Michael Fourman
Encyclopedia
Michael Paul Fourman, FBCS
(born September 12, 1950) is Professor of Computer Systems at the University of Edinburgh
in Scotland
, UK, and was Head of the School of Informatics
from 2001-2009.
Fourman is interested in applications of logic
in computer science
, artificial intelligence
, and cognitive science
— more specifically, formal models of digital systems, system design tools, proof assistants, categorical semantics and propositional planning.
in Mathematics
with other subjects (Philosophy and Computer Science) from the University of Bristol
in 1971, then his MSc
in Mathematical Logic
from the University of Oxford
in 1972. He wrote his DPhil thesis Connections between Category Theory and Logic under the supervision of Dana Scott
at Oxford, defending his thesis in 1974.
postdoctoral Research Fellow and Junior Research Fellow of Wolfson College
, in Oxford, until 1976, when he moved to the USA, first as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Clark University
in Worcester, Massachusetts
, then, from 1977–1982, as JF Ritt
Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Columbia University
in New York.
In 1983 he moved, with a Science and Engineering Research Council
Fellowship, to the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at Brunel University
. He was appointed to a Readership, and then to the Chair of Formal Systems, at Brunel in 1986.
Fourman was co-founder and Technical Director of Abstract Hardware Limited (AHL), a company formed in 1986. He was central in the development of the LAMBDA system (Logic And Mathematics Behind Design Automation) to aid hardware design, a tool implemented in the SML
programming language and marketed by AHL. He left the company in 1997.
In 1988 he joined the Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science
at the University of Edinburgh
, and was appointed to the Chair of Computer Systems in the Department of Computer Science.
In 1998 he was founding Head of the Division of Informatics, which became the current School of Informatics
, incorporating the former Department of Artificial Intelligence, the Artificial Intelligence Applications Institute
, the Centre for Cognitive Science, the Human Communication Research Centre, and the Department of Computer Science.
He has again been Head of the School of Informatics since August 2002. His highest acclaim was in 2008 when a multi-million pound Informatics department was aptly named after him: 'The Informatics Fourman'.
He has held visiting positions in Paris
(1975), Utrecht
(1977, 1980), Cambridge
(1979–80), Sydney
(1982), Montreal
(1983), and Perth
(1994).
FBCS
FBCS is an abbreviation for Fellow of the British Computer Society . This is the most senior professional grade in the BCS. It is available to applicants with a minimum of five years of Information Technology experience in a senior IT position or who have an established eminent or authoritative...
(born September 12, 1950) is Professor of Computer Systems at the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, UK, and was Head of the School of Informatics
Informatics (academic field)
Informatics is the science of information, the practice of information processing, and the engineering of information systems. Informatics studies the structure, algorithms, behavior, and interactions of natural and artificial systems that store, process, access and communicate information...
from 2001-2009.
Fourman is interested in applications of logic
Logic
In philosophy, Logic is the formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning. Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, semantics, and computer science...
in computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
, artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. 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 that maximize its...
, and cognitive science
Cognitive science
Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary scientific study of mind and its processes. It examines what cognition is, what it does and how it works. It includes research on how information is processed , represented, and transformed in behaviour, nervous system or machine...
— more specifically, formal models of digital systems, system design tools, proof assistants, categorical semantics and propositional planning.
Qualifications
Fourman received a BScBSC
BSC is a three-letter abbreviation that may refer to:Science and technology* Bachelor of Science , an undergraduate degree* Base Station Controller, part of a mobile phone network; see: Base Station subsystem...
in Mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
with other subjects (Philosophy and Computer Science) from the University of Bristol
University of Bristol
The University of Bristol is a public research university located in Bristol, United Kingdom. One of the so-called "red brick" universities, it received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876.The University is...
in 1971, then his MSc
MSC
- Computers:* Mario Strikers Charged* Microsoft Common Console Document, file for the Microsoft Management Console* Microelectronics Support Centre* Microsoft Corporation* MIDI Show Control* Message Sequence Chart...
in Mathematical Logic
Mathematical logic
Mathematical logic is a subfield of mathematics with close connections to foundations of mathematics, theoretical computer science and philosophical logic. The field includes both the mathematical study of logic and the applications of formal logic to other areas of mathematics...
from the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
in 1972. He wrote his DPhil thesis Connections between Category Theory and Logic under the supervision of Dana Scott
Dana Scott
Dana Stewart Scott is the emeritus Hillman University Professor of Computer Science, Philosophy, and Mathematical Logic at Carnegie Mellon University; he is now retired and lives in Berkeley, California...
at Oxford, defending his thesis in 1974.
