Herbert Simon

Herbert Alexander Simon was one of the twentieth century’s most influential social scientists and a Nobel Laureate. Born in the United States of America to a German emigrant father, he completed his schooling under public school system in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Thereafter, he entered the University of Chicago with the aim of becoming a mathematical social scientist and earned both his B.A. and Ph.D. degrees in political science from there. Beginning his career as a research assistant in municipal administration, he soon became the director of a similar research group at the University of California, Berkeley and then a faculty member at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago. However, he spent the major part of his career at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, now Carnegie Mellon University. Joining as a professor of administration and psychology, he later became the Richard King Mellon University Professor of Computer Science and Psychology there. Although he worked in various disciplines, he is best known for his work on the theory of corporate decision making. He also contributed significantly to the research on artificial intelligence. Recipient of a number of awards, he was actually a political scientist, economist, sociologist, psychologist, and computer scientist all rolled into one.