View source for Stephen Wolfram

{{Short description|British-American scientist (born 1959)}}
{{Undisclosed paid|date=September 2022|talk=Undisclosed paid editing}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Stephen Wolfram
| image             = Stephen Wolfram PR (cropped).jpg
| image_size        = 
| caption           = Wolfram in 2008
| birth_name        = 
| birth_date        = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1959|8|29}}
| birth_place       = London, England
| death_date        = 
| death_place       = 
| nationality       = British, American
| fields            = {{startplainlist|class=nowrap}}
* [[Mathematics]]<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Wolfram | first1 = S. | chapter = Computer algebra | doi = 10.1145/2465506.2465930 | title = Proceedings of the 38th international symposium on International symposium on symbolic and algebraic computation – ISSAC '13 | pages = 7–8 | year = 2013 | isbn = 9781450320597 | s2cid = 37099593 }}</ref>
* [[Physics]]
* [[Computing]]
* [[Cellular automaton|Cellular automata]]
{{endplainlist}}
| education         = {{startplainlist|class=nowrap}}
* [[Dragon School]]<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2016/04/my-life-in-technology-as-told-at-the-computer-history-museum/|title=My Life in Technology—As Told at the Computer History Museum—Stephen Wolfram Writings|date=19 April 2016|website=writings.stephenwolfram.com |last1=Wolfram |first1=Stephen }}</ref>
* [[Eton College]]
* [[St. John's College, Oxford]]{{br}}(no degree)
* [[California Institute of Technology]]{{br}}(PhD)
{{endplainlist}}
| thesis_title      = Some Topics in Theoretical High-Energy&nbsp;Physics
| thesis_url        = https://thesis.library.caltech.edu/2597/
| thesis_year       = 1980
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Richard D. Field]]<ref>{{Cite thesis|url=https://thesis.library.caltech.edu/2597/|title=Some topics in theoretical high-energy physics|website=Caltech Library|year=1980|publisher=California Institute of Technology|language=en|access-date=2018-05-08|type=phd|last1=Wolfram|first1=Stephen}}</ref>
| known_for         = {{startplainlist|class=nowrap}}
* [[Mathematica]]
* [[Wolfram Alpha]]
* ''[[A New Kind of Science]]''<ref name="bio"/>
* [[Wolfram Language]]
{{endplainlist}}
| website           = {{startplainlist|class=nowrap}}
* {{url|https://www.stephenwolfram.com/|stephenwolfram.com}}
{{endplainlist}}
| work_institution  = {{startplainlist|class=nowrap}}
* [[Wolfram Research]]
* [[Thinking Machines Corporation]]<ref name="scopus">{{Scopus|id=16493873100}}</ref>
* [[California Institute of Technology]]
* [[Institute for Advanced Study]]
* {{longitem|[[University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign|University of Illinois at Urbana–{{br}}Champaign]]}}
{{endplainlist}}
| prizes            = [[MacArthur Fellows Program|MacArthur Fellowship]] (1981)
}}

'''Stephen Wolfram''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|w|ʊ|l|f|r|əm}} {{respell|WUUL|frəm}}; born 29 August 1959) is a British-American<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.stephenwolfram.com/bio-facts/|title=Biographical Facts for Stephen Wolfram|website=www.stephenwolfram.com|language=en|access-date=2017-03-02|archive-date=4 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180204091810/http://www.stephenwolfram.com/bio-facts/|url-status=dead}}</ref> computer scientist, physicist, and businessman. He is known for his work in [[computer algebra]] and [[theoretical physics]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Stephen Wolfram |url=http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=Stephen+Wolfram |publisher=Wolfram Alpha |access-date=15 May 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=New Scientist |title=Stephen Wolfram: 'I am an information pack rat' |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427381.100-stephen-wolfram-im-an-information-pack-rat.html |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413033506/https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427381-100-stephen-wolfram-im-an-information-pack-rat/ |archive-date=13 April 2016 |access-date=23 September 2024}}{{cbignore}}</ref> In 2012, he was named a fellow of the [[American Mathematical Society]].<ref>[http://www.ams.org/profession/fellows-list List of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society], retrieved 1 September 2013.</ref> 

