| Gregory Chaitin | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1947 Chicago[1] |
| Residence | United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | Biology Mathematics Computer science |
| Institutions | Federal University of Rio de Janeiro IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center |
| Known for | Chaitin-Kolmogorov complexity Chaitin's constant Chaitin's algorithm |
Gregory John Chaitin (born 1947) is an Argentine-American mathematician and computer scientist.
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Beginning in 2009 Chaitin has worked on metabiology, a field parallel to biology dealing with the random evolution of artificial software (computer programs) instead of natural software (DNA).
Beginning in the late 1960s, Chaitin made contributions to algorithmic information theory and metamathematics, in particular a new incompleteness theorem in reaction to Gödel's incompleteness theorem. He attended the Bronx High School of Science and City College of New York, where he (still in his teens) developed the theories that led to his independent discovery of Kolmogorov complexity.[2][3]
Chaitin has defined Chaitin's constant Ω, a real number whose digits are equidistributed and which is sometimes informally described as an expression of the probability that a random program will halt. Ω has the mathematical property that it is definable but not computable.
Chaitin's early work on algorithmic information theory paralleled the earlier work of Kolmogorov.
Chaitin is also the originator of using graph coloring to do register allocation in compiling, a process known as Chaitin's algorithm.
Chaitin also writes about philosophy, especially metaphysics and philosophy of mathematics (particularly about epistemological matters in mathematics). In metaphysics, Chaitin claims that algorithmic information theory is the key to solving problems in the field of biology (obtaining a formal definition of ‘life’, its origin and evolution) and neuroscience (the problem of consciousness and the study of the mind).
Indeed, in recent writings, he defends a position known as digital philosophy. In the epistemology of mathematics, he claims that his findings in mathematical logic and algorithmic information theory show there are “mathematical facts that are true for no reason, they're true by accident. They are random mathematical facts”. Chaitin proposes that mathematicians must abandon any hope of proving those mathematical facts and adopt a quasi-empirical methodology.
In 1995 he was given the degree of doctor of science honoris causa by the University of Maine. In 2002 he was given the title of honorary professor by the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina, where his parents were born and where Chaitin spent part of his youth. In 2007 he was given a Leibniz Medal by Wolfram Research. In 2009 he was given the degree of doctor of philosophy honoris causa by the National University of Córdoba. He was formerly a researcher at IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center and is now a professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
Some philosophers and logicians strongly disagree with the philosophical conclusions that Chaitin has drawn from his theorems.[4] The logician Torkel Franzén [5] criticizes Chaitin’s interpretation of Gödel's incompleteness theorem and the alleged explanation for it that Chaitin’s work represents.