Walter Murray Wonham (1934 – May 14, 2023) was a Canadian
control theorist
Control theory is a field of control engineering and applied mathematics that deals with the control of dynamical systems in engineered processes and machines. The objective is to develop a model or algorithm governing the application of system ...
and professor at the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...
. He focused on multi-variable geometric control theory, stochastic control and stochastic filters, and the control of discrete event systems from the standpoint of mathematical logic and formal languages.
Education
Wonham attended a boys' school and preferred individual to team sports, taking up sailing and tennis. He obtained his bachelor's degree in engineering physics from
McGill University
McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...
in 1956 and a doctorate in stochastic control from the
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
in 1961.
Career
In the 1960s, he worked at
Purdue University
Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...
's Control and Information Systems Laboratory,
Martin Marietta
The Martin Marietta Corporation was an American company founded in 1961 through the merger of Glenn L. Martin Company and American-Marietta Corporation. In 1995, it merged with Lockheed Corporation to form Lockheed Martin.
History
Martin Marie ...
's Research Institute for Advanced Studies (RIAS) in
Baltimore
Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...
,
Brown University
Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...
's Department of Applied Mathematics, and in the Office for Control Theory and Applications of
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
's Electronics for Research Center, where he developed a geometric theory of multivariable control with
A. Stephen Morse.
In 1968, Wonham proved a
separation theorem for controls in a more general cost functional class with many technical assumptions and restrictions.
Wonham returned to Canada in 1970, after fifteen years away, and joined the University of Toronto as an associate professor in the Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Being with the university's Control Theory Group as a full professor since 1972, he served as Dean of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the University of Toronto between 1992 and 1996. He was made university professor in 1996 and appointed University Professor Emeritus upon his retirement in 2000.
Wonham and his student Bruce Francis first articulated the
internal model principle in 1976, which is a
good regulator
The good regulator theorem is a theorem conceived by Roger C. Conant and W. Ross Ashby that is central to cybernetics. It was originally stated as "every good regulator of a system must be a model of that system". That is, any regulator that is ...
restricted to the
ordinary differential equations
In mathematics, an ordinary differential equation (ODE) is a differential equation (DE) dependent on only a single independent variable. As with any other DE, its unknown(s) consists of one (or more) function(s) and involves the derivatives ...
subset of
control theory
Control theory is a field of control engineering and applied mathematics that deals with the control system, control of dynamical systems in engineered processes and machines. The objective is to develop a model or algorithm governing the applic ...
. As an explicit formulation of the Conant and Ashby good regulator theorem, it stands in contrast to classical control where the classical feedback loop fails to explicitly model the controlled system (although the classical controller may contain an implicit model). In 1987, Wonham and Peter Ramadge introduced
supervisory control theory as a method for automatically synthesizing supervisors that restrict the behavior of a plant such that as much as possible of the given specifications are fulfilled.
Wonham authored and co-authored about seventy-five research papers, as well as the book ''Linear Multivariable Control: A Geometric Approach''. He was a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Canada
The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...
and the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines.
The IEEE has a corporate office ...
(IEEE). He was an Honorary Professor of the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a Foreign Member of the (U.S.)
National Academy of Engineering
The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academ ...
.
Death
Wonham died on May 14, 2023, at the age of 88.
Selected works
Linear multivariable control: a geometric approach Springer 1979
Supervisor Localization: A Top-Down Approach to Distributed Control of Discrete-Event Systems Springer 2016
Supervisory Control of Discrete-Event Systems Springer 2019
References
External links
University Professor Emeritus W. Murray Wonham – Past & FutureMathematics Genealogy Project profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wonham, W. Murray
1934 births
2023 deaths
Control theorists
McGill University Faculty of Engineering alumni
Academic staff of the University of Toronto
Canadian mathematicians
Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada
Alumni of the University of Cambridge
Martin Marietta people