David Rumelhart Dies at 68 - Created Computer Simulations of... 3/19/11 11:43 AM

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David Rumelhart Dies at 68; Created Computer Simulations Log in to see what your friends are Log In With Facebook sharing on nytimes.com. Privacy of Perception Policy | What’s This? By BENEDICT CAREY Published: March 18, 2011 What’s Popular Now

David E. Rumelhart, whose computer simulations of perception gave RECOMMEND Don’t Call Me, I Won’t Call You scientists some of the first testable models of neural processing and TWITTER proved helpful in the development of and artificial E-MAIL intelligence, died Sunday in Chelsea, Mich. He was 68. Judge Blocks PRINT Wisconsin Law Enlarge This Image The cause was complications of Pick’s REPRINTS on Union disease, an Alzheimer’s-like disorder Bargaining SHARE from which he had suffered for more than a decade, his son Karl said.

When Dr. Rumelhart, a psychologist, began thinking in the 1960s about how Make Yourself a Quesadilla neurons process information, the field was split into two camps March 18, 2011 that had little common language: biologists, who focused on New Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plans neurons and brain tissue; and cognitive psychologists, who March 18, 2011 studied far more abstract processes, like reasoning skills and Tai Chi Eases Depression in Elderly March 18, 2011 learning strategies. Born to Be a Trail Runner March 18, 2011 By starting small — showing, for instance, that the brain’s Apple or Pear? Maybe Body Shape Doesn't Matter ability to recognize a single letter was greatly influenced by the March 17, 2011 David Rumelhart letters around it — Dr. Rumelhart and his colleague Jay McClelland, around 1980, built computer programs that roughly simulated perception. Later, he devised an algorithm that allowed computer programs to learn how to perceive. Using his program, a computer could interpret underwater sonar signals with roughly the accuracy that a person could. It was an important early step in machine learning, a critical component in .

Working at the University of California, San Diego, he eventually developed a simulation of how three or more layers of neurons could work together to process information — as is required for the brain to engage in any complex task, like reading. Previous models were far cruder. In a landmark 1986 paper, written with and Ronald Williams for the journal Nature, he described how the system worked.

Dr. McClelland, director of the Center for Mind, Brain and Computation at Stanford, said the neural processing work “led to extremely powerful systems for doing things like visual object Advertise on NYTimes.com recognition and handwritten character classification.” In 1987, he and Dr. Rumelhart wrote a book, “Parallel Distributed Processing,” that became a central text in the field. TimesLimited E-Mail Sign up to receive exclusive products and experiences In their work Dr. Rumelhart and Dr. McClellan argued that language, like most knowledge, featuring NYTimes.com's premier advertisers. relies mainly on memory and is represented in the brain by sets of associations between [email protected] Change E-mail Address | Privacy Policy elements of sound and meaning. MOR Patient M This put them in opposition with scientists who argue that the brain generates some words by Health & Fitness Tools Now, a H using rules shaped in part by brain biology — for example, adding “-ed” to a stem to form a past Impossib Read

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tense. BMI Calculator What’s your score? » “Rumelhart was enormously important in the 1980s in reviving this neural network approach to language and ,” said Steven Pinker, a psychologist at Harvard and a leading proponent of the rival “rules” theory.

Even though they sometimes disagreed, Dr. Pinker said that Dr. Rumelhart’s computer simulations “prompted me and many others to ask very fruitful questions, and that in the end is What causes about all a good scientist can ask for.” asthma? LEARN MORE » David Everett Rumelhart was born on June 6, 1942, in Wessington Springs, S.D., the eldest of three sons born to Everett, a printer, and Thelma, a librarian. He graduated from the University of in 1963 with a degree in and math and completed his Ph.D. at Stanford in 1967.

MOST E-MAILED RECOMMENDED FOR YOU He spent 20 years on the faculty of the University of California, San Diego, before returning to Stanford in 1987. He retired from Stanford in 1998, when the symptoms of Pick’s disease articles in the past [email protected] became disabling, and moved in with his brother Donald in Ann Arbor, Mich. 14 month All Recommendations

In addition to his brother Donald and his son Karl, his survivors include another son, Peter; 1. After Revolt, Egyptians Try to Shape New Politics another brother, Roger; and four grandsons. His marriage to Marilyn Austin ended in divorce.

Dr. Rumelhart won a number of professional awards, including a MacArthur fellowship and the 2. David Rumelhart Dies at 68; Created Computer Simulations of Perception American Psychological Association’s Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award.

He also had one named after him: the David E. Rumelhart Prize, a $100,000 award given 3. Trade Unions in City Confront a Rise in annually by the Glushko-Samuelson Foundation to any individual or team making a Nonunion Projects contribution to the “theoretical foundations of human cognition.” 4. Judge’s Order Blocks Law on Unions in Wisconsin A version of this article appeared in print on March 19, 2011, on page D8 of the New York edition. 5. PATIENT MONEY Pre-existing Condition? Now, a Health Click here to get 50% off Home Delivery of The New York Times. Policy May Not Be Impossible E-MAIL 6. School-Liaison Office Is Accused of Pushing PRINT a Political Cause REPRINTS 7. OP-ED COLUMNIST Ads by Google what's this? Social Science Palooza II

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