About Stephen Wolfram
Stephen Wolfram is a well-known scientist and the creator of
Mathematica. He is widely regarded as one of the world's most
original scientists, as well as the most important innovator in
scientific and technical computing today.
Born in London in 1959, Wolfram was educated at Eton, Oxford, and Caltech.
He published his first scientific paper at the age of 15, and had received
his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Caltech by the age of 20. Wolfram's
early scientific work was mainly in high-energy physics, quantum field
theory, and cosmology, and included several now-classic results. Having
started to use computers in 1973, Wolfram rapidly became a leader in the
emerging field of scientific computing, and in 1979 he began the
construction of SMP--the first modern computer algebra system--which he
released commercially in 1981.
In recognition of his early work in physics and computing, Wolfram became
in 1981 the youngest recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship. Late in
1981 Wolfram then set out on an ambitious new direction in science: to
develop a general theory of complexity in nature. Wolfram's key idea was
to use computer experiments to study the behavior of simple computer
programs known as cellular automata. And in 1982 he made the first
in a series of startling discoveries about the origins of complexity.
The publication of Wolfram's papers on cellular automata led to
a major shift in scientific thinking, and laid the groundwork
for a new field of science that Wolfram named "complex systems
research."
Through the mid-1980s, Wolfram continued his work on complexity,
discovering a number of fundamental connections between computation and
nature, and inventing such concepts as computational irreducibility.
Wolfram's work led to a wide range of applications--and provided the main
scientific foundations for the popular movements known as complexity
theory and artificial life. Wolfram himself used his ideas to develop a
new randomness generation system and a new approach to computational
fluid dynamics--both of which are now in widespread use.
Following his scientific work on complex systems research, Wolfram in 1986
founded the first research center and the first journal in the field.
Then, after a highly successful career in academia--first at Caltech, then
at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and finally as Professor
of Physics, Mathematics, and Computer Science at the University of
Illinois--Wolfram launched Wolfram Research, Inc.
Wolfram began the development of Mathematica in late 1986. The
first version of Mathematica was released on June 23, 1988, and was
immediately hailed as a major advance in the field of computing. In the
years that followed, the popularity of Mathematica grew rapidly,
and Wolfram Research became established as a world leader in the
software industry, widely recognized for excellence in both technology and
business.
Following the release of Mathematica Version 2 in 1991, Wolfram
began to divide his time between Mathematica development and
scientific research. Building on his work from the mid-1980s, Wolfram made
a sequence of major discoveries to be described in his forthcoming book
A New Kind of Science. In addition to solving some fundamental
existing scientific problems, Wolfram's recent work points the way to a
whole new approach to science and mathematics.
Wolfram has been president and CEO of Wolfram Research since its
inception, and he continues to be personally responsible for the design of
the core Mathematica system. He divides his time between basic
research and the leadership of his company.
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