Herbert A. Simon

Herbert Alexander Simon (June 15, 1916 – February 9, 2001) was an American political scientist whose work also influenced the fields of computer science, economics, and cognitive psychology. His primary research interest was decision-making within organizations and he is best known for the theories of "bounded rationality" and "satisficing". He received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1978 and the Turing Award in computer science in 1975. His research was noted for its interdisciplinary nature, spanning the fields of cognitive science, computer science, public administration, management, and political science. He was at Carnegie Mellon University for most of his career, from 1949 to 2001, where he helped found the Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science, one of the first such departments in the world.

Herbert A. Simon
Simon c.1981
Born
Herbert Alexander Simon

(1916-06-15)June 15, 1916
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
DiedFebruary 9, 2001(2001-02-09) (aged 84)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
EducationUniversity of Chicago
(B.A., 1936; Ph.D., 1943)
Known forBounded rationality
Satisficing
Information Processing Language
Logic Theorist
General Problem Solver
Spouse
Dorothea Isabel Pye
(m. 1939)
Children3
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsEconomics
Artificial intelligence
Computer science
Political science
InstitutionsCarnegie Mellon University
Doctoral advisorHenry Schultz
Other academic advisorsRudolf Carnap
Nicholas Rashevsky
Harold Lasswell
Charles Merriam
John R. Commons
Doctoral studentsEdward Feigenbaum
Allen Newell
Richard Waldinger
John Muth
William F. Pounds
Oliver E. Williamson
Saras Sarasvathy
David Bree

Notably, Simon was among the pioneers of several modern-day scientific domains such as artificial intelligence, information processing, decision-making, problem-solving, organization theory, and complex systems. He was among the earliest to analyze the architecture of complexity and to propose a preferential attachment mechanism to explain power law distributions.

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