Douglas Hofstadter

Douglas Hofstadter
Hofstadter in Bologna, Italy, in March 2002
Born	Douglas Richard Hofstadter (1945-02-15) February 15, 1945 (age 71) New York City, United States
Nationality	United States
Fields	Cognitive science Philosophy of mind Translation Physics
Institutions	Indiana University Stanford University University of Oregon University of Michigan
Alma mater	Stanford University (BSc) University of Oregon (PhD)
Thesis	The Energy Levels of Bloch Electrons in a Magnetic Field (1974)
Doctoral advisor	Gregory Wannier
Doctoral students	David Chalmers Harry Foundalis Robert M. French Scott A. Jones James Marshall Melanie Mitchell
Known for	Gödel, Escher, Bach I Am a Strange Loop Hofstadter's butterfly
Notable awards	National Book Award Pulitzer Prize Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Spouse	Carol Ann Brush (1985–1993; her death; 2 children) Baofen Lin (2012–present)
Website prelectur.stanford.edu/lecturers/hofstadter
Notes
He is the son of Robert Hofstadter.

Douglas Richard Hofstadter (born February 15, 1945) is an American professor of cognitive science whose research focuses on the sense of "I", consciousness, analogy-making, artistic creation, literary translation, and discovery in mathematics and physics. His book Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, first published in 1979, won both the Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction and a National Book Award (at that time called The American Book Award) for Science. His 2007 book I Am a Strange Loop won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Science and Technology.

Hofstadter was born in New York City, the son of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Robert Hofstadter and Nancy Givan Hofstadter. He grew up on the campus of Stanford University, where his father was a professor, and he attended the International School of Geneva in 1958–1959. He graduated with Distinction in Mathematics from Stanford University in 1965. He continued his education and received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Oregon in 1975, where his study of the energy levels of Bloch electrons in a magnetic field led to his discovery of the fractal known as the Hofstadter butterfly.

Since 1988, Hofstadter has been the College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science and Comparative Literature at Indiana University in Bloomington, where he directs the Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition which consists of himself and his graduate students, forming the "Fluid Analogies Research Group" (FARG). He was initially appointed to the Indiana University's Computer Science Department faculty in 1977, and at that time he launched his research program in computer modeling of mental processes (which at that time he called "artificial intelligence research", a label that he has since dropped in favor of "cognitive science research"). In 1984, he moved to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he was hired as a professor of psychology and was also appointed to the Walgreen Chair for the Study of Human Understanding. In 1988 he returned to Bloomington as "College of Arts and Sciences Professor" in both cognitive science and computer science. He was also appointed adjunct professor of history and philosophy of science, philosophy, comparative literature, and psychology, but has said that his involvement with most of those departments is nominal. In 1988 Hofstadter received the In Praise of Reason award, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry's highest honor. In April 2009 he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the American Philosophical Society. In 2010 he was elected a member of the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala, Sweden.