View source for Gordon Plotkin

{{Short description|Computer Scientist}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox scientist
| image             = Gordon Plotkin.jpg
| honorific_suffix  = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRS|FRSE|MAE|size=100%}}
| caption           = Plotkin in 2005
| name              = Gordon Plotkin
| birth_name        = Gordon David Plotkin
| birth_date        = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1946|9|9}}<ref name="whoswho">
{{Who's Who | author=Anon| title=Plotkin, Prof. Gordon David  | id = U31011 | year = 2013 | edition = online [[Oxford University Press]]|location=Oxford|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U31011}}</ref>
| birth_place       = [[Glasgow]], Scotland
| field             = [[Logic]]<br>[[Mathematics]]<br>[[Computer science]]
| work_institution  = [[University of Edinburgh]]<br>[[Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science]]<br>[[University of Edinburgh School of Informatics|School of Informatics]]<br>[[University of Glasgow]]
| alma_mater        = [[University of Glasgow]] (BSc)<br>[[University of Edinburgh]] (PhD)
| awards            = {{Plainlist|
* [[Milner Award]] (2012)
* [[Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award]]
* [[European Association for Theoretical Computer Science|EATCS Award]]}}
| thesis_title      = Automatic methods of inductive inference
| thesis_year       = 1972
| thesis_url        = https://hdl.handle.net/1842/6656
| known_for         = [[Programming Computable Functions]]<br>[[Unbounded nondeterminism]]<br>[[Operational semantics]]<br>[[Domain theory]]
| website           = {{URL|http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/gdp}}<br>{{URL|inf.ed.ac.uk/people/staff/Gordon_Plotkin.html}}
| doctoral_advisor  = {{Plainlist|
* [[Rod Burstall]]<ref name="mathgene">{{MathGenealogy|id=95717}}</ref> 
* [[Donald Michie]]<ref name="plotkinphd"/>}}
| doctoral_students = {{Plainlist|
* [[Luca Cardelli]]<ref name="lucaphd">{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |first=Luca|last=Cardelli |title=An algebraic approach to hardware description and verification  |publisher=University of Edinburgh |date=1982 |id={{EThOS|uk.bl.ethos.253190}}|hdl=1842/13308
|author-link=Luca Cardelli}}</ref>
* [[Philippa Gardner]]<ref name=gPhD>{{cite thesis|degree=PhD|publisher=University of Edinburgh|hdl=1842/14888|title=Representing logics in type theory|first= Philippa|last=Gardner|date=1992|id={{EThOS|uk.bl.ethos.651333}}}} {{free access}}</ref>
* [[Doug Gurr]]<ref name=gurrphd>{{cite thesis|degree=PhD|publisher=University of Edinburgh|hdl=1842/13968|title=Semantic frameworks for complexity|first= Douglas John|last=Gurr|date=1990|id={{EThOS|uk.bl.ethos.651894}}|oclc=475827463}} {{free access}}</ref>
* [[Eugenio Moggi]]<ref name="moggiphd">{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |first=Eugenio|last=Moggi |title=The partial lambda calculus |publisher=University of Edinburgh |date=1999 |hdl=1842/419|author-link=Eugenio Moggi}}</ref>
* [[Li Wei (computer scientist)|Lǐ Wèi]]<ref name="liweiphd">{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |first=Lǐ|last=Wèi |title=An operational approach to semantics and translation for programming languages |date=1983 |hdl=1842/6636}}</ref>
}}
}}
'''Gordon David Plotkin''' (born 9 September 1946)<ref name=whoswho/> is a theoretical computer scientist in the [[University of Edinburgh School of Informatics|School of Informatics]] at the [[University of Edinburgh]]. Plotkin is probably best known for his introduction of structural [[operational semantics]] (SOS) and his work on [[denotational semantics]]. In particular, his notes on ''A Structural Approach to Operational Semantics'' were very influential.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Crary |first=Karl |last2=Harper |first2=Robert |date=2007 |title=Syntactic Logical Relations for Polymorphic and Recursive Types|journal=Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science |language=en |volume=172 |page=259 |doi=10.1016/j.entcs.2007.02.010|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Curien |first=Pierre-Louis |title=Semantics and syntax, between computer science and mathematics |date=April 2022 |url=https://curien.galene.org/papers/French-school-PLC.pdf |page=2}}</ref> He has contributed to many other areas of [[computer science]].<ref name="googlescholar">{{Google scholar id}}</ref><ref name="acm">{{ACMPortal|id=81100235459}}</ref><ref name="scopus">{{Scopus id}}</ref><ref name="dblp">{{DBLP|name=Gordon D. Plotkin}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Mitchell | first1 = J. C. | author-link1 = John C. Mitchell| last2 = Plotkin | first2 = G. D.| author-link2 = Gordon Plotkin | doi = 10.1145/44501.45065 | title = Abstract types have existential type | journal = ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems | volume = 10 | issue = 3 | pages = 470 | year = 1988 | s2cid = 1222153 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Abadi | first1 = M. N. | author-link1 = Martín Abadi| last2 = Burrows | first2 = M. | author-link2 = Michael Burrows (computer scientist)| last3 = Lampson | first3 = B. | author-link3 = Butler Lampson| last4 = Plotkin | first4 = G. | author-link4 = Gordon Plotkin| title = A calculus for access control in distributed systems | doi = 10.1145/155183.155225 | journal = ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems | volume = 15 | issue = 4 | pages = 706 | year = 1993 | hdl = 1842/207 | url = http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/gdp/publications/Calculus_for_Access_Control.pdf| citeseerx = 10.1.1.72.3756 | s2cid = 13260508 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lfcs.inf.ed.ac.uk/events/plotkin-symposium/|title=Symposium for Gordon Plotkin|website=www.lfcs.inf.ed.ac.uk}}</ref>

