Systems, Man & Cybernetics - July 2015 - 37

Zadeh was born in 1921 in Baku, the capital of Azerbaiother faculties-theology, law, and medicine. All four
jan. His father was an Azerbaijani and worked as a foreign
faculties formed the studium generale.
correspondent in Iran, and his mother was a Russian
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the concept of the laws of
physician (Figure 1). Stalin's harsh immigration policies
nature emerged, and this new idea resulted in the concept
resulted in the family choosing to move to Tehran, Iran,
of empirical sciences. Natural philosophy was differentiatwhen their son was ten years old. Zadeh continued his
ed into disciplines, such as physics [from the ancient Greek
education in English at a private Presbyterian missionary
φύσις (physis), meaning nature; including astronomy],
school. He later studied EE and graduated from the Unichemistry, biology, and some parts of mathematics.
versity of Tehran, where he received his B.Sc. degree in EE
During the 20th century, many more differentiations
in 1942.
of scientific subjects emerged, e.g., the main branches
Two years later, he immigrated to the United States,
of physics are now much more distinct, e.g., (classical)
where he continued his studies at MIT. Among others,
mechanics, electromagnetism, thermodynamics and stahe attended the lectures of Norbert Wiener (1894-1964)
tistical mechanics, relativity theory, and quantum mechanand Ernst A. Guillemin (1898-1970), and, in 1946, he finics. However, note that we cannot sharply separate these
ished his studies with an M.S. thesis on helical antennas
parts of physics from each other. They have concepts in
under the supervision of Parry Hiram Moon (1898-1988).
common, e.g., particles, mass points, or waves, or they use
(Zadeh's thesis, "An Investigation of Current Distribution
the same rules and methods; and some theories are speand Radiation Field of a Solenoidal Antenna," was acceptcializations of more general theories, e.g., Robert Hook's
ed on 11 February 1946 by the Department of EE at MIT.)
mechanics and Isaac Newton's mechanics. There are no
He then joined the faculty of Columbia University in New
strict boundaries between these disciplines, and there are
York as an instructor and earned
overlaps, e.g., between biophysics
his Ph.D. degree with his dissertaand quantum chemistry.
tion "Frequency Analysis of VariIn addition, during the 19th
able Networks" [38]. In 1950, he
century, scientists and engineers
was appointed an assistant profesestablished relations between physZadeh was extremely
sor. He was extremely excited by
ics and engineering. Before that
excited by Wiener's
Wiener's Cybernetics [36], and he
time, electricity was considered
Cybernetics, and he
became interested in the theory of
part of physics, but, in 1882, the
ideal and optimal filtering. Togethfirst chair of EE was founded at
became interested
er with his supervisor, John Ralph
the University of Technology (TU),
in the theory of ideal
Ragazzini (1912-1988), he pubDarmstadt, Germany. In the same
lished some joint research work
year, the Massachusetts Institute
and optimal filtering.
[23]-[25] and a paper that resulted
of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge
from project work that he had pubwas the first to offer EE within a
lished on his own: "An Extension
physics department. One year later,
of Wiener's Theory of Prediction"
TU Darmstadt, and also Cornell
[39], [40], an important milestone in the development of
University, introduced the world's first courses of study in
network synthesis.
EE, and, in 1885, the University College London founded
In 1959, Zadeh became a professor of EE at the UCB,
the first chair of EE in the United Kingdom. Following this
and, in that time, he began new research work in the latest
in 1886, the University of Missouri established the first
field of system theory. In 1965, during his time as the chair
department of EE in the United States.
of the Department of EE (1963-1968), Zadeh published
In the 20th century, computer and communication
the paper "Fuzzy Sets" in the journal Information and
engineering became particularly important subjects of
Control, where he proposed FSs as a new basic concept
research in EE that began during World War II. After the
in mathematics for scientific and engineering methods.
war, the scientific and technological communities, as well
He considerably enlarged system theory with the theory
as the public, became more aware of the first computers,
of fuzzy systems [50], [51], and, following this theoretical
the mathematical theory of communication, and cyberwork, he searched for various applications-above all
netics. Subsequently, CS emerged out of EE in the 1960s.
in nontechnical fields [55], [56]. However, in the 1970s,
This new discipline incorporated parts of mathematics
Ebrahim H. Mamdani (1942-2010), a professor of EE at
and logic, and its emergence involved passionate debates
Queen Mary College in London, with his Ph.D. student
throughout departments and faculties in the United States.
Sedrak Assilian, realized the first technical application
In 1963 at the UCB, Zadeh was appointed chair of the
system with an algorithm using FSs to control a steam
Department of EE; he took over this key position at a time
engine [2], [17]. This fuzzy control system initiated the sowhen important decisions were pending, e.g., whether to
called fuzzy boom-a development that triggered many
favor analog or digital computers and the nature of future
technical fuzzy control applications (see [13], [21]) as well
curricula, programs, and centers in CS.
JuJu
ly ly
2015
2015IEEE
IEEE
SyStEmS,
Systems,
man,
Man,
&&
CybErnEtICS
Cybernetics
magazInE
Magazine37
37

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