As a businessman, Wolfram is the founder and CEO of the software company [[Wolfram Research]], where he works as chief designer of [[Mathematica]] and the [[Wolfram Alpha]] answer engine.
<!---- ["Knowledge-based programming" now redirects to [[Knowledge-based systems]]:] Editorial note: I suggest starting a new article on knowledge-based programming ---->

== Early life ==
=== Family ===
Stephen Wolfram was born in London in 1959 to [[Hugo Wolfram|Hugo]] and [[Sybil Wolfram|Sybil]] Wolfram, both [[German Jewish]] refugees to the United Kingdom.<ref>''The Universal Mind: The Evolution of Machine Intelligence and Human Psychology'', Xiphias Press, 1 Sep 2016, Michael Peragine</ref> His maternal grandmother was British [[psychoanalyst]] [[Kate Friedlander]].

Wolfram's father, [[Hugo Wolfram]], was a textile manufacturer and served as managing director of the Lurex Company—makers of the fabric [[Lurex]].<ref name="Telling a good yarn by Jenny Lunnon">[http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/business/profiles/931620.Telling_a_good_yarn/ Telling a good yarn by Jenny Lunnon], Oxford Times, Thursday 21 September 2006.</ref> Wolfram's mother, [[Sybil Wolfram]], was a Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy at [[Lady Margaret Hall]] at [[University of Oxford]] from 1964 to 1993.<ref>[http://www.psychoanalytikerinnen.de/greatbritain_biographies.html#Friedlaender Kate Friedländer née Frankl (1902–1949)], Psychoanalytikerinnen. Biografisches Lexikon.</ref>

Wolfram is married to a mathematician. They have four children together.<ref>{{cite episode|url=http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2009/05/29/2584139.htm|title=Stephen Wolfram|series=Sunday Profile|network=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]|airdate=2009-05-31}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.stephenwolfram.com/scrapbook/biofacts/ | title=The Life and Times of Stephen Wolfram: Biographical Facts | access-date=3 May 2023 }}</ref>

=== Education ===
Wolfram was educated at [[Eton College]], but left prematurely in 1976.<ref>[http://blog.stephenwolfram.com/2014/06/a-speech-for-high-school-graduates/ A Speech for (High-School) Graduates] by Stephen Wolfram (a commencement speech for Stanford Online High School), StephenWolfram.com, 9 June 2014: "You know, as it happens, I myself never officially graduated from high school, and this is actually the first high school graduation I've ever been to."</ref> As a young child, Wolfram had difficulties learning arithmetic.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/24/us/physicist-awarded-genius-prize-finds-reality-in-invisible-world.html PHYSICIST AWARDED 'GENIUS' PRIZE FINDS REALITY IN INVISIBLE WORLD], by GLADWIN HILL, ''New York Times'', 24 May 1981: "''When I first went to school, they thought I was behind'', he says, ''because I didn't want to read the silly books they gave us. And I never was able to do arithmetic.'' It was when he got into higher mathematics, such as calculus, he says, that he realized there was an invisible world that he wanted to explore."</ref> He entered [[St. John's College, Oxford]], at age 17 and left in 1978<ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=bbN-6aDFrrAC&q=murray+gelman+STephen+wolfram&pg=PA151 Complexity: A Guided Tour]'' by Melanie Mitchell, 2009, p. 151: "In the early 1980s, Stephen Wolfram, a physicist working at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, became fascinated by cellular automata and the patterns they make. Wolfram is one of those legendary child prodigies people like to tell stories about. Born in London in 1959, Wolfram published his first physics paper at 15. Two years later, in the summer after his first year at Oxford, ...  Wolfram wrote a paper in the field of 'quantum chromodynamics' that attracted the attention of Nobel-Prize-winning physicist Murray Gell-Mann, who invited Wolfram to join his group at Caltech."</ref> without graduating{{r|arndt20020517}}<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/jun/29/stephen-wolfram-textbook-never-interested-me-wolframalpha Stephen Wolfram: 'The textbook has never interested me': The British child genius who abandoned physics to devote himself to coding and the cosmos], by Zoë Corbyn, The Guardian, Saturday 28 June 2014: "He entered Oxford University at 17 without A-levels and left around a year later without graduating. He was bored and he had been invited to cross the pond by the prestigious California Institute of Technology (Caltech) to do a PhD. "I had written a bunch of papers and so was pretty well known by that time."</ref> to attend the [[California Institute of Technology]] the following year, where he received a PhD<ref name="mathgene">{{MathGenealogy|id=114676}}</ref> in particle physics in 1980.<ref name="wolframphd">{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |first=Stephen|last=Wolfram |title=Some Topics in Theoretical High-Energy Physics |publisher=California Institute of Technology |date=1980 |url=https://thesis.library.caltech.edu/2597}}</ref> Wolfram's [[thesis|thesis committee]] was composed of [[Richard Feynman]], [[Peter Goldreich]], [[Frank J. Sciulli]], and [[Steven Frautschi]], and chaired by [[Richard D. Field]].<ref name="wolframphd"/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StephenWolframCalTechThesisApplication.pdf |title=English: StephenWolframCalTechThesisApplication |date=7 November 1974 |via=Wikimedia Commons }}</ref>

