Church
modernAnalytic Philosophy1903 – 1995
Alonzo Church (1903-1995) was an American mathematician and logician who made foundational contributions to mathematical logic, theoretical computer science, and the philosophy of mathematics. He is best known for founding the lambda calculus, formulating Church's thesis on computability, and proving the undecidability of first-order logic.
Notable Achievements
1
Developed the lambda calculus as a formal system for computation
2
Formulated the Church-Turing thesis on effective computability
3
Proved Church's theorem: the undecidability of first-order logic
4
Founded the Journal of Symbolic Logic and shaped modern mathematical logic
5
Advanced the theory of types and intensional semantics