# Edward Feigenbaum

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American computer scientist

Ed Feigenbaum Official portrait, 1994 Born Edward Albert Feigenbaum (1936-01-20) January 20, 1936 (age 90) Weehawken, New Jersey Education Carnegie Mellon University (BS, MS, PhD) Known for Expert systems EPAM DENDRAL project Feigenbaum test Awards Turing Award (1994) Computer Pioneer Award AAAI Fellow (1990)[1] ACM Fellow (2007) Scientific career Fields Computer science Artificial intelligence Institutions Stanford University United States Air Force Doctoral advisor Herbert A. Simon Doctoral students Ramanathan V. Guha Alon Halevy[2] Peter Karp[3] Niklaus Wirth[2] Website ksl-web.stanford.edu/people/eaf

**Edward Albert Feigenbaum** (born January 20, 1936) is an American [computer scientist](/source/Computer_scientist) working in the field of [artificial intelligence](/source/Artificial_intelligence), and with [Raj Reddy](/source/Raj_Reddy) he won the 1994 [ACM](/source/Association_for_Computing_Machinery) [Turing Award](/source/Turing_Award).[4] He is often called the "father of [expert systems](/source/Expert_system)".[5][6][7][8]

## Education and early life

Feigenbaum was born in [Weehawken, New Jersey](/source/Weehawken%2C_New_Jersey) in 1936 to a culturally [Jewish](/source/Jewish) family, and moved to nearby [North Bergen](/source/North_Bergen%2C_New_Jersey), where he lived until the age of 16, when he left to start college.[9][10] His hometown did not have a secondary school of its own, and so he chose [Weehawken High School](/source/Weehawken_High_School) for its college preparatory program.[10][11] He was inducted into his high school's hall of fame in 1996.[12]

Feigenbaum completed his undergraduate degree (1956), and a [Ph.D.](/source/Doctor_of_Philosophy) (1960),[2][13][14] at Carnegie Institute of Technology (now [Carnegie Mellon University](/source/Carnegie_Mellon_University)). In his PhD thesis, carried out under the supervision of [Herbert A. Simon](/source/Herbert_A._Simon), he developed [EPAM](/source/EPAM), one of the first computer models of how people learn.[15]

During undergrad years, Feigenbaum took a graduate-level course called "Ideas and Social Change" taught by [James March](/source/James_G._March). March introduced him to Herbert Simon. Feigenbaum took a course "Mathematical Models in the Social Sciences" taught by Simon, where Simon announced the [Logic Theorist](/source/Logic_Theorist) with "Over the Christmas holidays, Al Newell and I invented a thinking machine." Simon gave Feigenbaum a manual of [IBM 701](/source/IBM_701), which he read in one night. Feigenbaum later called it a "born-again experience".[16]

## Career and research

Feigenbaum completed a [Fulbright fellowship](/source/Fulbright_Fellowship) at the [National Physical Laboratory (United Kingdom)](/source/National_Physical_Laboratory_(United_Kingdom)) and in 1960 went to the [University of California, Berkeley](/source/University_of_California%2C_Berkeley), to teach in the School of Business Administration. He joined the [Stanford University](/source/Stanford_University) faculty in 1965 as one of the founders of its computer science department.[17] He was the director of the Stanford Computation Center from 1965 to 1968. He established the [Knowledge Systems Laboratory](/source/Knowledge_Systems_Laboratory) at Stanford University. Important projects that Feigenbaum was involved in include systems in medicine, as [ACME](/source/ACME_(health_software)), [MYCIN](/source/MYCIN), SUMEX, and [Dendral](/source/Dendral). He also co-founded companies [IntelliCorp](/source/IntelliCorp_(Software)) and Teknowledge.

