PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Danny Kopec

Danny Kopec was a computer scientist whose research linked artificial intelligence with chess and intelligent tutoring. At Dartmouth, he studied psychology and mathematics before earning a doctorate in Machine Intelligence at Edinburgh; his dissertation compared machine representations of chess knowledge. With Ivan Bratko, he helped develop the Bratko-Kopec Test for chess-playing computers. His teaching posts took him from McGill and San Diego State to the University of Maine, Carleton, and the United States Coast Guard Academy; his AI work included an intelligent tutoring paper and the AIDS SmartBook. He became a professor of computer science at Brooklyn College and died in 2016.

Works
101
Citations
200
h-index
7
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 19 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1975–1983

    Studying machine intelligence

    He earns a B.A. in psychology and mathematics at Dartmouth in 1975 and a PhD in Machine Intelligence at Edinburgh in 1983; his 1982 dissertation compares four knowledge representations for chess endgames and studies their use as advice for human beginners.

  2. 1980–1985

    Chess titles and an IM rank

    He wins the Scottish championships in 1980 and 1981, moves to Canada and later the United States, and earns the International Master title in 1985.

  3. 1982

    The Bratko-Kopec Test

    With Ivan Bratko, he co-creates the Bratko-Kopec Test in 1982 to evaluate the strength of chess-playing computers.

  4. 1983–1996

    Teaching across five institutions

    He holds visiting assistant professor posts at McGill's School of Computer Science (1983–1984) and San Diego State's Mathematics Department (1984–1986), then teaches AI and intelligent tutoring systems at the University of Maine's Computer Science Department as an assistant professor (1986–1992). He serves as visiting associate professor at Carleton's School of Computer Science (1992–1993) and associate professor at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy's Computer Science Department (1993–1996).

  5. 1991

    An intelligent tutor for STDs

    In 1991, he coauthors “An Educational Theory for Transferring Domain Expert Knowledge Towards the Development of an Intelligent Tutoring Systems for STDs” with Carol Wood and Michael Brody.

  6. 1994

    Publishing the AIDS SmartBook

    In 1994, he and Carol Wood publish “Introduction to SmartBooks,” a booklet for the interactive AIDS SmartBook educational software.

  7. 2000

    Graduate deputy chair at Brooklyn

    In 2000, he serves as Brooklyn College's Graduate Deputy Chair and advises students in its Computer Science MA and Information Systems MS programs.

  8. 2016

    Professor and AI researcher

    By 2016, he is a professor of computer science at Brooklyn College. His research spans intelligent tutoring systems, computer chess, and technological mishaps. He dies in 2016.

Career

  1. 2000–2016Brooklyn CollegeGraduate Deputy Chair, Professor of Computer Science
  2. 1993–1996United States Coast Guard AcademyAssociate Professor
  3. 1992–1993Carleton UniversityVisiting Associate Professor
  4. 1986–1992University of MaineAssistant Professor
  5. 1984–1986San Diego State UniversityVisiting Assistant Professor
  6. 1983–1984McGill UniversityVisiting Assistant Professor

Education

  1. 1983University of EdinburghPhD in Machine Intelligence
  2. 1975Dartmouth CollegeB.A. in Psychology and Mathematics

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Most-cited works

  1. Artificial Intelligence in the 21st Century2022 · De Gruyter eBooks · 56 citations
  2. Revisiting novice programmer errors2007 · ACM SIGCSE Bulletin · 19 citations
  3. CS1: perspectives on programming languages and the breadth-first approach2000 · Journal of computing sciences in colleges · 17 citations
  4. Failures in complex systems2007 · ACM SIGCSE Bulletin · 15 citations
  5. Mismatch Between Machine Representations and Human Concepts: Dangers and Remedies1983 · Medical Entomology and Zoology · 15 citations

From OpenAlex, as of 19 October 2026.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes City University of New York. Our estimates of where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led, from education records in cited biographies.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers rose from 2% to 32%Includes City University of New York. We estimate where leading AI researchers worked when their most-cited papers appeared. The company share rose from 2% in 1975–1979 to 32% in 2020–2024.
  3. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes McGill University. Our estimates of combined and median h-index at AI organizations, using current affiliations and OpenAlex records.
  4. Stanford University trained or employed 20 of the 89 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes McGill University. Stanford University trained or employed 20 of the 89 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and employment links for major-prize and best-paper winners.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Danny Kopec yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. 1994/res sci.brooklyn.cuny.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  2. Human and Machine Representations of Knowledge era.ed.ac.uk. Checked 19 October 2026.
  3. Kopec Chess Services | About Dr. Kopec kopecchess.com. Checked 19 October 2026.
  4. U.S. Chess Loses 3 Influential Figures - Chess.com chess.com. Checked 19 October 2026.
  5. Danny Kopec - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 19 October 2026.