== Early career ==
Wolfram, at the age of 15, began research in applied [[quantum field theory]] and [[particle physics]] and published scientific papers in [[peer-reviewed]] [[scientific journal]]s; by the time he left Oxford, he had published ten such papers.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Somers |first=James |date=2018-04-05 |title=The Scientific Paper Is Obsolete |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/04/the-scientific-paper-is-obsolete/556676/ |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180423050834/https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/04/the-scientific-paper-is-obsolete/556676/ |archive-date=23 April 2018 |access-date=2024-09-23 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Following his PhD, Wolfram joined the faculty at Caltech and became the youngest recipient<ref>{{Cite news |title=FOUNDATION TO SUPPORT 21 AS 'GENIUSES' FOR 5 YEARS |language=en |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1981/05/19/142193.html?pageNumber=1 |access-date=2023-03-26}}</ref> of a [[MacArthur Fellows Program|MacArthur Fellowship]] in 1981, at age 21.<ref name="arndt20020517">{{cite magazine |url =https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2002-05-26/simple-science |title=Stephen Wolfram's Simple Science |access-date=January 1, 2022 |last=Arndt |first=Michael |date=May 17, 2002 |magazine=[[BusinessWeek]]}}</ref>

== Later career ==

=== Complex systems and cellular automata ===
In 1983, Wolfram left for the School of Natural Sciences of the [[Institute for Advanced Study]] in Princeton. By that time, he was no longer interested in particle physics. Instead, he began pursuing investigations into [[cellular automaton|cellular automata]],{{cn|date=January 2023}} mainly with computer simulations. He produced a series of papers investigating the class of [[elementary cellular automaton|elementary cellular automata]], conceiving the [[Wolfram code]], a naming system for one-dimensional cellular automata, and a [[cellular automaton#Classification|classification scheme]] for the complexity of their behaviour.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Regis |first1=Edward |title=Who got Einstein's office? Eccentricity and Genius at the Institute for Advanced Study |date=1987 |publisher=Addison-Wesley |location=Reading, Mass |isbn=0201120658 |page=5 |url=https://archive.org/details/whogoteinsteinso0000regi}}</ref> He conjectured that the [[Rule 110]] cellular automaton might be [[Turing complete]], which a research assistant to Wolfram, [[Matthew Cook]], later proved correct.<ref name="proof">{{Cite journal|url = http://www.complex-systems.com/abstracts/v15_i01_a01.html|title = Universality in Elementary Cellular Automata|last = Cook|first = Matthew|date = 2004|journal = Complex Systems|access-date = 24 June 2015|volume = 15|issue = 1| pages=1–40 | doi=10.25088/ComplexSystems.15.1.1 |issn = 0891-2513|url-access = subscription}}</ref> Wolfram sued Cook and temporarily blocked publication of the work on Rule 110 for allegedly violating a [[non-disclosure agreement]] until Wolfram could publish the work in his controversial book ''[[A New Kind of Science]]''.