Archie Blake (born 1906) is an American mathematician.
He is well known for the
Blake canonical form, a
normal form for
expressions in
propositional logic
Propositional calculus is a branch of logic. It is also called propositional logic, statement logic, sentential calculus, sentential logic, or sometimes zeroth-order logic. It deals with propositions (which can be true or false) and relations b ...
.
In order to compute the canonical form, he moreover introduced the concept of
consensus, which was a precursor of the
resolution principle, today a common technique in
automated theorem proving
Automated theorem proving (also known as ATP or automated deduction) is a subfield of automated reasoning and mathematical logic dealing with proving mathematical theorems by computer programs. Automated reasoning over mathematical proof was a ...
.
Career
In 1930 (or earlier), he became a member of the
American Mathematical Society
The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meeting ...
(AMS).
He presented his canonical form at the AMS meeting at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
on 29 Oct 1932.
In 1937, this work lead to a
Ph.D. from the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
, supervised by Raymond Walter Barnard.
He worked for the
U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey in
Washington, D.C., since 1936 (or earlier) as a Mathematician, since 1938 as an Assistant Mathematician, and since 1939 as an Associated Mathematician.
In 1946, he was appointed a Senior Statistician in the Office of the
Army Surgeon General,
Washington, D.C.
He also worked for the
Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory in
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...
.
From there, he changed in 1954 to the
Westinghouse Electric Corporation
The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was renamed "Westinghouse Electric Corporation" in ...
in
Baltimore, Md., where he became an Advisory Engineer.
In 1956, he moved from Westinghouse to the
Bendix Aviation Corporation
Bendix Corporation is an American manufacturing and engineering company which, during various times in its existence, made automotive brake shoes and systems, vacuum tubes, aircraft brakes, aeronautical hydraulics and electric power systems, av ...
, as a Systems Staff Mathematician.
In 1960, he became a Manager of the Analysis Section of
Raytheon
Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue and market capitali ...
in
Sudbury, Massachusetts
Sudbury is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 18,934. The town, located in Greater Boston's MetroWest region, has a rich colonial history.
History
Incorporated in 1639, the b ...
.
[ AMS Notices, Vol.7, No.3]
Issue 46
Jun 1960, p.45(321)
Publications
*
* &mdash
Reviewin the
Journal of Symbolic Logic
The '' Journal of Symbolic Logic'' is a peer-reviewed mathematics journal published quarterly by Association for Symbolic Logic. It was established in 1936 and covers mathematical logic. The journal is indexed by ''Mathematical Reviews'', Zentralb ...
&mdash
Abstractin ''
Bulletin of the AMS'', Vol.38, No.11, Nov 1932, p.6(805)
*
*
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References
1906 births
Year of death missing
University of Chicago alumni
20th-century American mathematicians
Bendix Corporation people
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