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions which maximize its chances of success. John include problem solving by debugging almost-right plans, propagation of constraints applied to electrical circuit analysis and synthesis, dependency-based explanation and dependency-based backtracking, and various language structures for expressing problem-solving strategies. Sussman and his former student, Guy L. Steele Jr., invented the Scheme programming language Scheme is a multi-paradigm programming language. It is one of the two main dialects of Lisp and supports a number of programming paradigms but is best known for its support of functional programming. It was developed by Guy L. Steele and Gerald Jay Sussman in the 1970s. Scheme was introduced to the academic world via a series of papers now in 1975.
Sussman saw that artificial intelligence ideas can be applied to computer-aided design Computer-aided design is the use of computer technology for the design of objects, real or virtual. The design of geometric models for object shapes, in particular, is often called computer-aided geometric design (CAGD).[citation needed]. Sussman developed, with his graduate students, sophisticated computer-aided design tools for VLSI Very-large-scale integration is the process of creating integrated circuits by combining thousands of transistor-based circuits into a single chip. VLSI began in the 1970s when complex semiconductor and communication technologies were being developed. The microprocessor is a VLSI device. The term is no longer as common as it once was, as chips. Steele made the first Scheme chips in 1978. These ideas and the AI-based CAD technology to support them were further developed in the Scheme chips of 1979 and 1981. The technique and experience developed were then used to design other special-purpose computers. Sussman was the principal designer of the Digital Orrery, a machine designed to do high-precision integrations for orbital mechanics Orbital mechanics or astrodynamics is the application of celestial mechanics to the practical problems concerning the motion of rockets and other spacecraft. The motion of these objects is usually calculated from Newton's laws of motion and Newton's law of universal gravitation. It is a core discipline within space mission design and control experiments. The Orrery was designed and built by a few people in a few months, using AI-based simulation and compilation tools.
Using the Digital Orrery, Sussman has worked with Jack Wisdom Jack Wisdom is a Professor of Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received his B.S. frm Rice University in 1976 and his Ph.D from California Institute of Technology in 1981. His research interests are the dynamics of the Solar System to discover numerical evidence for chaotic motions in the outer planets. The Digital Orrery is now retired at the Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its shops and its magazines. Most of its facilities are located in Washington, D.C., but its 19 museums, zoo, and nine in Washington, DC. Sussman was also the lead designer of the Supercomputer Toolkit, another multiprocessor computer optimized for evolving systems of ordinary differential equations In mathematics, an ordinary differential equation is a relation that contains functions of only one independent variable, and one or more of its derivatives with respect to that variable. The Supercomputer Toolkit was used by Sussman and Wisdom to confirm and extend the discoveries made with the Digital Orrery to include the entire planetary system.
Sussman has pioneered the use of computational descriptions to communicate methodological ideas in teaching subjects in Electrical Circuits and in Signals and Systems. Over the past decade Sussman and Wisdom have developed a subject that uses computational techniques to communicate a deeper understanding of advanced classical mechanics In the fields of physics, classical mechanics is one of the two major sub-fields of study in the science of mechanics, which is concerned with the set of physical laws governing and mathematically describing the motions of bodies and aggregates of bodies geometrically distributed within a certain boundary under the action of a system of forces. In Computer Science: Reflections on the Field, Reflections from the Field, he writes "...computational algorithms are used to express the methods used in the analysis of dynamical phenomena. Expressing the methods in a computer language forces them to be unambiguous and computationally effective. Students are expected to read the programs and to extend them and to write new ones. The task of formulating a method as a computer-executable program and debugging that program is a powerful exercise in the learning process. Also, once formalized procedurally, a mathematical idea becomes a tool that can be used directly to compute results." Sussman and Wisdom, with Meinhard Mayer, have produced a textbook, Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics, to capture these new ideas.
Sussman and Abelson also have been an important part of the Free Software Movement The free software movement is a social movement which aims to promote user's rights to access and modify software. The alternative terms "software libre", "open source", and "FOSS" are associated with the free software movement. Although drawing on traditions and philosophies among members of the 1970s hacker culture,, including serving on the Board of Directors of the Free Software Foundation The Free Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation founded by Richard Stallman on 4 October 1985 to support the free software movement, a copyleft-based movement which aims to promote the universal freedom to distribute and modify computer software without restriction. The FSF is incorporated in Massachusetts, USA,[1] and releasing MIT/GNU Scheme as free software Free software or software libre is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with minimal restrictions only to ensure that further recipients can also do these things and that manufacturers of consumer-facing hardware even before the Free Software Foundation existed.
Awards and organizations
For his contributions to computer-science Computer science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation, and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems. It is frequently described as the systematic study of algorithmic processes that describe and transform information; the fundamental question underlying computer education, Sussman received the ACM The Association for Computing Machinery, or ACM, was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership was approximately 83,000 as of 2007. Its headquarters are in New York City's Karl Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award in 1990, and the Amar G. Bose award for teaching in 1991.
