Robert Kowalski
Encyclopedia
Robert "Bob" Anthony Kowalski (born May 15, 1941, in Bridgeport
, Connecticut
, USA) is a British logician and computer scientist
, who has spent most of his career in the United Kingdom
.
He was educated at the University of Chicago
, University of Bridgeport
(BA in mathematics
, 1963), Stanford University
(MSc in mathematics, 1966), University of Warsaw
and the University of Edinburgh
(PhD in computer science
, 1970). He was a Research Fellow
at the University of Edinburgh
(1970–75) and has been at Imperial College London
since 1975, attaining a chair in Computational Logic in 1982 and becoming Emeritus Professor in 1999. He was inducted as a Fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence
in 1991, of the European Co-ordinating Committee for Artificial Intelligence in 1999, and the Association for Computing Machinery
in 2001.
He began his research in the field of automated theorem proving
, developing both SL-resolution with Donald Kuehner and the connection graph proof procedure. However, he is best known for his contributions to the development of logic programming
, starting with the procedural interpretation of Horn clauses. He also developed the minimal model and the fixpoint semantics of Horn clause
s with Maarten van Emden. With Marek Sergot, he developed both the event calculus
and the application of logic programming to legal
reasoning. With Fariba Sadri, he developed an agent model in which beliefs are represented by logic programs and goals are represented by integrity constraints
.
Kowalski was one of the early developers of Abductive Logic Programming
, in which logic programs are augmented with integrity constraints and with undefined, abducible predicates. This work led to the demonstration with Phan Minh Dung and Francesca Toni that most logics for default reasoning can be regarded as special cases of assumption-based argumentation.
Bridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Located in Fairfield County, the city had an estimated population of 144,229 at the 2010 United States Census and is the core of the Greater Bridgeport area...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, USA) is a British logician and computer scientist
Computer scientist
A computer scientist is a scientist who has acquired knowledge of computer science, the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their application in computer systems....
, who has spent most of his career in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
He was educated at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, University of Bridgeport
University of Bridgeport
The University of Bridgeport is a private, independent, non-sectarian, coeducational university located on the Long Island Sound in the South End neighborhood of Bridgeport, Connecticut. The University is fully Accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges...
(BA 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...
, 1963), Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
(MSc in mathematics, 1966), University of Warsaw
University of Warsaw
The University of Warsaw is the largest university in Poland and one of the most prestigious, ranked as best Polish university in 2010 and 2011...
and 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...
(PhD 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...
, 1970). He was a Research Fellow
Fellow
A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...
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...
(1970–75) and has been at Imperial College London
Imperial College London
Imperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, specialising in science, engineering, business and medicine...
since 1975, attaining a chair in Computational Logic in 1982 and becoming Emeritus Professor in 1999. He was inducted as a Fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence
American Association for Artificial Intelligence
The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence or AAAI is an international, nonprofit, scientific society devoted to advancing the scientific understanding of the mechanisms underlying thought and intelligent behavior and their embodiment in machines...
in 1991, of the European Co-ordinating Committee for Artificial Intelligence in 1999, and the Association for Computing Machinery
Association for Computing Machinery
The Association for Computing Machinery is a learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership is more than 92,000 as of 2009...
in 2001.
He began his research in the field of automated theorem proving
Automated theorem proving
Automated theorem proving or automated deduction, currently the most well-developed subfield of automated reasoning , is the proving of mathematical theorems by a computer program.- Decidability of the problem :...
, developing both SL-resolution with Donald Kuehner and the connection graph proof procedure. However, he is best known for his contributions to the development of logic programming
Logic programming
Logic programming is, in its broadest sense, the use of mathematical logic for computer programming. In this view of logic programming, which can be traced at least as far back as John McCarthy's [1958] advice-taker proposal, logic is used as a purely declarative representation language, and a...
, starting with the procedural interpretation of Horn clauses. He also developed the minimal model and the fixpoint semantics of Horn clause
Horn clause
In mathematical logic, a Horn clause is a clause with at most one positive literal. They are named after the logician Alfred Horn, who first pointed out the significance of such clauses in 1951...
s with Maarten van Emden. With Marek Sergot, he developed both the event calculus
Event calculus
The event calculus is a logical language for representing and reasoning about actions and their effects first presented by Robert Kowalski and Marek Sergot in 1986.It was extended by Murray Shanahan and Rob Miller in the 1990s....
and the application of logic programming to legal
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
reasoning. With Fariba Sadri, he developed an agent model in which beliefs are represented by logic programs and goals are represented by integrity constraints
Integrity constraints
Integrity constraints are used to ensure accuracy and consistency of data in a relational database. Data integrity is handled in a relational database through the concept of referential integrity...
.
Kowalski was one of the early developers of Abductive Logic Programming
Abductive logic programming
Abductive logic programming is a high level knowledge-representation framework that can be used to solve problems declaratively based on abductive reasoning. It extends normal logic programming by allowing some predicates to be incompletely defined, declared as abducible predicates...
, in which logic programs are augmented with integrity constraints and with undefined, abducible predicates. This work led to the demonstration with Phan Minh Dung and Francesca Toni that most logics for default reasoning can be regarded as special cases of assumption-based argumentation.
Books
- "Logic for Problem Solving", North Holland, Elsevier, 1979.
- "Computational Logic and Human Thinking: How to be Artificially Intelligent", Cambridge University Press, 2011.
External links
- Robert Kowalski's home page
- Biography
- Biography (PDFPortable Document FormatPortable Document Format is an open standard for document exchange. This file format, created by Adobe Systems in 1993, is used for representing documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems....
) - Biographical Essay