Joseph A. Goguen

Also known as Joseph Goguen

Joseph A. Goguen was a computer scientist whose work on fuzzy logic, algebraic specification and institution theory shaped formal reasoning in artificial intelligence and computer science. After earning mathematics degrees at Harvard University in 1963 and the University of California, Berkeley in 1968, he originated the OBJ family of programming languages, implementing initial algebra semantics through term rewriting by the mid-1970s. From 1979 to 1988 he worked at SRI International and Stanford's Center for the Study of Language and Information, introducing the noninterference security model with José Meseguer in 1982 and institution theory with Rod Burstall in 1984, before holding a computing science chair at Oxford from 1988 to 1996. Joining UC San Diego in January 1996 to direct its Meaning and Computation Lab, he coauthored Algebraic Semantics of Imperative Programs in 1996, won a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Senior Fellowship in 1999, co-edited Software Engineering with OBJ in 2000, and died in 2006.

Born: 1941
Died: 2006
Badges: Pioneer

Years link to their sources.

Timeline

1960s

Harvard and Berkeley degrees

He earns a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Harvard University in 1963 and a PhD in mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1968, and teaches at Berkeley, Chicago and UCLA. His research interests include fuzzy logic.
1970s

Algebraic specification and OBJ

He helps establish algebraic specification, including abstract data types, and originates the OBJ family of programming languages. By the mid-1970s, early OBJ versions implement initial algebra semantics through term rewriting. His work on institution theory influences universal logic.
1979–1988

Research at SRI International

From 1979 to 1988, he works as a Senior Staff Scientist at SRI International and as a Senior Member of the Center for the Study of Language and Information at Stanford University. With José Meseguer, he first describes the noninterference multilevel security policy model in 1982 and develops it further in 1984. In 1984, he and Rod Burstall publish Introducing Institutions in Springer's Logics of Programs volume.
1988–1996

Oxford's Computing Science chair

In 1988, he fills Oxford's new Chair, serving from 1988 to 1996 as Professor of Computing Science in the Programming Research Group of the Oxford University Computing Lab, Director of the Centre for Requirements and Foundations, and a Fellow of St. Anne's College. He founds the Centre for Requirements and Foundations at Oxford with funding from BT in 1991. In January 1992, he and Rod Burstall publish Institutions: Abstract model theory for specification and programming in the Journal of the ACM.
1996

Professor and lab director

In January 1996, he becomes a professor in UC San Diego's Department of Computer Science and Engineering and directs its Meaning and Computation Lab. With Grant Malcolm, he publishes Algebraic Semantics of Imperative Programs at MIT Press in 1996, an executable introduction to formal reasoning about imperative programs.
1999

A Japan Society fellowship

In 1999, he wins a Senior Fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
2000

Software Engineering with OBJ

In 2000, he and Grant Malcolm edit Software Engineering with OBJ: algebraic specification in action, published by Kluwer.
2006

A decade at UC San Diego

He dies on July 3, 2006, after serving as a faculty member at UC San Diego's CSE for more than a decade.