Stephen Wolfram (born 1959) is a British-American computer scientist and businessman known for creating Mathematica and Wolfram Alpha. A child prodigy who earned his PhD in physics at 20, he has pursued an unconventional path in science and technology.
Early Career
Wolfram published his first physics paper at 15 and earned his PhD from Caltech at 20. He made contributions to particle physics before turning to cellular automata and complex systems.
Creating Mathematica
In 1988, Wolfram released Mathematica, integrating symbolic mathematics, numerical computation, visualization, and programming. The system revolutionized how scientists and engineers work with mathematics and data.
Wolfram Alpha
In 2009, Wolfram launched Wolfram Alpha, a “computational knowledge engine” that answers questions by computing from curated data. Unlike search engines, it computes answers rather than finding pages. Alpha powers Siri’s mathematical and factual queries.
”A New Kind of Science”
Wolfram’s 2002 book proposed that simple computational rules (cellular automata) could explain complex phenomena in physics and biology. Though controversial in academia, the book influenced thinking about computation and nature.
The Wolfram Language
Wolfram views his life’s work as building the Wolfram Language—a comprehensive computational language with built-in knowledge. He sees it as a way to make computation accessible for any task, embedding centuries of human knowledge in code.