Name: Herbert A. Simon
Title: Richard K. Mellon University Professor of Computer Science
and Psychology
Company: Carnegie Mellon University
Contact Info: Herb_Simon@v.gp.cs.cmu.edu
How I arrived at my present job (academic and other influences): B.A., Ph.D. University of Chicago, Political Science; 1942-1949, faculty of Illinois Institute of Technology; 1949, Came to Carnegie Institute of Technology to help found new business school (Graduate School of Industrial Administration); Learned about new computers, and that they could process non-numerical as well as numerical information, 1945-1950. Joined with Allen Newell and Cliff Shaw, from 1955, to explore how computers could be programmed to think and learn. Have never had time to think about doing anything else, or to go elsewhere to do it.
How I organize my day: I wish I could. Usually teaching and meetings with students and research colleagues, most afternoons and T,Th mornings. Work at home other days and weekends.
Amount of time spent working daily (at home and office): About nine hours a day but only seven days a week.
What I do to get myself thinking creatively: Nothing. The world does it to me, by presenting so many curious things that need explanation. When I run out of other problems there are always crossword puzzles.
My problem-solving strategy: Newton said, "I think on it constantly," or words to that effect. Add the rule: "Always have a secret weapon," -- the biggest computer, a problem imported from another field that others haven't heard of yet, a fact you stumbled on by being curious about everything, a friend who is smarter than you are. Anything, in short, that will give you an unfair advantage in getting there first.
What I do to relieve stress: There isn't much stress when you're doing what you like to do. Besides there are always old Marx Brothers or Charlie Chaplin movies. (Oh yes, I also write poison pen letters to editors who reject my papers, but I don't usually mail them.)
My hero, mentor, or person I most admire and why: I have lots of heros. In my study at home I have pictures of my first boss, who taught me how organizations should be run (Clarence Ridley); the man who wrote the first sensible book about business management (Chester I. Barnard); the chairman of the Political Science Department at Chicago in the 30's, whose secretary became my wife, (Charles E. Merriam); Albert Einstein; and Abraham Lincoln who need no introduction.
What I do to mentor those who work for me: Correct the grammar in the papers they submit; show them how to live patiently in confusion, thinking on it constantly until the answer comes.
How a negative event changed my life in a positive way: In college, I discovered that I would have to take an accounting course to earn an economics major, so I switched to political science, thereby avoiding brainwashing by orthodox neoclassical economics.
One event or decision in my life I wish I could go back and change: Can't think of one, for at least two reasons: (1) My area of professional expertise is defined as decision making and problem solving, so it would be unprofessional of me to make bad decisions; (2) I never look back over my shoulder because something may be gaining on me.
What values are the most important to me and what I value in others: Finding games to play that are not zero-sum (i.e., in which other people don't have to lose for me to win); honesty; a clear understanding that if one has good fortune in life, it should be attributed to one's luck, rather than one's virtue; paying one's taxes cheerfully, and not grousing about how high they are; a preference for exercising one's curiosity over most other occupations; being able to spend most of my time with people who share these values.
What inspires, motivates, or gets me excited about my job on a daily basis: If your central goal is to understand how people think and decide, as mine is, then you can explore almost any subject that strikes your fancy and charge it to company time, for it can certainly contribute to that goal -- music, physics, tennis, history, painting are all human activities that require thought and decision, and you can't explore them without learning more about those processes.
Biography: You can find biographical information in Dr. Simon's autobiography, Models of My Life. Herbert Simon passed away on 9 February 2001 at the age of 84. He will be remembered for his contributions to economics, cognitive psychology, and computer science.
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Location: www.acm.org/crossroads/dayinlife/bios/herbert_simon.html