William Alvin Howard
Encyclopedia
William Alvin Howard is a proof theorist best known for his work demonstrating formal similarity between intuitionistic logic
and the simply typed lambda calculus
that has come to be known as the Curry–Howard correspondence. He has also been active in the theory of proof-theoretic ordinals. He earned his Ph.D.
at the University of Chicago
in 1956, where he was a student of Saunders Mac Lane
.
The Howard ordinal (also known as the Bachmann–Howard ordinal) was named after him.
Intuitionistic logic
Intuitionistic logic, or constructive logic, is a symbolic logic system differing from classical logic in its definition of the meaning of a statement being true. In classical logic, all well-formed statements are assumed to be either true or false, even if we do not have a proof of either...
and the simply typed lambda calculus
Simply typed lambda calculus
The simply typed lambda calculus , a formof type theory, is a typed interpretation of the lambda calculus with only one type constructor: \to that builds function types. It is the canonical and simplest example of a typed lambda calculus...
that has come to be known as the Curry–Howard correspondence. He has also been active in the theory of proof-theoretic ordinals. He earned his Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
in 1956, where he was a student of Saunders Mac Lane
Saunders Mac Lane
Saunders Mac Lane was an American mathematician who cofounded category theory with Samuel Eilenberg.-Career:...
.
The Howard ordinal (also known as the Bachmann–Howard ordinal) was named after him.
External links
- Entry for William Alvin Howard at the Mathematics Genealogy ProjectMathematics Genealogy ProjectThe Mathematics Genealogy Project is a web-based database for the academic genealogy of mathematicians. As of September, 2010, it contained information on approximately 145,000 mathematical scientists who contribute to "research-level mathematics"...
.