Biographical sketch: (15-Sep-1999)

Biographical sketch:

John McCarthy is Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University. He has been interested in artificial intelligence since 1948 and coined the term in 1955. His main artificial intelligence research area has been the formalization of common sense knowledge. He invented the LISP programming language in 1958, developed the concept of time-sharing in the late fifties and early sixties, and has worked on proving that computer programs meet their specifications since the early sixties. He invented the circumscription method of non-monotonic reasoning in 1978.

His main research (1995) is formalizing common sense knowledge and reasoning. His articles are on John McCarthy's main web page.

McCarthy received the A. M. Turing award of the Association for Computing Machinery in 1971 and was elected President of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence for 1983-84 and is a Fellow of that organization. He received the first Research Excellence Award of the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence in 1985, the Kyoto Prize of the Inamori Foundation in November 1988, and the National Medal of Science in 1990. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences. He has received honorary degreees from Linkoping University in Sweden, the Polytechnic University of Madrid, Colby College, Trinity College, Dublin and Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. He has been declared a Distinguished Alumnus by the California Institute of Technology.

BORN: September 4, 1927 in Boston, Massachusetts EDUCATION: High School Diploma - Belmont High School, Los Angeles, 1943 B.S. (Mathematics) California Institute of Technology, 1948 Ph.D. (Mathematics) Princeton University, 1951 HONORS AND SOCIETIES: American Academy of Arts and Sciences American Society for the Advancement of Science American Mathematical Society Association for Computing Machinery Sigma Xi Sloan Fellow in Physical Science, 1957-59 ACM National Lecturer, 1961 A. M. Turing Award from Association for Computing Machinery, 1971 Editorial Board, Artificial Intelligence Journal, 1975 - present Academic Advisor, National Legal Center for Public Information, 1976 - 1980 Board of Directors, Information International, Inc., 1962--1995. Board of Directors, Inference Corporation, 1983--1991. Board of Directors, Mad Intelligent Systems, 1987--1991 Sigma Xi National Lecturer, 1977 Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, 1979--1980. President, American Association for Artificial Intelligence, 1983--84 Research Excellence Award, International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 1985 Elected to National Academy of Engineering, 1987 Kyoto Prize, 1988 Elected to National Academy of Sciences, 1989 National Medal of Science, 1990 PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Procter Fellow, Princeton University, 1950-51 Higgins Research Instructor in Mathematics, Princeton University, 1951--53 Acting Assistant Professor of Mathematics, Stanford University, Sept. 1953 - Jan. 1955 Assistant Professor of Mathematics, Dartmouth College, Feb. 1955 - June 1958 Assistant Professor of Communication Science, M.I.T., 1958 - 1961 Associate Professor of Communication Science, M.I.T., 1961 - 1962 Professor of Computer Science Stanford University, 1962 - present Director, Artificial Intelligence Laboratory Stanford University, 1965 - 1980 Charles M. Pigott Professor of Engineering, Stanford University, 1987-1994 Bobby R. Inman Professor of Computer Science, University of Texas, Fall 1987