Not sure if there are others on this list who are CMU grads, but I recently
visited their website and was struck by 2 interesting items. They aired a
national ad during the NCAAs which can be seen on their homepage. And
Herbert Simon - one of my the most interesting and enjoyable professors I
have ever had recently passed away.
Nobel Laureate Herbert A. Simon Dies at Age 84
A Tribute to Herbert A. Simon memorial service will take place on Monday,
March 19 at 5 p.m. in the University Center at Carnegie Mellon University.
It is open to the public.
Carnegie Mellon University Professor Herbert A. Simon, winner of the 1978
Nobel Prize in Economics and many prestigious international scientific
awards for his work in cognitive psychology and computer science, died
today (Feb. 9) at the age of 84.
Simon died at the UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pa., from
complications from surgery in January.
His research ranged from computer science to psychology, administration and
economics. The thread of continuity through all of his work was his
interest in human decision-making and problem-solving processes and the
implications of these processes for social institutions.
He made extensive use of the computer as a tool for both simulating human
thinking and augmenting it with artificial intelligence. Simon was widely
considered to be a founder of the field of artificial intelligence.
A member of the Carnegie Mellon faculty since 1949, Simon had important
roles in the formation of several of its departments and schools, including
the Graduate School of Industrial Administration, the School of Computer
Science and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences’ Psychology
Department, where he was instrumental in the development of its
internationally renowned cognitive science group.
“For more than 50 years, Herb had an enormous impact on the development of
Carnegie Mellon into the major research university it is today,” said
President Jared L. Cohon. “His vision helped to shape some of the
university’s world-class schools and departments, such as the School of
Computer Science, the Graduate School of Industrial Administration and the
Psychology Department. And his contributions extend well beyond the campus.
Few, if any, scientists and scholars in the world have had as great an
influence as has Herb across so many fields—economics, computer science,
psychology and artificial intelligence among them.”
“No one in Carnegie Mellon’s history more heavily influenced the
university’s intellectual and scholarly approach or its academic culture as
much as Herb Simon,” said former university President Robert Mehrabian.
During his distinguished career, Simon received international acclaim and
many honors.
In 1975, he earned the prestigious A.M. Turing Award for his work in
computer science. In 1978, he received the Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize in
Economic Sciences, and in 1986, the National Medal of Science.
In 1993, he won the American Psychological Association Award for
Outstanding Lifetime Contributions to Psychology. In 1994, he was one of
only 14 foreign scientists ever to be inducted into the Chinese Academy of
Sciences.
In 1995, two prominent awards were presented to Simon by the International
Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence (the Award for Research
Excellence) and the American Society of Public Administration (the Dwight
Waldo Award).
He also was inducted into the Automation Hall of Fame in Chicago because of
his pioneering work in the field of artificial intelligence. The Automation
Hall of Fame at the Chicago Museum of Science and Technology recognizes
individuals who have made major contributions to the practice and
philosophy of manufacturing technology through advanced methods and research.
Some 24 colleges and universities presented Simon with honorary doctor’s
degrees. He received major national awards from the Association for
Computing Machinery, the American Political Science Association, the
Academy of Management, the Operations Research Society and the Institute of
Management Science, among others.
Simon was a Fellow or member of many prominent professional and academic
organizations, including the National Academy of Sciences, the American
Association for Artificial Intelligence, the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the
American Economic Association, the American Psychological Association, the
Econometric Society, the International Academy of Management, and the
academic and scientific honoraries Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi. He also was
an honorary member of the British Psychological Society.
Simon was an emeritus life trustee of Carnegie Mellon, where he had been a
member of the board since 1973. Until his recent illness, Simon was
actively teaching and doing research at Carnegie Mellon.
This past fall, Carnegie Mellon honored Simon by naming its new computer
science facility after him and the late Computer Science Professor Allen
Newell. Both were recognized as founders of the fields of artificial
intelligence and cognitive psychology. At a symposium in his honor, Simon
commented extensively on the role of computing in the future. A full text
of his remarks can be found at: http://www.ulib.org
During his career, Simon has advised governments, business and industry.
Speaking invitations took him all over the world and close to home.
In addition to an immense publications list that includes books and journal
articles, Simon’s pursuits in the field of computer science and psychology
were detailed in an autobiography, Models of My Life, published in 1991 and
re-issued in 1996. Profiles of Simon or stories about his research appeared
in nearly every national newspaper and several magazines, including
Psychology Today, Forbes magazine and Omni.
Models of Bounded Rationality, Simon’s volume of economics papers, and
Sciences of the Artificial, about his work in the field of artificial
intelligence, are considered to be classics. A fourth edition of
Administrative Behavior was published in 1997, the 50th anniversary of its
original date of publication.
Born in 1916 in Milwaukee, Simon earned his bachelor’s (1936) and doctor’s
(1943) degrees in political science at the University of Chicago. He also
held research and faculty positions at the University of California
(Berkeley) and the Illinois Institute of Technology before coming to
Carnegie Mellon.
More biographical information about Simon’s many research and teaching
interests can be found at:
http://www.psy.cmu.edu/psy/faculty/hsimon/hsimon.html
He is survived by his wife, Dorothea P. Simon, and three children,
Katherine Simon Frank of Minneapolis, Peter A. Simon of Bryan, Tex., and
Barbara M. Simon of Wilder, Vt., six grandchildren, three
step-grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Friends were received from 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 11, at the
Samson Funeral Home, 537 North Neville St. The burial was private.
A memorial service will take place on Monday, March 19 at 5 p.m. in the
University Center at Carnegie Mellon University. It is open to the public.
The family requests in lieu of flowers that donations in Dr. Simon’s memory
be made to Carnegie Mellon University, the First Unitarian Church of
Pittsburgh, Morewood Avenue, Oakland, or a charity of the donor’s choice.
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