Feigenbaum and [Raj Reddy](/source/Raj_Reddy) honored at [AAAI](/source/AAAI_Conference_on_Artificial_Intelligence) 2026

Teknowledge was founded in July 1981 by 20 computer scientists from Stanford University, MIT, and the Rand Corporation. The company's staff "represent about 1/3 of the world's high-level expertise in the design and development of knowledge systems". Its aim was to allow people without training in knowledge-engineering technology to use it for commercial and industrial applications.[18]

In 2000, Feigenbaum became a [Professor Emeritus](/source/Professor_Emeritus#Retired_faculty) of Computer Science at Stanford University. His former doctoral students include [Peter Karp](/source/Peter_Karp_(scientist)),[3] [Niklaus Wirth](/source/Niklaus_Wirth),[2] and [Alon Halevy](/source/Alon_Halevy).[2]

In January 2026, the [Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence](/source/Association_for_the_Advancement_of_Artificial_Intelligence) (AAAI) honored Feigenbaum at its 40th annual [conference](/source/AAAI_Conference_on_Artificial_Intelligence) in [Singapore](/source/Singapore) in celebration of his 90th birthday, recognizing his foundational contributions to the field of expert systems.[19]

### Honors and awards

- 1984: Selected as one of the initial fellows of the [American College of Medical Informatics](/source/American_College_of_Medical_Informatics) (ACMI)

- 1986: Elected a member of the [National Academy of Engineering](/source/National_Academy_of_Engineering) for pioneering contributions to knowledge engineering and expert systems technology, and for leadership in education and technology of applied artificial intelligence.

- 1994: [Turing Award](/source/Turing_Award) jointly with [Raj Reddy](/source/Raj_Reddy) for "pioneering the design and construction of large scale artificial intelligence systems, demonstrating the practical importance and potential commercial impact of artificial intelligence technology".

- 1997: U.S. Air Force [Exceptional Civilian Service Award](/source/Awards_and_decorations_of_the_United_States_Air_Force#Civilian_awards)

- 2007: Inducted as fellow of the [Association for Computing Machinery](/source/Association_for_Computing_Machinery) (ACM)[20][21]

- 2011: The [AAAI](/source/Association_for_the_Advancement_of_Artificial_Intelligence) established the **Feigenbaum Prize**, awarded biennially for outstanding AI research advances.[22]

- 2011: [IEEE Intelligent Systems](/source/IEEE_Intelligent_Systems) [AI's Hall of Fame](http://www.computer.org/cms/Computer.org/ComputingNow/homepage/2011/0811/rW_IS_AIsHallofFame.pdf) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20111216235804/http://www.computer.org/cms/Computer.org/ComputingNow/homepage/2011/0811/rW_IS_AIsHallofFame.pdf) 2011-12-16 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine) for "significant contributions to the field of AI and intelligent systems".[23]

- 2012. Made fellow of the [Computer History Museum](/source/Computer_History_Museum) "for his pioneering work in artificial intelligence and expert systems."[24]

- 2013. [IEEE Computer Society](/source/IEEE_Computer_Society) [Computer Pioneer Award](/source/Computer_Pioneer_Award) for "pioneering work in Artificial Intelligence, including development of the basic principles and methods of knowledge-based systems and their practical applications".

## Works

- Feigenbaum, Edward; Feldman, Julian, eds. (1963). *Computers and thought : a collection of articles* (1 ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [593742426](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/593742426).[25][26][27]

- Barr, Avron; Feigenbaum, Edward A. (1981). [*The Handbook of artificial intelligence, volume 1*](https://archive.org/details/handbookofartific01barr/). Stanford, CA; Los Altos, CA: HeurisTech Press; William Kaufmann. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-86576-004-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-86576-004-2).

- Barr, Avron; Feigenbaum, Edward A. (1982). [*The Handbook of artificial intelligence, volume 2*](https://archive.org/details/handbookofartific02barr/). Stanford, CA; Los Altos, CA: HeurisTech Press; William Kaufmann. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-86576-006-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-86576-006-6).

- Cohen, Paul R.; Feigenbaum, Edward A. (1982). [*The Handbook of artificial intelligence, volume 3*](https://archive.org/details/handbookofartific03cohe). Stanford, CA; Los Altos, CA: HeurisTech Press; William Kaufmann. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-86576-007-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-86576-007-3).

