Edward Fredkin

Edward Fredkin (October 2, 1934 – June 13, 2023) was an American computer scientist, physicist and businessman who was an early pioneer of digital physics.

Edward Fredkin
Fredkin working on PDP-1, c. 1960
Born(1934-10-02)October 2, 1934
DiedJune 13, 2023(2023-06-13) (aged 88)
NationalityAmerican
Alma materCalifornia Institute of Technology
Known forFredkin gate
Fredkin's paradox
Billiard-ball computer
Second-order cellular automaton
Trie data structure
AwardsDickson Prize in Science 1984
Scientific career
FieldsComputer science, physics, business
InstitutionsMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)
Capital Technologies, Inc.

Fredkin's primary contributions included work on reversible computing and cellular automata. While Konrad Zuse's book, Calculating Space (1969), mentioned the importance of reversible computation, the Fredkin gate represented the essential breakthrough. In more recent work, he used the term digital philosophy (DP).

During his career, Fredkin was a professor of computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Fairchild Distinguished Scholar at Caltech, a distinguished career professor at Carnegie Mellon University, and a Research Professor of Physics at Boston University.

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