Career
He continued to work with Scott as an SRCScience and Engineering Research Council
The Science and Engineering Research Council used to be the UK agency in charge of publicly funded scientific and engineering research activities including astronomy, biotechnology and biological sciences, space research and particle physics...
postdoctoral Research Fellow and Junior Research Fellow of Wolfson College
Wolfson College, Oxford
Wolfson College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Located in north Oxford along the River Cherwell, Wolfson is an all-graduate college with over sixty governing body fellows, in addition to both research and junior research fellows. It caters to a wide range of...
, in Oxford, until 1976, when he moved to the USA, first as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Clark University
Clark University
Clark University is a private research university and liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts.Founded in 1887, it is the oldest educational institution founded as an all-graduate university. Clark now also educates undergraduates...
in Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....
, then, from 1977–1982, as JF Ritt
Joseph Ritt
Joseph Fels Ritt was an American mathematician at Columbia University in the early 20th century.After beginning his undergraduate studies at City College of New York, Ritt received his B.A. from George Washington University in 1913. He then earned a doctorate in mathematics from Columbia...
Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in New York.
In 1983 he moved, with a Science and Engineering Research Council
Science and Engineering Research Council
The Science and Engineering Research Council used to be the UK agency in charge of publicly funded scientific and engineering research activities including astronomy, biotechnology and biological sciences, space research and particle physics...
Fellowship, to the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at Brunel University
Brunel University
Brunel University is a public research university located in Uxbridge, London, United Kingdom. The university is named after the Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel....
. He was appointed to a Readership, and then to the Chair of Formal Systems, at Brunel in 1986.
Fourman was co-founder and Technical Director of Abstract Hardware Limited (AHL), a company formed in 1986. He was central in the development of the LAMBDA system (Logic And Mathematics Behind Design Automation) to aid hardware design, a tool implemented in the SML
Standard ML
Standard ML is a general-purpose, modular, functional programming language with compile-time type checking and type inference. It is popular among compiler writers and programming language researchers, as well as in the development of theorem provers.SML is a modern descendant of the ML...
programming language and marketed by AHL. He left the company in 1997.
In 1988 he joined the Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science
Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science
The Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science is based in the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. It has an international reputation in theoretical computer science, mathematical logic and category theory.- Current :...
at the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
, and was appointed to the Chair of Computer Systems in the Department of Computer Science.
In 1998 he was founding Head of the Division of Informatics, which became the current School of Informatics
University of Edinburgh School of Informatics
The School of Informatics is an academic unit of the University of Edinburgh, in Scotland, responsible for research, teaching, outreach and commercialisation in Informatics....
, incorporating the former Department of Artificial Intelligence, the Artificial Intelligence Applications Institute
Artificial Intelligence Applications Institute
The Artificial Intelligence Applications Institute at the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh is a non-profit technology transfer organisation that promotes the benefits of the application of Artificial Intelligence research to commercial, industrial, and government organisations...
, the Centre for Cognitive Science, the Human Communication Research Centre, and the Department of Computer Science.
He has again been Head of the School of Informatics since August 2002. His highest acclaim was in 2008 when a multi-million pound Informatics department was aptly named after him: 'The Informatics Fourman'.
He has held visiting positions in Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
(1975), Utrecht
Utrecht University
Utrecht University is a university in Utrecht, Netherlands. It is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands and one of the largest in Europe. Established March 26, 1636, it had an enrollment of 29,082 students in 2008, and employed 8,614 faculty and staff, 570 of which are full professors....
(1977, 1980), Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
(1979–80), Sydney
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
(1982), Montreal
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
(1983), and Perth
University of Western Australia
The University of Western Australia was established by an Act of the Western Australian Parliament in February 1911, and began teaching students for the first time in 1913. It is the oldest university in the state of Western Australia and the only university in the state to be a member of the...
(1994).