- Barr, Avron; Cohen, Paul R.; Feigenbaum, Edward A. (Edward Albert) (1989). [*Handbook of artificial intelligence, volume 4*](https://archive.org/details/handbookofartific04barr). Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-201-51731-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-201-51731-6).

- Feigenbaum, Edward A.; McCorduck, Pamela (1983). *The fifth generation: artificial intelligence and Japan's computer challenge to the world*. Reading, Mass: Addison-Wesley. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-201-11519-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-201-11519-2).

- Feigenbaum, Edward A.; McCorduck, Pamela; Nii, H. P. (1988). *The rise of the expert company: how visionary companies are using artificial intelligence to achieve higher productivity and profits*. London: Macmillan London. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-333-49659-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-333-49659-6).

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** *[Elected AAAI Fellows](https://www.aaai.org/Awards/fellows-list.php)*

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-mathgene_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-mathgene_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-mathgene_2-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-mathgene_2-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-mathgene_2-4) [Edward Albert Feigenbaum](https://mathgenealogy.org/id.php?id=61956) at the [Mathematics Genealogy Project](/source/Mathematics_Genealogy_Project)

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-karphd_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-karphd_3-1) Karp, Peter Dornin (1988). [*Hypothesis Formation and Qualitative Reasoning in Molecular Biology*](https://web.archive.org/web/20170609122417/http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA219003). *dtic.mil* (PhD thesis). Stanford University. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1609/aimag.v11i4.859](https://doi.org/10.1609%2Faimag.v11i4.859). [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [20463112](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/20463112). Archived from [the original](http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA219003) on June 9, 2017.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** David Alan Grier. (Oct.-Dec. 2013). "Edward Feigenbaum [interview]." *[Annals of the History of Computing](/source/Annals_of_the_History_of_Computing)*. p. 74-81.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["Edward Feigenbaum 2012 Fellow"](https://web.archive.org/web/20130509235811/http://www.computerhistory.org/fellowawards/hall/bios/Edward,Feigenbaum/). Archived from [the original](http://www.computerhistory.org/fellowawards/hall/bios/Edward,Feigenbaum/) on 2013-05-09. Retrieved 2012-01-30.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Feigenbaum, Edward A.; McCorduck, Pamela (1983). [*The Fifth Generation: Artificial Intelligence and Japan's Computer Challenge to the World*](https://archive.org/details/fifthgeneration00feig). Addison Wesley Publishing Company. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780201115192](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780201115192).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["The Age of Intelligent Machines: Knowledge Processing--From File Servers to Knowledge Servers by Edward Feigenbaum"](https://web.archive.org/web/20160610052220/http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-age-of-intelligent-machines-knowledge-processing-from-file-servers-to-knowledge-servers). Archived from [the original](http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-age-of-intelligent-machines-knowledge-processing-from-file-servers-to-knowledge-servers) on 2016-06-10. Retrieved 2013-05-29.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Feigenbaum, Edward A. (2003). "Some challenges and grand challenges for computational intelligence". *[Journal of the ACM](/source/Journal_of_the_ACM)*. **50** (1): 32–40. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1145/602382.602400](https://doi.org/10.1145%2F602382.602400). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [15379263](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:15379263).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-a-full-interview_9-0)** Len Shustek. ["An Interview with Ed Feigenbaum"](http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2010/6/92472-an-interview-with-ed-feigenbaum/fulltext). *[Communications of the ACM](/source/Communications_of_the_ACM)*. Retrieved 14 October 2013.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Knuth2007_10-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Knuth2007_10-1) [Knuth, Don](/source/Donald_Knuth). ["Oral History of Edward Feigenbaum"](http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2012/04/102658162-05-01-acc.pdf), [Computer History Museum](/source/Computer_History_Museum), 2007. Accessed October 23, 2015. "I was born in Weehawken, New Jersey, which is a town on the Palisades opposite New York. In fact, it’s the place where the Lincoln Tunnel dives under the water and comes up in New York. Then my parents moved up the Palisades four miles to a town called North Bergen, and there I lived until I was 16 and went off to Carnegie Tech."

