Jack Minker | |
|---|---|
 Jack Minker in 2007 | |
| Born | (1927-07-04)4 July 1927 |
| Died | 9 April 2021(2021-04-09) (aged 93) |
| Alma mater | Brooklyn College (AB) University of Wisconsin (MS) University of Pennsylvania (PhD) |
| Awards | ACM Fellow[when?] Allen Newell Award(2005) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Computer Science |
| Institutions | University of Maryland, College Park |
| Thesis | Some Applications of Orthogonal Systems of Functions to Interpolation and Analytic Continuation (1959) |
| Doctoral advisor | Bernard Epstein[1] |
| Doctoral students | |
| Website | prism |
Jack Minker (4 July 1927 – 9 April 2021)[3][4] was a leading authority inartificial intelligence,deductive databases,logic programming andnon-monotonic reasoning.[5] He was also an internationally recognized leader in the field of human rights of computer scientists. He was anEmeritus Professor in theUniversity of Maryland Department of Computer Science, which is part of the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences.[6]
Minker was born on July 4, 1927[3] inBrooklyn, New York. He received hisBachelor of Arts degree fromBrooklyn College in 1949,[3]Master of Arts degree from theUniversity of Wisconsin in 1950,[3] andPhD from theUniversity of Pennsylvania in 1959 for research supervised byBernard Epstein.[1]
Minker started his career in industry in 1951, working at theBell Aircraft Corporation,RCA, and the Auerbach Corporation.[7] He joined the University of Maryland in 1967, becoming Professor of Computer Science in 1971 and the first chair of the department in 1974.[8] He became Professor Emeritus in 1998.[8]
Minker was one of the founders of the area of deductive databases and disjunctive logic programming. He has made important contributions to semanticquery optimization and to cooperative and informative answers for deductive databases. He has also developed a theoretical basis for disjunctive databases and disjunctive logic programs, developing theGeneralized Closed World Assumption (GCWA).[9]
Minker has over 150 refereed publications and has edited or co-edited five books on deductive databases, logic programming, and the use of logic in artificial intelligence. Hewas Founding Editor-in-Chief of the journalTheory and Practice of Logic Programming.
Minker has been vice-chairman of the Committee of Concerned Scientists since 1973,[10][11] and vice-chairman of the Committee on Scientific Freedom and Human Rights (CSFHR) of the Association for Computing Machinery from 1980 to 1989.[12] He led the struggle for the release ofAnatoly Shcharansky andAlexander Lerner from the late Soviet Union. He also campaigned on behalf ofAndrei Sakharov and his wife,Yelena Bonner. His memoir,Scientific Freedom & Human Rights: Scientists of Conscience During the Cold War, was published in 2012 by IEEE Computer Society Press. His former doctoral students includeTerry Gaasterland.[2]
Minker was elected a Fellow of theAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 1989, founding Fellow of theAssociation for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) in 1990, Fellow of theInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in 1991,[13] and founding Fellow of theAssociation for Computing Machinery (ACM) in 1994.[14]
He received the ACM Outstanding Contribution Award for his work on human rights in 1985, the ACM Recognition of Service Award in 1989, the University of Maryland President's Medal for 1996, and the prestigious ACM Allen Newell Award for 2005. The Allen Newell Award is a recognition by the Association for Computing Machinery to individuals that have contributed to the breadth of knowledge within computer science and the bridging between computer science and other disciplines. He also received the 2011 Heinz R. Pagels Human Rights Award from theNew York Academy of Sciences for his work on behalf of scientific freedom and human rights for scientists.[15]
for contributions to deductive databases, disjunctive logic programming, and artificial intelligence
For championing the rights of scientists to practice their profession freely and openly, for bringing to public attention the names of scientists deprived of their scientific freedom and human rights, and for giving these victims hope and making them aware of ACM's support.
