Newell, Allen

American Scientist and Mathematician
1927–1992

A scientist and mathematician, Allen Newell is best remembered for his work and research on artificial intelligence (AI). Some of his most well known initiatives include the Logic Theorem Machine, a mechanical device that would be used to create new theorems, as well as the SOAR project, a research initiative that attempted to implement cognitive or rule-based computer simulations.

Newell was born in San Francisco, California, on March 19, 1927, the son of Dr. Robert R. Newell, a distinguished professor of radiology at Stanford Medical School, and Jeanette Le Valley Newell. He attended Lowell High School—the intellectual high school of San Francisco—where he was inspired academically and fell in love (at age sixteen) with fellow student Noel McKenna. Newell and McKenna married at age twenty and remained married for forty-five years.

Allen Newell.

Newell had no intention of...