Science & invention
John Henry Holland
1929–2015 · computer scientist, complexity theorist
Pioneer of genetic algorithms who earned the University of Michigan's first computer science PhD and taught there for more than five decades.
- Born
Fort Wayne, Indiana- Died
Ann Arbor, Michigan
aged 86- Also known as
- John Holland
- Detroit years
- 1950s–2015
- Field
- Science & invention
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Holland was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1929 and studied physics at MIT before working on IBM's first commercial computer, the 701. He came to the University of Michigan for graduate work, took a master's in mathematics in 1954 and in 1959 received the university's first doctorate in computer science. He stayed on as a professor of psychology and of electrical engineering and computer science, spending the rest of his career in Ann Arbor. There he developed genetic algorithms, computer programs that solve problems by mimicking natural selection, and set them out in Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems (1975). He was also a founding figure of complexity science and worked closely with the Santa Fe Institute. He received a MacArthur Fellowship in 1992 and died in Ann Arbor in 2015.
Highlights
- Received the University of Michigan's first computer science PhD, 1959
- Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems (1975) founded genetic algorithms
- MacArthur Fellowship, 1992
- Longtime faculty member of the Santa Fe Institute
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Worked here · 1950s–2015
University of Michigan
He took his graduate degrees here and taught psychology and computer science for more than fifty years.