IEEE Systems, Man and Cybernetics Magazine - July 2018 - 47
Remembering Lotfi Zadeh
Dimitar Filev
Prof. Lotfi Zadeh, one of the titans of systems science, control
theory, and artificial intelligence (AI), invented the concept
of fuzzy sets and created the theory of fuzzy logic, fuzzy
systems, and approximate reasoning. He was the founder of
the broad and long-reaching vision of soft computing as a
profound engineering approach to AI combining the power
of neural networks, fuzzy systems, evolutionary computing,
and machine learning. His interests and contributions
expanded from deciphering the complexity of human
reasoning and natural language to the very pragmatics of
industrial applications of soft computing. Prof. Zadeh was a
remarkable icon of scientific research and engineering, yet
he was very humble, so I will mention with utmost discretion
only some of the accolades that testify to the significance
of his legacy and contributions to science, engineering, and
humanity in general: membership in the National Academy
zadeh visiting the home of Hideyuki takagi in
Fukuoka, Japan, in 2004.
of Engineering, more than 20 honorary doctorates, copious
prestigious national and international awards, three major
San Diego, California, in 2014. He was a major supporter of
IEEE medals, and myriad scientific papers with an incredible
the idea of expanding the SMCS toward soft cybernetics,
number of citations and impact on the scientific community.
brain modeling, brain-computer interfaces, and human-
I had the opportunity to meet Prof. Zadeh for the first time
machine systems. For many years, the IEEE SMC Technical
in 1989 at a conference in Iizuka, Japan. Impressed by his
Committee on Soft Computing has been the largest
enlightening, yet tender and encouraging, discourse and
and most active technical community within the SMCS,
his creative and groundbreaking vision, I was immediately
maintaining and developing Prof. Zadeh's vision for a smart
drawn into the vast realm of his ideas about the power of
collaborative use of the methods and tools of computational
fuzzy modeling, control, and their applications. After that, I
intelligence.
had multiple interactions with Prof. Zadeh at conferences,
For all of us who had the privilege to know him and have
his Berkeley Initiative in Soft Computing (BISC) seminar, and,
been touched by his vision and ideas, Prof. Zadeh will remain
for the last time in June last year, in his home in Berkeley.
in our hearts forever as a scientific giant and a man of
I will never forget the 1998 IEEE Conference on Decision
exceptional intelligence and great humanity.
and Control in Tampa, Florida, where I had the honor of
supporting Prof. Zadeh as a panelist in his debate with Prof.
Hideyuki Takagi
Michael Athans about conventional versus fuzzy control. It
Prof. Zadeh hosted me during my visiting research at the
was a heated but courteous professional discussion in which
University of California at Berkeley from October 1991 to
Prof. Zadeh's conciliatory but firm and well-justified position
September 1993. Thanks to this opportunity, I could con-
made a strong case for the important role of fuzzy control
centrate my research on fusing neural networks, fuzzy
as a task-oriented methodology complementing the well-
systems, and genetic algorithms as well as helping with the
known classical control techniques, especially in human-
management of his BISC seminar. He introduced me to many
machine systems and applications. Over the years, we
researchers when they visited him, which helped me to form
have witnessed numerous examples attesting Prof. Zadeh's
researcher networks that have benefited my joint research
vision; multiple successful intelligent control applications
and organizing conferences.
where fuzzy systems were introduced within the framework of
I have three pieces of memorabilia of Prof. and Mrs. Zadeh.
heuristic strategies at a higher control level (e.g., supervisory
The first one is a single-handled pot that Fay presented
control and the formalization of heuristic tasks and goals)
us when our family started Berkeley life, and we still use it
and in conjunction with control algorithms that require
regularly at our home. The second one is a stuffed bear that
subjective information, which could be challenging to
was a Christmas present from Fay and Prof. Zadeh to our
formalize within the framework of conventional control.
daughter when she was two years old. She always brought it
Prof. Zadeh was one of the founding members and an
in spite of several moves for her school and work, and it is still
active participant in the IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics
in her bedroom even after more than a quarter of a century.
Society (SMCS) conferences and events. We all remember
his remarkable keynote at the annual SMCS conference in
(continued on page 48)
Ju ly 2018
IEEE SyStEmS, man, & CybErnEtICS magazInE
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