Stephen Wolfram shook up the scientific world from an early age, and has been recognized as a leading innovator in scientific computing since the first version of his computer program Mathematica was released in 1988.

Stephen Wolfram was born in London on August 29, 1959. His mother was a professor of philosophy at Oxford, and his father was a businessman and part-time novelist. Stephen attended the Dragon School at Oxford from 1967 to 1972, then entered Eton on a scholarship. He published his first scientific paper at the age of 15, which concerned particle physics. At 17, he entered Oxford, advancing rapidly through his studies. In 1978, he came to the United States to attend the California Institute of Technology; he received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics a year later, at age 20.

He received a "genius" grant from the MacArthur Foundation in 1981, becoming the youngest person ever to receive such an honor. The award was...