Feigenbaum was born inWeehawken, New Jersey in 1936 to a culturallyJewish family, and moved to nearbyNorth Bergen, where he lived until the age of 16, when he left to start college.[9][10] His hometown did not have a secondary school of its own, and so he choseWeehawken High School for its college preparatory program.[10][11] He was inducted into his high school's hall of fame in 1996.[12]
Feigenbaum completed his undergraduate degree (1956), and aPh.D. (1960),[2][13][14] at Carnegie Institute of Technology (nowCarnegie Mellon University). In his PhD thesis, carried out under the supervision ofHerbert A. Simon, he developedEPAM, one of the first computer models of how people learn.[15]
During undergrad years, he took a graduate-level course called "Ideas and Social Change" taught byJames March. March introduced him to Herbert Simon. Feigenbaum took a course "Mathematical Models in the Social Sciences" taught by Simon, where Simon announced theLogic Theorist with "Over the Christmas holidays, Al Newell and I invented a thinking machine." Simon gave Feigenbaum a manual ofIBM 701, which he read in one night. Feigenbaum later called it a "born-again experience".[16]
Teknowledge was founded in July 1981 by 20 computer scientists from Stanford University, MIT, and the Rand Corporation. The company's staff "represent about 1/3 of the world's high-level expertise in the design and development of knowledge systems". Its aim was to allow people without training in knowledge-engineering technology to use it for commercial and industrial applications.[18]
1986: Elected a member of theNational Academy of Engineering for pioneering contributions to knowledge engineering and expert systems technology, and for leadership in education and technology of applied artificial intelligence.
1994:Turing Award jointly withRaj Reddy for "pioneering the design and construction of large scale artificial intelligence systems, demonstrating the practical importance and potential commercial impact of artificial intelligence technology".
2012. Made fellow of theComputer History Museum "for his pioneering work in artificial intelligence and expert systems."[22]
2013.IEEE Computer SocietyComputer Pioneer Award for "pioneering work in Artificial Intelligence, including development of the basic principles and methods of knowledge-based systems and their practical applications".
Feigenbaum, Edward; Feldman, Julian, eds. (1963).Computers and thought : a collection of articles (1 ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.OCLC593742426.[23][24][25]
Feigenbaum, Edward A.; McCorduck, Pamela (1983).The fifth generation: artificial intelligence and Japan's computer challenge to the world. Reading, Mass: Addison-Wesley.ISBN978-0-201-11519-2.
Feigenbaum, Edward A.; McCorduck, Pamela; Nii, H. P. (1988).The rise of the expert company: how visionary companies are using artificial intelligence to achieve higher productivity and profits. London: Macmillan London.ISBN978-0-333-49659-6.
^abKnuth, Don."Oral History of Edward Feigenbaum,Computer History Museum, 2007. Accessed October 23, 2015. "I was born in Weehawken, New Jersey, which is a town on the Palisades opposite New York. In fact, it’s the place where the Lincoln Tunnel dives under the water and comes up in New York. Then my parents moved up the Palisades four miles to a town called North Bergen, and there I lived until I was 16 and went off to Carnegie Tech."
^Lederberg, Joshua."How DENDRAL was conceived and born",United States National Library of Medicine, November 5, 1987. Accessed October 23, 2015. "I became an expert on its use. I even remember dragging it with me miles on the bus to Weehawken High School, heavy as it was, just to show off my skill with this marvelous technology that no other kid in the high school knew anything about."
