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Johannes Aldert "Jan" Bergstra (born 1951) is a Dutch computer scientist. His work has focused on logic and the theoretical foundations of
software engineering Software engineering is a branch of both computer science and engineering focused on designing, developing, testing, and maintaining Application software, software applications. It involves applying engineering design process, engineering principl ...
, especially on
formal methods In computer science, formal methods are mathematics, mathematically rigorous techniques for the formal specification, specification, development, Program analysis, analysis, and formal verification, verification of software and computer hardware, ...
for system design. He is best known as an expert on algebraic methods for the specification of data and computational processes in general.


Biography

Jan Bergstra was born in 1951 in
Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...
, the son of Tjeerd Bergstra and Johanna Bisschop.Jan A. Bergstra (2009)
Curriculum Vitae Jan Aldert Bergstra
at ''uva.nl''. October 20, 2009. Accessed August 30, 2013
He was educated at the Montessori Lyceum Rotterdam (gymnasium beta) and then studied
mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
at
Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; , formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public university, public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2023, it had an enrollment of ...
, starting in 1969. After an MSc he wrote a PhD thesis, defended in 1976, on recursion theory in higher types, under the supervision of Dirk van Dalen. Bergstra held posts at the Institute of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science of the
University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange as a Protestant institution, it holds the distinction of being the oldest university in the Neth ...
(1976–82), and the Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) in Amsterdam. In 1985 he was appointed Professor of Programming and Software Engineering at the Informatics Institute of the
University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, ) is a public university, public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Established in 1632 by municipal authorities, it is the fourth-oldest academic institution in the Netherlan ...
and, at the same time, Professor of Applied Logic at
Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; , formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public university, public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2023, it had an enrollment of ...
; such split positions are not uncommon in the Netherlands. These two chairs he continues to hold. He has been an Advisor of the CWI (1985–2004). In 1989 he worked for a year at Philips Research in Eindhoven as a project leader and, subsequently, continued as a consultant there until 2002. While at Philips he was involved in industrial projects on consumer electronics and medical equipment. He founded ''CONCUR'', the international conference series in Concurrency Theory, by organising the first two conferences in Amsterdam in 1990 and 1991. He is a member of several editorial boards, and is the managing editor of ''Science of Computer Programming'' and the '' Journal of Logic and Algebraic Programming''. In 2004 Jan Bergstra contacted Mark Burgess of the
Oslo University College Oslo University College (; HiO) was the largest state university college in Norway from 1994 to 2011, with more than 18,000 students and approximately 1800 employees.
, looking for scientific backing for a proposed one year masters course at the university in system administration. In spite of very different backgrounds, they shared a likeness of mind in their attitudes to science and research. This resulted in them becoming friends and going on to discuss and hone several parts of Promise theory together on mutual visits between Norway and the Netherlands. He is honorary professor of computer science at
Swansea University Swansea University () is a public university, public research university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. It was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. In 1996, it chang ...
and a member of
Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of humanities, letters, law, and sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europe ...
since 2006.


Work


On formal methods

Bergstra's research on computation has focussed on fundamental concepts, mathematical theories and practical tools. His main theoretical research programmes are: * a systematic study of specification methods for
abstract data type In computer science, an abstract data type (ADT) is a mathematical model for data types, defined by its behavior (semantics) from the point of view of a '' user'' of the data, specifically in terms of possible values, possible operations on data ...
s starting in 1979, with John V. Tucker; * the invention, development and application of process algebras, especially ACP starting in 1984, with Jan Willem Klop, Jos Baeten and others; * Module Algebra starting in 1986, together with Paul Klint and Jan Heering; * Program Algebra starting in 1998, with Marijke Loots. Based in this theoretical research, he has designed various formal methods and tools. In cooperation with Paul Klint and Jan Heering he designed the specification language ASF (in 1984) and the related ToolBus coordination language and system (in 1995). Some of his work has been undertaken in the setting of the ESPRIT programme. For example, the software projects FAST and METEOR funded the beginnings of the development of the process algebra ACP, and the telecommunications project SPECS led to the development of the specification language muCRL. All systems are still in daily use for research purposes, while ASF has been extensively used in the Dutch banking industry.


In academia

Through his research and organisational activities, Bergstra has had considerable influence on computer science in the Netherlands. For example, he has supervised the work of over 40 PhD students, many of whom have become academic computer scientists, 12 at professorial level. He set up the new computer science curriculum at Leiden in 1976, and for cognitive artificial intelligence at Utrecht University in 1989. In 2000 he became the Director of the Teaching Institute of Information Sciences at the University of Amsterdam. In this role he has been responsible for the redesign of all courses when the bachelor-master system of degrees was introduced into the Netherlands. Bergstra became a member of the
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (, KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed in the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam. In addition to various advisory a ...
in 2011.


Publications

Publications, a selection: * J. A. Bergstra, A. Ponse and S. A. Smolka (editors), ''The Handbook of Process Algebra'',
Elsevier Elsevier ( ) is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as ''The Lancet'', ''Cell (journal), Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, ...
, 2001. * J. A. Bergstra and M. E. Loots, "Program Algebra for Component Code", ''
Formal Aspects of Computing ''Formal Aspects of Computing'' (''FAC'') is a peer-reviewed Gold Open Access journal published by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and BCS (the British Computer Society, the Chartered Institute for IT). The journal is closely associated ...
'', 12(1):1–17, 2000. * J. A. Bergstra and J. V. Tucker, "Equational specifications, complete term rewriting systems, and computable and semicomputable algebras", ''
Journal of the ACM The ''Journal of the ACM'' (''JACM'') is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering computer science in general, especially theoretical aspects. It is an official journal of the Association for Computing Machinery. Its current editor-in-chief is ...
'', 42(6):1194–1230, 1995. * J. A. Bergstra, J. Heering and P. Klint, "Module Algebra", ''Journal of the ACM'', 37(2):335–372, 1990. * J. A. Bergstra, J. Heering and P. Klint (editors), ''Algebraic Specification'',
Addison Wesley Addison–Wesley is an American publisher of textbooks and computer literature. It is an imprint of Pearson plc, a global publishing and education company. In addition to publishing books, Addison–Wesley also distributes its technical titles ...
, 1989. *


References


External links


Home page
at the
University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, ) is a public university, public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Established in 1632 by municipal authorities, it is the fourth-oldest academic institution in the Netherlan ...
* Jan Bergstra, Alban Ponse
A Bypass of Cohen's Impossibility Result
, Advances in Grid Computing - EGC 2005, LNCS 3470, pages 1097-1106. Springer-Verlag, 2005 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bergstra, Jan 1951 births Living people Engineers from Rotterdam Utrecht University alumni Academic staff of Leiden University Academic staff of the University of Amsterdam Academic staff of Utrecht University Academics of Swansea University Dutch computer scientists Members of Academia Europaea Formal methods people Philips employees Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences