Haskell Curry
| Haskell Brooks Curry | |
|---|---|
| Born |
September 12, 1900 Millis, Massachusetts |
| Died | September 1, 1982 (aged 81) State College, Pennsylvania |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields |
Mathematics Logic |
| Institutions |
Penn State Universiteit van Amsterdam |
| Alma mater | Harvard University |
| Doctoral advisor | David Hilbert |
| Doctoral students |
Maarten Bunder Edward Cogan Bruce Lercher Hilbert Levitz Kenneth Lowen Luis Sanchis Jonathan Seldin |
| Known for |
Combinatory logic Curry–Howard correspondence Curry's paradox |
| Influences |
Alfred North Whitehead Bertrand Russell Moses Schönfinkel |
Haskell Brooks Curry (/ˈhæskəl ˈkɜːri/; September 12, 1900 – September 1, 1982) was an American mathematician and logician. Curry is best known for his work in combinatory logic; while the initial concept of combinatory logic was based on a single paper by Moses Schönfinkel, much of the development was done by Curry. Curry is also known for Curry's paradox and the Curry–Howard correspondence. There are three programming languages named after him, Haskell, Brook and Curry, as well as the concept of currying, a technique used for transforming functions in mathematics and computer science.
Curry was born on September 12, 1900, in Millis, Massachusetts, to Samuel Silas Curry and Anna Baright Curry, who ran a school for elocution. He entered Harvard University in 1916 to study medicine but switched to mathematics before graduating in 1920. After two years of graduate work in electrical engineering at MIT, he returned to Harvard to study physics, earning a MA in 1924. Curry's interest in mathematical logic started during this period when he was introduced to the Principia Mathematica, the attempt by Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell to ground mathematics in symbolic logic. Remaining at Harvard, Curry pursued a Ph.D. in mathematics. While he was directed by George Birkhoff to work on differential equations, his interests continued to shift to logic. In 1927, while an instructor at Princeton University, he discovered the work of Moses Schönfinkel in combinatory logic. Schönfinkel's work had anticipated much of Curry's own research, and as a consequence, he moved to Göttingen where he could work with Heinrich Behmann and Paul Bernays, who were familiar with Schönfinkel's work. Curry was supervised by David Hilbert and worked closely with Bernays, receiving a Ph.D. in 1930 with a dissertation on combinatory logic.
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