Edward F. Moore
Edward Moore was an American mathematician and computer scientist known for the Moore machine and work on self-reproducing machines. Born in Baltimore in 1925, he earned a chemistry bachelor's degree at Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1947 and a mathematics doctorate at Brown University in 1950, then worked at Illinois through 1952. At Bell Labs, he and George Mealy advanced automata theory; in 1956 he presented the Moore machine and proposed “Artificial Living Plants.” He published “Machine models of self reproduction” in 1962 and proved one half of the Garden of Eden theorem, with John Myhill publishing the converse in 1963. In 1964, Moore's paper placed the firing-squad problem in print; he became a professor of mathematics and computer science at Wisconsin–Madison in 1966, retired in 1985, and died in 2003.
Timeline
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1925–1950
Chemistry and mathematics degrees
Born in Baltimore in 1925, he earns a B.S. in chemistry from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1947 and a mathematics Ph.D. from Brown University in June 1950.
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1950–1952
Work at Illinois
He joins the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 1950 and works there through 1952.
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1950s
Automata theory at Bell Labs
At Bell Labs, he and George Mealy make fundamental contributions to automata theory in the late 1950s.
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1956
The Moore machine
The Moore machine takes his name, and he presents the concept in “Gedanken-experiments on Sequential Machines” in 1956. In October 1956, he proposes “Artificial Living Plants,” a design for machines that harvest materials to construct themselves.
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1962–1963
Machine self-reproduction
He publishes “Machine models of self reproduction” in 1962 and proves one half of the Garden of Eden theorem. John Myhill publishes the converse in 1963, completing the result for cellular automata.
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1964
The firing-squad problem
In 1964, Edward Moore at Bell Telephone Laboratories publishes a short paper that puts the firing-squad problem in print.
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1966–1985
Professor at Wisconsin
He becomes a professor of mathematics and computer science at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1966 and retires in 1985.
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2003
Death in 2003
He dies in 2003.
Sources and credits
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