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** [Lederberg, Joshua](/source/Joshua_Lederberg). ["How DENDRAL was conceived and born"](https://web.archive.org/web/20110611153218/http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/access/BBALYP.pdf), [United States National Library of Medicine](/source/United_States_National_Library_of_Medicine), November 5, 1987. Accessed October 23, 2015. "I became an expert on its use. I even remember dragging it with me miles on the bus to Weehawken High School, heavy as it was, just to show off my skill with this marvelous technology that no other kid in the high school knew anything about."

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** Hague, Jim. ["Academic awards aplenty; Weehawken honors top students, inducts Pasquale into Hall of Fame"](http://www.hudsonreporter.com/view/full_story/2362426/article-Academic-awards-aplenty--Weehawken-honors-top-students--inducts-Pasquale-into-Hall-of-Fame) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20180315134029/http://www.hudsonreporter.com/view/full_story/2362426/article-Academic-awards-aplenty--Weehawken-honors-top-students--inducts-Pasquale-into-Hall-of-Fame) 2018-03-15 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine), *[Hudson Reporter](/source/Hudson_Reporter)*, May 13, 2000. Accessed October 23, 2015. "Edward Feigenbaum (Class of '53) in 1996"

1. **[^](#cite_ref-aigene_13-0)** [Edward A. Feigenbaum](http://aigp.eecs.umich.edu/researcher/show/300) at the AI Genealogy Project.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** "ProQuest Document ID 301899261". *[ProQuest Dissertations and Theses](/source/ProQuest_Dissertations_and_Theses)*. [ProQuest](/source/ProQuest) [301899261](https://www.proquest.com/docview/301899261).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** ["Guide to the Edward A. Feigenbaum Papers"](http://cdn.calisphere.org/data/13030/hc/kt500039hc/files/kt500039hc.pdf) (PDF). [Stanford University](/source/Stanford_University). 2010. p. 2. Retrieved September 12, 2011.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** McCorduck, Pamela (2022-01-01). "The Scientific Life of Edward A. Feigenbaum". *IEEE Annals of the History of Computing*. **44** (1): 123–128. [Bibcode](/source/Bibcode_(identifier)):[2022IAHC...44a.123M](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2022IAHC...44a.123M). [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1109/MAHC.2022.3145216](https://doi.org/10.1109%2FMAHC.2022.3145216). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [1058-6180](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/1058-6180).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-17)** ["Edward A. Feigenbaum Papers"](https://library.stanford.edu/collections/edward-feigenbaum-papers). [Stanford University](/source/Stanford_University). 2012.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-18)** "Expert Profiles". *IEEE Expert*. **1** (1): 114–116. April 1986. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1109/MEX.1986.5006509](https://doi.org/10.1109%2FMEX.1986.5006509). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0885-9000](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0885-9000).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-19)** ["AAAI-26 Invited Speakers"](https://aaai.org/conference/aaai/aaai-26/invited-speakers/#Feigenbaum). Retrieved 2026-01-26.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-20)** ["Edward A Feigenbaum"](https://awards.acm.org/award_winners/feigenbaum_4167235). *awards.acm.org*. Retrieved 2019-08-24.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-21)** ["Edward Feigenbaum on Artificial Intelligence | Entitled Opinions"](https://web.archive.org/web/20221109184705/https://entitledopinions.stanford.edu/edward-feigenbaum-artificial-intelligence). *entitledopinions.stanford.edu*. Archived from [the original](https://entitledopinions.stanford.edu/edward-feigenbaum-artificial-intelligence) on 2022-11-09. Retrieved 2019-08-24.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-22)** ["AAAI Feigenbaum Prize"](https://aaai.org/about-aaai/aaai-awards/aaai-feigenbaum-prize/). Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. Retrieved 2026-01-26.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-23)** Zeng, Daniel (2011). ["AI's Hall of Fame"](https://web.archive.org/web/20111216235804/http://www.computer.org/cms/Computer.org/ComputingNow/homepage/2011/0811/rW_IS_AIsHallofFame.pdf) (PDF). *[IEEE Intelligent Systems](/source/IEEE_Intelligent_Systems)*. **26** (4). [IEEE Computer Society](/source/IEEE_Computer_Society): 5–15. [Bibcode](/source/Bibcode_(identifier)):[2011IISys..26d...5Z](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011IISys..26d...5Z). [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1109/MIS.2011.64](https://doi.org/10.1109%2FMIS.2011.64). Archived from [the original](http://www.computer.org/cms/Computer.org/ComputingNow/homepage/2011/0811/rW_IS_AIsHallofFame.pdf) (PDF) on 2011-12-16. Retrieved 2015-01-06.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-24)** ["Edward Feigenbaum"](https://web.archive.org/web/20130509235811/http://www.computerhistory.org/fellowawards/hall/bios/Edward,Feigenbaum/). Computer History Museum. Archived from [the original](http://www.computerhistory.org/fellowawards/hall/bios/Edward,Feigenbaum/) on 2013-05-09. Retrieved 2013-05-23.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-25)** ["This week in The History of AI at AIWS.net – Edward Feigenbaum and Julian Feldman published "Computers and Thought""](https://aiws.net/the-history-of-ai/this-week-in-the-history-of-ai-at-aiws-net-edward-feigenbaum-and-julian-feldman-published-computers-and-thought-2/). *AIWS.net*. Retrieved 5 May 2022.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-26)** ["Feigenbaum & Feldman Issue "Computers and Thought," the First Anthology on Artificial Intelligence"](https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?entryid=4329). *History of Information*. Retrieved 5 May 2022.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-27)** Feigenbaum, Edward A.; Feldman, Julian (1963). [*Computers and Thought*](https://dl.acm.org/doi/book/10.5555/601134). McGraw-Hill, Inc. Retrieved 5 May 2022. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780070203709](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780070203709).

