Connectionists: David Rumelhart

[Jay McClelland]

Dear Connectionists,

It is with great personal sadness that I convey the news that David 
Rumelhart has passed away. Rumelhart developed powerful algorithms for 
training neural networks and played a critical leadership role in 
articulating the computational advantages and implications of neural 
networks in the 1980's. I benefited greatly from his leadership and his 
insight. So did many others, and so did the field of neural computation.

The obituary below appeared today in the Stanford Report.

-- Jay McClelland

===================================================

Stanford Report, March 17, 2011


  David Rumelhart, pioneer in cognitive neuroscience, dies at 68

The Stanford psychologist created computer models that simulated human 
perception, language understanding and memory.

BY ADAM GORLICK

David Rumelhart, a psychology professor who studied how people think and 
learn complex skills such as reading and the use of language, has died. 
He was 68.

Rumelhart, who died on March 13 in Michigan after suffering from a 
progressive debilitating neurological condition, was a pioneer in the 
field of cognitive neuroscience who explored the concept of 
connectionism – the idea that no single neuron in the human brain does 
its job alone in processing information.

Leading a team of researchers that included James McClelland – now chair 
of the Psychology Department – Rumelhart created computer models in the 
1970s and 1980s that simulated human perception, language understanding, 
memory and a wide range of other cognitive tasks.

"Dave was interested in how we're able to bring thoughts together in our 
minds," McClelland said. "He wanted to know how we can achieve an 
insight or grasp what the right answer is to a subtle question."

Together, Rumelhart and McClelland wrote /Parallel Distributed 
Processing: Explorations in the Microstructure of Cognition/, a book 
that brought the concept of connectionism to a wider audience of 
psychologists, neuroscientists and computer scientists.

Born in Wessington Springs, S.D., Rumelhart did his undergraduate work 
in psychology and mathematics at the University of South Dakota. He 
earned his doctorate at Stanford in 1967 and immediately launched his 
teaching career at the University of California-San Diego.

While at UCSD, Rumelhart began honing his ideas on how the brain works. 
He became dissatisfied with a classic understanding of the human thought 
process that was based on the notion that cognition happens through the 
mind's manipulation of symbols.

"He became fascinated by the idea that our minds work at a sub-symbolic 
level," McClelland said. "The idea was that thoughts emerge from neural 
activity. They're the consequence of the interaction of neurons. He went 
behind the scenes to look for the actual basis for our thinking ability."

Rumelhart came to Stanford in 1987, where he continued developing the 
framework he and McClelland established in /Parallel Distributed 
Processing. /A shy professor unless one knew him well, Rumelhart often 
showed his competitive streak on the tennis court or makeshift 
volleyball court he would fill with students and fellow professors on 
the Oval.

Among his honors and awards, Rumelhart was a member of the National 
Academy of Sciences and a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. He and 
McClelland jointly received several awards as well, including the Warren 
Medal from the Society of Experimental Psychologists in 1993.

Struck with a neurological disease a few years after arriving at 
Stanford, Rumelhart stopped teaching in 1998. In 2000, the 
Glushko-Samuelson Foundation established the Rumelhart Prize, a $100,000 
award given annually to scientists who make a significant contribution 
to the theoretical foundations of human cognition.

Rumelhart is survived by his former wife, Marilyn Austin; their sons, 
Peter and Karl Rumelhart; his brothers, Donald and Roger Rumelhart; and 
four grandsons. A memorial service will be scheduled this spring.


-- 
James L. (Jay) McClelland
Lucie Stern Professor&  Chair
Dept. of Psychology, Stanford University
650-725-1232 | www.psych.stanford.edu/~jlm