Dana Stewart Scott | |
---|---|
Born |
Berkeley, California |
October 11, 1932
Fields |
Computer Science Mathematics Philosophy |
Institutions |
University of California, Berkeley Stanford Oxford University Carnegie Mellon University |
Alma mater | B.A. (mathematics) 1954, University of California, Berkeley Ph.D. 1958, Princeton University |
Thesis | Convergent Sequences of Complete Theories (1958) |
Doctoral advisor | Alonzo Church |
Doctoral students | Andrej Bauer Krister Segerberg Lars Birkedal Jack Copeland Michael Fourman Kenneth Kunen Angus Macintyre Ketan Mulmuley Marko Petkovšek Fred S. Roberts David Turner |
Known for | Automata theory, semantics of programming languages |
Notable awards |
Leroy P. Steele Prize (1972) ACM Turing Award (1976) Tarski Lectures (1989) Harold Pender Award (1990) Rolf Schock Prizes in Logic and Philosophy (1997) |
Dana Stewart Scott (born October 11, 1932) 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. His research career involved computer science, mathematics, and philosophy. His work on automata theory earned him the ACM Turing Award in 1976, while his collaborative work with Christopher Strachey in the 1970s laid the foundations of modern approaches to the semantics of programming languages. He has worked also on modal logic, topology, and category theory.
He received his BA in Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1954. He wrote his Ph.D. thesis on Convergent Sequences of Complete Theories under the supervision of Alonzo Church while at Princeton, and defended his thesis in 1958. Solomon Feferman (2005) writes of this period:
Scott began his studies in logic at Berkeley in the early 50s while still an undergraduate. His unusual abilities were soon recognized and he quickly moved on to graduate classes and seminars with Tarski and became part of the group that surrounded him, including me and Richard Montague; so it was at that time that we became friends. Scott was clearly in line to do a Ph. D. with Tarski, but they had a falling out for reasons explained in our biography. Upset by that, Scott left for Princeton where he finished with a Ph. D. under Alonzo Church. But it was not long before the relationship between them was mended to the point that Tarski could say to him, "I hope I can call you my student."