BIOLOGY

Dr. Lawrence J. Fogel, an award-winning computer scientist, musician, model airplane and sailboat enthusiast, and pioneer in computational intelligence, died peacefully in San Diego on February 18, 2007 of complications from renal failure. He had been on dialysis for the past six years. Dr. Fogel has been described as "a father of computational intelligence." Beginning in 1960, he devised evolutionary programming, a radical approach in artificial intelligence that simulated evolution on computers to literally evolve solutions to problems. While a senior staff scientist at General Dynamics/Astronautics in San Diego, he conducted a research study in evolutionary programming to advise management on the technical aspects of man-machine relations within aerospace systems. His 1964 doctoral dissertation on evolutionary programming from U.C. Los Angeles was the basis of the first book on evolutionary computation, "Artificial Intelligence through Simulated Evolution," which he co-authored with Alvin Owens and Michael Walsh. In 1965, Dr. Fogel, with Owens and Walsh, founded Decision Science, Inc. in San Diego, the first company to focus on solving real problems via evolutionary computation. As president of Decision Science, Inc., he directed its activities, guiding research in the informational sciences in areas such as computer simulation, mathematical prediction and control systems, real-time data processing and materials handling systems. He also developed evolutionary programming methods that led to the Adaptive Maneuvering Logic, a heuristic approach to missile evasion for simulated aerial combat, as well as for naval and tank warfare. His method also has been used to discover new pharmaceuticals, improve industrial production and optimize mission planning in defense applications. In 1982, Decision Science, Inc. merged with and became a division of Titan Systems, Inc., in San Diego. He later used his ideas for defense industry applications at another San Diego company, Orincon Corporation. In 1993, Dr. Fogel founded Natural Selection, Inc. in La Jolla, California, which combines evolutionary computation with neural networks, fuzzy systems and other computational intelligence technologies. The company has solved problems in many areas, including bioinformatics, medical diagnostics, pattern recognition, data mining, homeland security, factory optimization, route scheduling, risk management, and financial forecasting. An IEEE Life Fellow, Dr. Fogel was the recipient of the first IEEE Neural Networks Council Evolutionary Computation Pioneer Award, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Evolutionary Programming Society, the Computational Intelligence Pioneer Award from the International Society for Optical Engineering, and most recently the inaugural 2006 IEEE Frank Rosenblatt Technical Field Award for his pioneering work in computational intelligence and evolutionary computation. Dr. Fogel held a bachelor's degree from New York University in New York City and a master's degree from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, both in electrical engineering, and a doctoral degree in engineering with a major in biotechnology from UCLA. He authored numerous scientific publications, including the landmark 1963 book "Biotechnology: Concepts and Applications." He also held several patents, including early patents on adaptive noise cancellation, and a design of an evolvable neural network in hardware. Dr. Fogel was equally passionate about his hobbies and enjoyed model aviation and model sailboats, as well as a life-long passion for music. He co-founded two radio-controlled glider clubs and led the successful movement to preserve the Torrey Pines Gliderport in La Jolla as a City Historical Site, and have it listed on the California and National Registers of Historic Places. Because of his tireless efforts on behalf of aeromodeling, Dr. Fogel was honored as a Fellow of the Academy of Model Aeronautics. On weekends he could also be found sailing radio-controlled model sailboats at the boat pond at Mission Bay. Dr. Fogel was also an accomplished and versatile musician, who played jazz three nights per week at the Catamaran Resort Hotel in Pacific Beach, a suburb of San Diego. Dr. Fogel is survived by his wife, Eva; sons, David and Gary; daughters-in-law, Jacquelyn and Joanne, and three grandchildren. The family suggests donations to the Scripps Health Foundation to benefit the Renal Research Collaborative, P.O. Box 2669, La Jolla, CA, 92038.