<ref name="bio">{{Cite journal |last1=Giles |first1=J. |year=2002 |title=Stephen Wolfram: What kind of science is this? |journal=Nature |volume=417 |issue=6886 |pages=216–218 |bibcode=2002Natur.417..216G |doi=10.1038/417216a |pmid=12015565 |s2cid=10636328}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Martínez |first1=Genaro J. |last2=Seck-Tuoh-Mora |first2=Juan C. |last3=Chapa-Vergara |first3=Sergio V. |last4=Lemaitre |first4=Christian |date=2020-03-03 |title=Brief notes and history of computing in Mexico during 50 years |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17445760.2019.1608990 |journal=International Journal of Parallel, Emergent and Distributed Systems |language=en |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=185–192 |doi=10.1080/17445760.2019.1608990 |issn=1744-5760|arxiv=1905.07527 }}</ref> Wolfram's cellular-automata work came to be cited in more than 10,000 papers.<ref name="Levy">{{Cite web |last=Levy |first=Steven |date=1 June 2002 |title=The Man Who Cracked The Code to Everything... |url=https://www.wired.com/2002/06/wolfram/ |access-date=22 November 2018 |website=Wired.com}}</ref>

In the mid-1980s, Wolfram worked on simulations of physical processes (such as [[turbulence|turbulent fluid flow]]) with cellular automata on the [[Connection Machine]] alongside [[Richard Feynman]]<ref name="DH">{{cite web|url=http://www.kurzweilai.net/articles/art0504.html?printable=1|title=Richard Feynman and The Connection Machine|author=W. Daniel Hillis|publisher=Physics Today|date=February 1989|access-date=3 November 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090728072503/http://www.kurzweilai.net/articles/art0504.html?printable=1|archive-date=28 July 2009|df=dmy-all}}</ref> and helped initiate the field of [[complex systems]].{{cn|date=January 2023}} In 1984, he was a participant in the Founding Workshops of the [[Santa Fe Institute]], along with Nobel laureates [[Murray Gell-Mann]], [[Manfred Eigen]], and [[Philip Warren Anderson]], and future laureate [[Frank Wilczek]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1216/c98def031faa344d66dead45117d0b188491.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180811230248/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1216/c98def031faa344d66dead45117d0b188491.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2018-08-11|title=Emerging Syntheses in Science: Proceedings of the Founding Workshops of the Santa Fe Institute|last=Pines|first=David|editor1-first=David|editor1-last=Pines|publisher=Addison-Wesley|year=2018|isbn=9780429492594|location=Menlo Park, California|pages=183–190|doi=10.1201/9780429492594|s2cid=142670544}}</ref> In 1986, he founded the Center for Complex Systems Research (CCSR) at the [[University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign]].<ref name="wired.com">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.06/wolfram_pr.html|title=The Man Who Cracked The Code to Everything|access-date=7 April 2012 | magazine=Wired}}</ref> In 1987, he founded the journal ''[[Complex Systems (journal)|Complex Systems]]''.<ref name="wired.com"/>

=== Symbolic Manipulation Program ===

{{Main|Symbolic Manipulation Program}}
Wolfram led the development of the [[computer algebra system]] SMP (''[[Symbolic Manipulation Program]]'') in the Caltech physics department during 1979–1981. A dispute with the administration over the intellectual property rights regarding SMP—patents, copyright, and faculty involvement in commercial ventures—eventually led him to resign from Caltech.<ref name="torn">{{Cite journal | last1 = Kolata | first1 = G. | title = Caltech Torn by Dispute over Software | doi = 10.1126/science.220.4600.932 | journal = Science | volume = 220 | issue = 4600 | pages = 932–934 | year = 1983 | pmid =  17816011|bibcode = 1983Sci...220..932K }}</ref> SMP was further developed and marketed commercially by Inference Corp. of Los Angeles during 1983–1988.

