Role Models in Science & Engineering Achievement: Lotfi Asker Zadeh -- Computer Scientist and Mathematician

--Famous for naming and advancing the scientific concept of “Fuzzy Logic” as well as “Fuzzy Sets” and “Fuzzy Systems”

--These concrete principles have been applied to numerous fields – from computer technology to artificial intelligence

You've likely heard of the term “Fuzzy Logic” or “Fuzzy Mathematics”.  But despite what their names may imply, there is nothing inexact about these scientific concepts. Based on precise formulas,  Fuzzy Logic, introduced in 1965 by Lotfi Asker Zadeh (a mathematician of Iranian-Russian descent), helps scientists, mathematicians and others to make accurate research decisions in an environment of incomplete information, uncertainty and imprecision. In coming up with the name “Fuzzy Logic”, Lotfi says: “I decided on the word 'fuzzy' because I felt it most accurately described what was going on in the theory. I could have chosen another term that would have been more 'respectable'. For instance,  I had thought about using  the word 'soft', but that really didn't describe accurately what I had in mind. Nor did 'unsharp', 'blurred', or 'elastic'. In the end, I couldn't think of anything more accurate so I settled on "fuzzy".

For the full biography of Lofti Asker Zadeh and all of our STEM heroes, click here.