News Release
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Office of News and Information Johns Hopkins University 901 South Bond Street, Suite 540 Baltimore, Maryland 21231 Phone: 443-287-9960 | Fax: 443-287-9920 |
May 8, 2008 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Lisa De Nike (443) 287-9960 lde@jhu.edu |
Pascal Research Chair
Paul Smolensky, Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of
Cognitive Science at The Johns Hopkins University, has been
appointed to an International Blaise Pascal Research Chair
by the École Normale Supérieure, a prestigious
French institution of higher education.
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The first cognitive scientist to receive this honor since the program's inception in 1996, Smolensky was one of five recipients in areas ranging from the sciences and social sciences to the humanities.
Smolensky will spend a year in Paris conducting research and consulting with colleagues in a diverse set of fields ranging from neurosciences to psycholinguistics to the philosophy of science. His project is titled "Formal Foundations of Abstraction in Linguistic Cognitive Science," which involves building formal mathematical characterizations of the abstractions central to the theory of language within cognitive science.
"As far as my reaction to the news that I was appointed to this chair, I was shocked; it felt like winning the French lottery," Smolensky said.
Barbara Landau, the Dick and Lydia Todd Professor and chair of the Department of Cognitive Science at Johns Hopkins, said that Smolensky richly deserves the honor.
"Our department has long recognized how very special Dr. Smolensky is," she said. "His vision and energy have shaped our department over the years and his contributions to cognitive science have elevated our field. We are gratified that the international community has recognized these contributions by naming him to the Chaire Blaise Pascal."
Smolensky will be on sabbatical from Johns Hopkins for the 2008-2009 academic year.
He earned his bachelor's degree in physics from Harvard University in 1976, his master's degree in physics at Indiana University in 1977 and his Ph.D. in mathematical physics at Indiana in 1981.
The international chair is named after Blaise Pascal, a 17th century French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher who made important contributions to the construction of mechanical calculators, the study of fluids, and the concepts of pressure and vacuum.
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