=== Mathematica ===
{{Main|Mathematica}}
In 1986, Wolfram left the [[Institute for Advanced Study]] for the [[University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign]], where he had founded their Center for Complex Systems Research, and started to develop the computer algebra system [[Wolfram Mathematica|Mathematica]], which was released on 23 June 1988, when he left academia. In 1987, he founded [[Wolfram Research]], which continues to develop and market the program.<ref name=bio />

=== ''A New Kind of Science'' ===
{{Main|A New Kind of Science}}

From 1992 to 2002, Wolfram worked on his controversial book ''[[A New Kind of Science]]'',<ref name="bio"/><ref name="newkind">{{Cite book|isbn = 1579550088|title = A New Kind of Science|last1 = Wolfram|first1 = Stephen|year = 2002| publisher=Wolfram Media }}</ref> which presents an empirical study of simple computational systems. Additionally, it argues that for fundamental reasons these types of systems, rather than traditional mathematics, are needed to model and understand complexity in nature. Wolfram's conclusion is that the universe is discrete in its nature, and runs on fundamental laws that can be described as simple programs. He predicts that a realization of this within scientific communities will have a revolutionary influence on physics, chemistry, biology, and most other scientific areas, hence the book's title. The book was met with skepticism and criticism that Wolfram took credit for the work of others and made conclusions without evidence to support them.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Stephen Wolfram, A New Kind of Science |url=http://bactra.org/reviews/wolfram/ |access-date=2022-10-17 |website=bactra.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Giles |first=Jim |date=2002-05-01 |title=What kind of science is this? |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/417216a |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=417 |issue=6886 |pages=216–218 |doi=10.1038/417216a |pmid=12015565 |bibcode=2002Natur.417..216G |s2cid=10636328 |issn=1476-4687}}</ref>

=== Wolfram Alpha computational knowledge engine ===
{{Main|Wolfram Alpha}}

In March 2009, Wolfram announced Wolfram Alpha, an [[answer engine]]. Wolfram Alpha launched in May 2009,<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://blog.wolfram.com/2009/03/05/wolframalpha-is-coming/ |title=Wolfram&#124;Alpha Is Coming! |last=Wolfram |first=Stephen |date=5 March 2009 |journal=Wolfram Blog|access-date=9 March 2009}}</ref> and a paid-for version with extra features launched in February 2012 that was met with criticism for its high price, which later dropped from $50 to $2.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Sorrel |first=Charlie |title=Wolfram Alpha for iPhone Drops from $50 to $2 |language=en-US |magazine=Wired |url=https://www.wired.com/2010/04/wolfram-alpha-for-iphone-drops-from-50-to-2/ |access-date=2022-10-17 |issn=1059-1028}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://blog.wolframalpha.com/2012/02/08/announcing-wolframalpha-pro | work=Wolfram{{!}}Alpha blog|title=Announcing Wolfram{{!}}Alpha Pro|access-date=7 April 2012}}</ref> The engine is based on [[natural language processing]] and a large library of rules-based algorithms. The [[application programming interface]] allows other applications to extend and enhance Wolfram Alpha.<ref>
{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2009/mar/09/search-engine-google |title=British search engine 'could rival Google' |last=Johnson |first=Bobbie |date=9 March 2009 |work=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=9 March 2009}}</ref> <!---- Wolfram presented a talk at the [[TED (conference)|TED]] conference in 2010,
<ref>{{Cite journal|first=Steven|last=Levy|publisher=WIRED|title=TED 2010: How to Ace a TED Talk|url=https://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/02/ted-2010-how-to-ace-a-ted-talk/|date=12 February 2010}}</ref>
<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Stephen Wolfram: Computing a theory of everything|publisher=TED|url=https://www.ted.com/talks/stephen_wolfram_computing_a_theory_of_all_knowledge|date=February 2010}}</ref> and he was named Speaker of the Event for his 2012 talk at [[SXSW]].
<ref>{{Cite web|title=SXSW Award Winners 2012|url=http://sxsw.com/interactive/awards/winners|access-date=16 May 2012}}</ref> ---->

