Dr. Lawrence J. Fogel (March 2, 1928 - February 18, 2007), was a pioneer in evolutionary computation and human factors analysis. He is known as the father of evolutionary programming. Born in Brooklyn, New York, he earned his B.E.E. from New York University in 1948, M.S. from Rutgers University in 1952 and Ph.D. from University of California, Los Angeles in 1964, and died in San Diego, California.
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Dr. Fogel’s first decade of engineering (1948-1960) began with an interest in antenna design, ensuring reliability of weapons systems, and inventing interfaces for human operators. He analyzed and designed flight instrumentation for high performance and vertical takeoff aircraft as well as helicopters. He also engineered design concepts for various individual instruments, including all altitude indicators, airspeed indicators, altimeters, as well as related displays. His keen insight led to five patents issued from 1958-1961 pertaining to two separate inventions regarding active noise cancellation and a revolutionary cockpit display known as the "Kinelog." He worked at Stavid Engineering (New Jersey, NJ) and Convair, a division of General Dynamics (San Diego, CA).
On leave from Convair, Dr. Fogel served as Special Assistant to the Associate Director (Research) at the National Science Foundation (NSF) from July 1960 to July 1961. While at the NSF, Dr. Fogel represented the Associate Director at technical and professional meetings accomplishing liaison within and outside the National Science Foundation on matters ranging from the merit of individual research proposals to the effect of national policies on future manpower, economic and military strength. This effort culminated in a report to the U.S. Congress on the worth of investing in scientific progress. While at NSF, Dr. Fogel's interest in cybernetics and biotechnology led to a hypothesis that a simulation of evolution on computers could be used to generate artificial intelligence. These theories were first tested successfully upon his return to Convair.
Dr. Fogel's Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1964, included the first dissertation in the field of evolutionary computation titled "On the Organization of Intellect." His dissertation became the basis for the first book in the field of evolutionary computing titled "Artificial Intelligence through Simulated Evolution," co-authored by Alvin Owens and Michael Walsh. Dr. Fogel started Decision Science, Inc. in 1965, the first company dedicated to the advancement and practice of evolutionary computing for real-world problem solving. The company was acquired in 1982 by Titan Systems, Inc. Dr. Fogel also worked at ORINCON Corp. in San Diego from the late 1980s to early 1990s. Dr. Fogel was a co-founder and president of Natural Selection, Inc., which has been in business since 1993 applying methods of computational intelligence to real-world problems.
Dr. Fogel was also well-known for aeromodeling and was a Fellow of the Academy of Model Aeronautics.