v t e A. M. Turing Award laureates Alan Perlis (1966) Maurice Wilkes (1967) Richard Hamming (1968) Marvin Minsky (1969) James H. Wilkinson (1970) John McCarthy (1971) Edsger W. Dijkstra (1972) Charles Bachman (1973) Donald Knuth (1974) Allen Newell / Herbert A. Simon (1975) Michael O. Rabin / Dana Scott (1976) John Backus (1977) Robert W. Floyd (1978) Kenneth E. Iverson (1979) Tony Hoare (1980) Edgar F. Codd (1981) Stephen Cook (1982) Dennis Ritchie / Ken Thompson (1983) Niklaus Wirth (1984) Richard Karp (1985) John Hopcroft / Robert Tarjan (1986) John Cocke (1987) Ivan Sutherland (1988) William Kahan (1989) Fernando J. Corbató (1990) Robin Milner (1991) Butler Lampson (1992) Juris Hartmanis / Richard E. Stearns (1993) Edward Feigenbaum / Raj Reddy (1994) Manuel Blum (1995) Amir Pnueli (1996) Douglas Engelbart (1997) Jim Gray (1998) Fred Brooks (1999) Andrew Yao (2000) Ole-Johan Dahl / Kristen Nygaard (2001) Leonard Adleman / Ron Rivest / Adi Shamir (2002) Alan Kay (2003) Vint Cerf / Bob Kahn (2004) Peter Naur (2005) Frances Allen (2006) Edmund M. Clarke / E. Allen Emerson / Joseph Sifakis (2007) Barbara Liskov (2008) Charles P. Thacker (2009) Leslie Valiant (2010) Judea Pearl (2011) Shafi Goldwasser / Silvio Micali (2012) Leslie Lamport (2013) Michael Stonebraker (2014) Whitfield Diffie / Martin Hellman (2015) Tim Berners-Lee (2016) John L. Hennessy / David Patterson (2017) Yoshua Bengio / Geoffrey Hinton / Yann LeCun (2018) Ed Catmull / Pat Hanrahan (2019) Alfred Aho / Jeffrey Ullman (2020) Jack Dongarra (2021) Robert Metcalfe (2022) Avi Wigderson (2023) Andrew Barto / Richard S. Sutton (2024) Charles H. Bennett / Gilles Brassard (2025)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Edward Feigenbaum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Feigenbaum) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Feigenbaum?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.