Thorsten Altenkirch ( , ) is a German Professor of Computer Science at the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

known for his research on

logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the study of deductively valid inferences or logical truths. It examines how conclusions follow from premises based on the structure o ...

type theory In mathematics and theoretical computer science, a type theory is the formal presentation of a specific type system. Type theory is the academic study of type systems. Some type theories serve as alternatives to set theory as a foundation of ...

, and

homotopy type theory In mathematical logic and computer science, homotopy type theory (HoTT) refers to various lines of development of intuitionistic type theory, based on the interpretation of types as objects to which the intuition of (abstract) homotopy theory ap ...

. Altenkirch was part of the 2012/2013 special year on

univalent foundations Univalent foundations are an approach to the foundations of mathematics in which mathematical Structuralism (philosophy of mathematics), structures are built out of objects called ''types''. Types in univalent foundations do not correspond exactly ...

at the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...

. At Nottingham he co-chairs the Functional Programming Laboratory with Graham Hutton.

Education

Altenkirch obtained his PhD from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

in 1993 under

Rod Burstall Rodney Martineau Burstall (11 November 1934 – 13 February 2025) was a British computer scientist who was one of four founders of the Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science at the University of Edinburgh. Biography Burstall studied p ...

Contributions

Altenkirch's work includes:

Containers A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

Epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word derives from the Greek (, "inscription", from [], "to write on, to inscribe"). This literary device has been practiced for over two millennia ...

programming language, and Homotopy Type Theory: Univalent Foundations of Mathematics (''The HoTT Book''). Altenkirch has also been a guest on the YouTube channel Computerphile.

References

External links

*Altenkirch'
personal page
at Nottingham *Altenkirch's newer page at Nottingha

{{DEFAULTSORT:Altenkirch, Thorsten German computer scientists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Nottingham Place of birth missing (living people)