Patrick J. Hayes
Encyclopedia
Patrick John Hayes or Pat Hayes (21 August 1944) is a British
computer scientist
who lives and works in the United States
. , he is a Senior Research Scientist at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition in Pensacola
, Florida
. He received a B.A. in Mathematics from University of Cambridge
and a Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence from University of Edinburgh
.
Pat Hayes has been an active, prolific, and influential figure in Artificial Intelligence
for over five decades. He has a reputation for being provocative but also quite humorous.
One of his earliest publications, with John McCarthy
, was the first thorough statement of the basis for the AI field of logical knowledge representation, introducing the notion of situation calculus
, representation and reasoning about time, fluents
, and the use of logic for representing knowledge in a computer.
His next major contribution was the seminal work on "Naive Physics", which anticipated the expert systems movement in many ways
and called for researchers in AI to actually try to represent knowledge in computers. Although not the first to mention the word "ontology" in computer science (that distinction belongs to John McCarthy), Hayes was one of the first to actually do it, and inspired an entire generation of researchers in knowledge engineering, logical formalizations of commonsense reasoning, and ontology.
In the middle 1990s, while serving as president of AAAI, Hayes began a series of attacks on critics of AI, mostly phrased in an ironic light, and (together with his colleague Kenneth Ford) invented an award named after Simon Newcomb
to be given for the most ridiculous argument "disproving" the possibility of AI. The Newcomb Awards are announced in the AI Magazine published by AAAI.
At the turn of the century he became active in the Semantic Web
community, contributing substantially (perhaps solely) to the revised semantics of RDF
known as RDF-Core, one of the three designers (along with Peter Patel-Schneider and Ian Horrocks
) of the Web Ontology Language
semantics, and most recently contributed to SPARQL
. He is also, along with philosopher Christopher Menzel the primary designer of the ISO Common Logic
standard.
He has been secretary of AISB, chairman and trustee of IJCAI, associate editor of Artificial Intelligence Journal, a governor of the Cognitive Science Society and president of American Association for Artificial Intelligence
. Hayes is a charter Fellow of AAAI and of the Cognitive Science Society
According to his website, his current research interests include "knowledge representation
and automatic reasoning, especially the representation of space
and time
; the semantic web
; ontology
design; and the philosophical
foundations of AI
and computer science
".
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
computer scientist
Computer scientist
A computer scientist is a scientist who has acquired knowledge of computer science, the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their application in computer systems....
who lives and works in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. , he is a Senior Research Scientist at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition in Pensacola
Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. He received a B.A. in Mathematics from University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
and a Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence from University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
.
Pat Hayes has been an active, prolific, and influential figure in Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
for over five decades. He has a reputation for being provocative but also quite humorous.
One of his earliest publications, with John McCarthy
John McCarthy (computer scientist)
John McCarthy was an American computer scientist and cognitive scientist. He coined the term "artificial intelligence" , invented the Lisp programming language and was highly influential in the early development of AI.McCarthy also influenced other areas of computing such as time sharing systems...
, was the first thorough statement of the basis for the AI field of logical knowledge representation, introducing the notion of situation calculus
Situation calculus
The situation calculus is a logic formalism designed for representing and reasoning about dynamical domains. It was first introduced by John McCarthy in 1963. The main version of the situational calculus that is presented in this article is based on that introduced by Ray Reiter in 1991...
, representation and reasoning about time, fluents
Fluent (artificial intelligence)
In artificial intelligence, a fluent is a condition that can change over time. In logical approaches to reasoning about actions, fluents can be represented in first-order logic by predicates having an argument that depends on time...
, and the use of logic for representing knowledge in a computer.
His next major contribution was the seminal work on "Naive Physics", which anticipated the expert systems movement in many ways
and called for researchers in AI to actually try to represent knowledge in computers. Although not the first to mention the word "ontology" in computer science (that distinction belongs to John McCarthy), Hayes was one of the first to actually do it, and inspired an entire generation of researchers in knowledge engineering, logical formalizations of commonsense reasoning, and ontology.
In the middle 1990s, while serving as president of AAAI, Hayes began a series of attacks on critics of AI, mostly phrased in an ironic light, and (together with his colleague Kenneth Ford) invented an award named after Simon Newcomb
Simon Newcomb
Simon Newcomb was a Canadian-American astronomer and mathematician. Though he had little conventional schooling, he made important contributions to timekeeping as well as writing on economics and statistics and authoring a science fiction novel.-Early life:Simon Newcomb was born in the town of...
to be given for the most ridiculous argument "disproving" the possibility of AI. The Newcomb Awards are announced in the AI Magazine published by AAAI.
At the turn of the century he became active in the Semantic Web
Semantic Web
The Semantic Web is a collaborative movement led by the World Wide Web Consortium that promotes common formats for data on the World Wide Web. By encouraging the inclusion of semantic content in web pages, the Semantic Web aims at converting the current web of unstructured documents into a "web of...
community, contributing substantially (perhaps solely) to the revised semantics of RDF
Resource Description Framework
The Resource Description Framework is a family of World Wide Web Consortium specifications originally designed as a metadata data model...
known as RDF-Core, one of the three designers (along with Peter Patel-Schneider and Ian Horrocks
Ian Horrocks
Ian Horrocks is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Oxford in the UK and a Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford . His research focuses on knowledge representation, particularly ontology languages , description logic, and optimised reasoning algorithms.His work on tableau reasoning for...
) of the Web Ontology Language
Web Ontology Language
The Web Ontology Language is a family of knowledge representation languages for authoring ontologies.The languages are characterised by formal semantics and RDF/XML-based serializations for the Semantic Web...
semantics, and most recently contributed to SPARQL
SPARQL
SPARQL is an RDF query language; its name is an acronym that stands for SPARQL Protocol and RDF Query Language. It was made a standard by the RDF Data Access Working Group of the World Wide Web Consortium, and considered as one of the key technologies of semantic web...
. He is also, along with philosopher Christopher Menzel the primary designer of the ISO Common Logic
Common logic
Common logic is a framework for a family of logic languages, based on first-order logic, intended to facilitate the exchange and transmission of knowledge in computer-based systems....
standard.
He has been secretary of AISB, chairman and trustee of IJCAI, associate editor of Artificial Intelligence Journal, a governor of the Cognitive Science Society and president of American Association for Artificial Intelligence
American Association for Artificial Intelligence
The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence or AAAI is an international, nonprofit, scientific society devoted to advancing the scientific understanding of the mechanisms underlying thought and intelligent behavior and their embodiment in machines...
. Hayes is a charter Fellow of AAAI and of the Cognitive Science Society
Cognitive Science Society
The Cognitive Science Society is a professional society for the interdisciplinary field of cognitive science. It brings together researchers from many fields who hold the common goal of understanding the nature of the human mind...
According to his website, his current research interests include "knowledge representation
Knowledge representation
Knowledge representation is an area of artificial intelligence research aimed at representing knowledge in symbols to facilitate inferencing from those knowledge elements, creating new elements of knowledge...
and automatic reasoning, especially the representation of space
Space
Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum...
and time
Time
Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
; the semantic web
Semantic Web
The Semantic Web is a collaborative movement led by the World Wide Web Consortium that promotes common formats for data on the World Wide Web. By encouraging the inclusion of semantic content in web pages, the Semantic Web aims at converting the current web of unstructured documents into a "web of...
; ontology
Ontology
Ontology is the philosophical study of the nature of being, existence or reality as such, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations...
design; and the philosophical
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
foundations of AI
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
and computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
".