Leonard Uhr

Who was Leonard Uhr?

Leonard Uhr was an American computer scientist and a pioneer in computer vision, pattern recognition, machine learning and cognitive science. He was an expert in many aspects of human neurophysiology and perception, and a central theme of his research was to design artificial intelligence systems based on his understanding of how the human brain works. He was one of the early proponents of incorporation into artificial intelligence algorithms of methods for dealing with uncertainty.

Uhr published seven books and nearly 150 journal and conference papers. His seminal work was an article written in 1963 with Charles Vossler, "A Pattern Recognition Program That Generates, Evaluates, and Adjusts Its Own Operators", reprinted in Computers and Thought — edited by Edward Feigenbaum and J. Feldman — which showcases the work of the scientists who defined the field of artificial intelligence. He was a Ph.D. major professor for 20 students, many of whom have gone on to become in their own right important contributors to artificial intelligence.

Uhr graduated from Princeton University in 1949 with a B.A. in psychology.