Sussman and Richard Stallman Richard Matthew Stallman , often abbreviated "rms", is an American software freedom activist, hacker, and software developer. In September 1983, he launched the GNU Project to create a free Unix-like operating system, and has been the project's lead architect and organizer. With the launch of the GNU Project, he started the free software are the only founding directors still active on the board of directors of the Free Software Foundation The Free Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation founded by Richard Stallman on 4 October 1985 to support the free software movement, a copyleft-based movement which aims to promote the universal freedom to distribute and modify computer software without restriction. The FSF is incorporated in Massachusetts, USA (FSF).
Sussman is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers or IEEE is an international non-profit, professional organization for the advancement of technology related to electricity. It has the most members of any technical professional organization in the world, with more than 365,000 members in around 150 countries (IEEE), a member of the National Academy of Engineering The United States National Academy of Engineering , a private, non-profit institution that was founded in 1964 under the same congressional act that led to the founding of the National Academy of Sciences. The NAE is part of the United States National Academies, which also includes: (NAE), a fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery The Association for Computing Machinery, or ACM, was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership was approximately 83,000 as of 2007. Its headquarters are in New York City (ACM), a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation between scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the betterment of all humanity. It is the world's (AAAS), a fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences The New York Academy of Sciences is the third oldest scientific society in the United States. An independent, non-profit organization with more than 25,000 members in 140 countries, the Academy’s mission is to advance understanding of science and technology. It identifies and promotes scientific advances across disciplines and professional and (NYAS), and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs. He is also a bonded locksmith Locksmithing began as the science and art of making and defeating locks. A lock is a mechanism that secures buildings, rooms, cabinets, objects, or other storage facilities. A key is often used to open a lock. Means of opening a lock may include two-factor authentication for greater security, such as requiring both something you know and something, a life member of the American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute The American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute is a not-for-profit 'trade association' based in the United States that is dedicated to the advancement of the modern watch industry. Horology is the study of time keeping devices. AWCI caters to the needs of industry by providing educational and technical services which promote the repair of modern (AWI), a member of the Massachusetts Watchmakers-Clockmakers Association (MWCA), a member of the Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston (ATMOB), and a member of the American Radio Relay League The American Radio Relay League is the largest membership association of amateur radio enthusiasts in the USA. ARRL is a non-profit organization, and was founded in May 1914 by Hiram Percy Maxim of Hartford, Connecticut. The ARRL represents the interests of amateur radio operators before federal regulatory bodies, provides technical advice and (ARRL).
See also
- Marvin Minsky Marvin Lee Minsky is an American cognitive scientist in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), co-founder of MIT's AI laboratory, and author of several texts on AI and philosophy
- Seymour Papert
- Terry Winograd Terry Allen Winograd is an American professor of computer science at Stanford University, and co-director of the Stanford Human-Computer Interaction Group. He is known within the philosophy of mind and artificial intelligence fields for his work on natural language using the SHRDLU program
- MDL programming language
External links
- Video clip of Sussman speaking at the International Conference on Complex Systems, hosted by the New England Complex Systems Institute (NECSI)
- Sussman's homepage
- Gerald Sussman at the Mathematics Genealogy Project The Mathematics Genealogy Project is a web-based database that gives an academic genealogy based on dissertation supervisor. A Ph.D. mathematician's "parent" is her/his doctoral advisor. Mathematician is broadly defined to include statisticians, data analysts, and quantitative methodologists in the physical and social/behavioral sciences,
- Video of "The Legacy of Computer Science" talk for ArsDigita University, 2001
- Works by or about Gerald Jay Sussman in libraries (WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog which itemizes the collections of more than 71,000 libraries which participate in the Online Computer Library Center global cooperative. It is built and maintained collectively by the participating libraries from more than ninety countries. Created in 1971, it contains more than 90 million different records pointing to catalog)
Categories: GNU project | American computer scientists | Artificial intelligence researchers | American educators | American electrical engineers | Lisp programming language | Programming language designers | Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni | Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty | American mathematicians | 20th-century mathematicians | 21st-century mathematicians | American academics | American Jews | Jewish scientists | Members of the Free Software Foundation board of directors | Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science | Fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery | Fellows of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers | Free software programmers | GNU people | Living people | History of artificial intelligence
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... Patricia Jean Simon (Makanda); Gerald Skoning (Chicago); Arthur M. Sussman (Chicago); Roger L. Taylor (Elmhurst); Rolf Thienemann (Rockford); ...
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Gerald Sussman Ph D Professor of Urban Studies and Planning and Speech Communication B A 1967 history and government Fairleigh Dickinson University M A 1975 Asian
graham
Wed, 13 Dec 2006 13:46:15 GM
new from the monthly review. always worth a read. this article breaks down the myth that the us had any intention on building democracy in the post-soviet states. something we all know implicitly, of-course, but it is good to have the ...