==Education ==
Plotkin was educated at the [[University of Glasgow]] and the [[University of Edinburgh]], gaining his Bachelor of Science degree in 1967<ref name="whoswho"/> and PhD in 1972<ref name="plotkinphd">{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |first=Gordon David|last=Plotkin |title=Automatic methods of inductive inference |publisher=University of Edinburgh |date=1972 |hdl=1842/6656|id={{EThOS|uk.bl.ethos.482992}}|author-link=Gordon Plotkin}} {{free access}}</ref> supervised by [[Rod Burstall]].<ref name="mathgene"/>

==Career and research==
Plotkin has remained at Edinburgh, and was, with Burstall and [[Robin Milner]], a co-founder of the [[Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science]] (LFCS).<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1016/0304-3975(75)90017-1| title = Call-by-name, call-by-value and the λ-calculus| journal = Theoretical Computer Science| volume = 1| issue = 2| pages = 125–159| year = 1975| last1 = Plotkin | first1 = G. D. | doi-access = free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1016/j.jlap.2004.03.009| title = The origins of structural operational semantics| journal = The Journal of Logic and Algebraic Programming| volume = 60-61| pages = 3–15| year = 2004| last1 = Plotkin | first1 = G. D. | doi-access = free}}</ref><ref>''[http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/plotkin81structural.html A Structural Approach to Operational Semantics]'' by G.D. Plotkin (1981)</ref><ref>''[http://vmoc.museophile.org/pvs04/ Program Verification and Semantics: Further Work] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926235346/http://vmoc.museophile.org/pvs04/ |date=26 September 2007 }}'' (2004)</ref> His former doctoral students include [[Luca Cardelli]],<ref name="lucaphd"/> [[Philippa Gardner]],<ref name=gPhD/> [[Doug Gurr]],<ref name=gurrphd/> [[Eugenio Moggi]],<ref name="moggiphd"/> and [[Li Wei (computer scientist)|Lǐ Wèi]].<ref name="liweiphd"/><ref name="mathgene"/>

=== Awards and honours===
Plotkin was elected a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] (FRS) in 1992, and a [[Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh]] (FRSE){{when|date=November 2018}} and is a Member of the [[Academia Europæa]]<ref name=mae>{{cite web|url=https://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Plotkin_Gordon|title=Academy of Europe: Plotkin Gordon|first=Ilire Hasani, Robert|last=Hoffmann|website=www.ae-info.org}}</ref> and the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amacad.org/new-members-2023|title=New Members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences}}</ref> He is also a winner of the [[Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award]]. Plotkin received the [[Milner Award]] in 2012 for "his fundamental research into programming semantics with lasting impact on both the principles and design of programming languages."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://royalsociety.org/awards/milner-award/|title=- Royal Society|website=royalsociety.org}}</ref> His nomination for the [[Royal Society]] reads: {{centred pull quote|Plotkin has contributed to Artificial Intelligence, Logic, Linguistics and especially to Computer Science. In AI he worked on [[Inductive logic programming#Example|hypothesis-formation]] and universal unification; in Logic, on frameworks for arbitrary logics; in Linguistics, on formalising [[situation theory]].
His main general contribution has been to establish a semantic framework for Computer Science, especially programming languages. Particular significant results are in the [[lambda calculus|lambda-calculus]] (elementary models, definability, [[Evaluation strategy|call-by-value]]), non-determinism ([[Power domains|powerdomain theory]]), semantic formalisms (structured [[operational semantics]], metalanguages), and categories of semantic domains (coherent, pro-finite, concrete). Further contributions concern the semantic paradigm of full abstraction, [[concurrency theory]] (event structures), programming logic and [[type theory]].<ref name="royal">{{cite web |url=https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=show.tcl&dsqSearch=(RefNo==%27EC%2F1992%2F29%27) |title=EC/1992/29: Plotkin, Gordon David |publisher=The Royal Society |archive-date=16 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140416180351/https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=show.tcl&dsqSearch=(RefNo==%27EC%2F1992%2F29%27) |location=London |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref>}}

== References ==
<references />

{{Milner Award laureates}}
{{FRS 1992}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plotkin, Gordon}}
[[Category:1946 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:British computer scientists]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Members of Academia Europaea]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award holders]]
[[Category:Formal methods people]]
[[Category:Programming language researchers]]
[[Category:Scottish Jews]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Jewish British scientists]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Glasgow]]