PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Ronald Fagin

Also known as Ron Fagin

Ronald Fagin's logic work reaches artificial intelligence through a 1985 Best Paper award at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence. He is an IBM Fellow at IBM Research – Silicon Valley. His 1973 doctoral thesis proved Fagin's theorem, and the work helped found finite model theory. In 1995 MIT Press published Reasoning About Knowledge, which he co-wrote with Joseph Halpern, Yoram Moses and Moshe Vardi. A paper he wrote with Amnon Lotem and Moni Naor won the 2014 Gödel Prize for introducing the threshold algorithm.

Timeline

  1. 1973

    Fagin's theorem in his thesis

    His 1973 doctoral thesis proves Fagin's theorem, and the work helps found finite model theory.

  2. 1973

    Joining IBM Research

    In 1973 he joins the IBM Research Division and spends two years at its Thomas J. Watson Research Center.

  3. 1985

    A Best Paper at IJCAI

    A Best Paper award at the 1985 International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence goes to him and Joseph Halpern.

  4. 1995

    Reasoning about knowledge

    MIT Press publishes Reasoning About Knowledge in 1995, a book Fagin co-wrote with Joseph Halpern, Yoram Moses and Moshe Vardi.

  5. 2011–2012

    Two IEEE technical awards

    The IEEE Technical Achievement Award comes in 2011, and the W. Wallace McDowell Award follows in 2012.

  6. 2014

    The threshold algorithm

    He shares the 2014 Gödel Prize with Amnon Lotem and Moni Naor for a paper that introduces the threshold algorithm.

  7. 2020

    A Church Award and NAS election

    The 2020 Alonzo Church Award goes to him, Phokion G. Kolaitis, Renée J. Miller, Lucian Popa and Wang Chiew Tan. The National Academy of Sciences elects him in 2020.

  8. As of October 2026

    An IBM Fellow in Silicon Valley

    He is an IBM Fellow at IBM Research – Silicon Valley.

Sources and credits

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  1. Fagin's theorem - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  2. Ronald Fagin - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  3. Ronald Fagin archive.dimacs.rutgers.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  4. Ronald Fagin Is Recipient of IEEE-CS W. Wallace McDowell Award computer.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  5. Godel Prize icalp2014.itu.dk. Checked 14 October 2026.
  6. Amnon Lotem Recognized with the 2014 Gödel Prize | UMD Department of Computer Science cs.umd.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  7. The Alonzo Church Award for Outstanding Contributions to Logic and Computation – ACM Special Interest Group on Logic and Computation siglog.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  8. List of members of the National Academy of Sciences (computer and information sciences) - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 14 October 2026.