=== Touchpress ===
{{Main|Touchpress}}

In 2010, Wolfram co-founded [[Touchpress]] with [[Theodore Gray]], Max Whitby, and John Cromie. The company specialised in creating in-depth premium apps and games covering a wide range of educational subjects designed for children, parents, students, and educators. Touchpress published more than 100 apps.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/newsreleases/2011/march/popular-science-columnist-earns-prestigious-american-chemical-society-award.html|title=Popular Science columnist earns prestigious American Chemical Society award|website=American Chemical Society|language=en|access-date=2018-12-25}}</ref> The company is no longer active.

=== Wolfram Language ===
{{Main|Wolfram Language}}

In March 2014, at the annual [[South by Southwest]] (SXSW) event, Wolfram officially announced the [[Wolfram Language]] as a new general [[multi-paradigm programming language]],<ref>[http://reference.wolfram.com/language/ Wolfram Language reference page Retrieved on 14 May 2014]</ref> though it was previously available through Mathematica and not an entirely new programming language. The documentation for the language was pre-released in October 2013 to coincide with the bundling of [[Mathematica]] and the Wolfram Language on every [[Raspberry Pi]] computer with some controversy because of the proprietary nature of the Wolfram Language.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Shankland|first=Stephen|title=Premium Mathematica software free on budget Raspberry Pi|url=https://www.cnet.com/news/premium-mathematica-software-free-on-budget-raspberry-pi/|access-date=2021-03-18|website=CNET|language=en}}</ref> While the Wolfram Language has existed for over 30 years as the primary programming language used in [[Mathematica]], it was not officially named until 2014, and is not widely used.<ref>[http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/bitwise/2014/03/stephen_wolfram_s_new_programming_language_can_he_make_the_world_computable.html Slate's article Stephen Wolfram's New Programming Language: He Can Make The World Computable, 6 March 2014. Retrieved on 14 May 2014.]</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=TIOBE Index |url=https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/ |access-date=2022-10-17 |website=TIOBE |language=en-US}}</ref> 

=== Wolfram Physics Project ===
[[File:Wolfram Physics Spatial Hypergraph.png|thumb|A spatial [[hypergraph]]]]
In April 2020, Wolfram announced the "Wolfram Physics Project" as an effort to reduce and explain all the laws of physics within a paradigm of a [[hypergraph]] that is transformed by minimal [[abstract rewriting system|rewriting rules]] that obey the [[Church–Rosser theorem|Church–Rosser property]].<ref>{{Cite magazine|title=Stephen Wolfram Invites You to Solve Physics|language=en|magazine=Wired|url=https://www.wired.com/story/stephen-wolfram-invites-you-to-solve-physics/|access-date=2020-04-15|issn=1059-1028}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-04-14|title=Stephen Wolfram's hypergraph project aims for a fundamental theory of physics|url=https://www.sciencenews.org/article/stephen-wolfram-hypergraph-project-fundamental-theory-physics|access-date=2020-04-23|website=Science News|language=en-US}}</ref> The effort is a continuation of the ideas he originally described in ''A New Kind of Science''. Wolfram claims that "From an extremely simple model, we're able to reproduce special relativity, general relativity and the core results of quantum mechanics."

Physicists are generally unimpressed with Wolfram's claim, and say his results are non-quantitative and arbitrary.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Becker|first1=Adam|date=6 May 2020|title=Physicists Criticize Stephen Wolfram's 'Theory of Everything'|language=en|work=Scientific American|url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/physicists-criticize-stephen-wolframs-theory-of-everything/|access-date=10 May 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=2020|title=The Trouble With Stephen Wolfram's New 'Fundamental Theory of Physics'|language=en-us|work=Gizmodo|url=https://gizmodo.com/the-trouble-with-stephen-wolfram-s-new-fundamental-theo-1842985419|access-date=23 April 2020}}</ref>

== Personal interests and activities ==
Wolfram has a log of personal analytics, including emails received and sent, keystrokes made, meetings and events attended, recordings of phone calls, and even physical movement dating back to the 1980s. In the preface of ''A New Kind of Science'', he noted that he recorded over 100 million keystrokes and 100 mouse miles. He has said that personal analytics "can give us a whole new dimension to experiencing our lives."<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/2012/03/opinion-wolfram-life-analytics/|title=The Personal Analytics of My Life|magazine=Wired|first=Stephen|last=Wolfram|date=8 March 2012|access-date=2016-10-18}}</ref>

Wolfram was a scientific consultant for the 2016 film ''[[Arrival (film)|Arrival]]''. He and his son Christopher Wolfram wrote some of the code featured on screen, such as the code in graphics depicting an analysis of the alien logograms, for which they used the [[Wolfram Language]].<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/2016/11/arrivals-designers-crafted-mesmerizing-alien-alphabet/ |title=How Arrival's Designers Crafted a Mesmerizing Language |first=Margaret |last=Rhodes |magazine=Wired |date=16 November 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.engadget.com/2016/11/14/dissecting-the-alien-language-in-arrival/|title=Dissecting the alien language in 'Arrival' |first=Timothy J. |last=Seppala |website=Engadget|date=15 November 2016 |access-date=2016-11-16}}</ref>

== Bibliography ==
* ''Metamathematics: Foundations & Physicalization'', (2022), Wolfram Media, Inc,  ASIN:B0BPN7SHN3 
* ''Combinators: A Centennial View'' (2021)
* '' A Project to Find the Fundamental Theory of Physics'' (2020), Publisher: Wolfram Media, {{ISBN|978-1-57955-035-6}}
* ''Adventures of a Computational Explorer'' (2019)
* ''Idea Makers: Personal Perspectives on the Lives & Ideas of Some Notable People'' (2016)<ref>{{cite web |last1=Siegfried |first1=Tom |title='Idea Makers' tackles scientific thinkers' big ideas and personal lives Human side of science emphasized in new book |url=https://www.sciencenews.org/article/idea-makers-tackles-scientific-thinkers-big-ideas-and-personal-lives |website=Science News |date=13 August 2016 |publisher=Society for Science & the Public |access-date=11 October 2022 |language=English}}</ref>
* ''Elementary Introduction to the Wolfram Language'' (2015)<ref>[http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/12/14/stephen-wolfram-seeks-to-democratize-his-software/?_r=0 Stephen Wolfram Aims to Democratize His Software] by Steve Lohr, ''[[The New York Times]]'', 14 December 2015.</ref>
* {{cite book |last=Wolfram |first=Stephen|title-link=A New Kind of Science |title=A new kind of science |date=2002 |publisher=[[Wolfram Media]] |isbn=1-57955-008-8 |location=Champaign, IL |oclc=47831356}}
* ''The Mathematica Book'' (multiple editions)
* ''Cellular Automata and Complexity: Collected Papers'' (1994)
* ''Theory and Applications of Cellular Automata'' (1986)

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons}}
* {{Official website|https://www.stephenwolfram.com/}}
* [http://www.wolframfoundation.org/ Wolfram Foundation]
* {{MathGenealogy|id=114676}}
* {{IMDb name|3358184|Stephen Wolfram}}
* {{TED speaker}}
* {{Charlie Rose view|1054}}
* {{OL author}}
* [https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/46902 Interview of Stephen Wolfram by David Zierler on March 18 and April 17, 2021, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD USA, www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/46902]
{{Wolfram Research}}
{{Authority control}}

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