Leon Cooper

Professor:
Physics
Phone: +1 401 863 2172
Phone 2: +1 401 863 2172
Leon_Cooper@Brown.EDU

Leon Cooper studies neural networks, including architecture, learning rules, and real world applications; the biological basis of memory and learning; mean field theories; the foundations of quantum theory; and superconductivity.

Biography

Leon Cooper was born in 1930 in New York where he attended Columbia University (A.B. 1951; A.M. 1953; Ph.D. 1954). He became a member of the Institute for Advanced Study (1954-55) after which he was a research associate of Illinois (1955-57) and later an assistant professor at the Ohio State University (1957-58). Professor Cooper joined Brown University in 1958 where he became Henry Ledyard Goddard University Professor (1966-74) and where he is presently the Thomas J. Watson, Sr. Professor of Science (1974-).

Professor Cooper is Director of Brown University's Center for Neural Science. This Center was founded in 1973 to study animal nervous systems and the human brain. Professor Cooper served as the first director with an interdisciplinary staff drawn from the Departments of Applied Mathematics, Biomedical Sciences, Linguistics and Physics. Today, Cooper, with members of the Brown Faculty, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students with interests in the neural and cognitive sciences, is working towards an understanding of memory and other brain functions, and thus formulating a scientific model of how the human mind works.

Professor Cooper has received many forms of recognition for his work in 1972, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics (with J. Bardeen and J.R. Schrieffer) for his studies on the theory of superconductivity completed while still in his 20s. In 1968, he was awarded the Comstock Prize (with J.R. Schrieffer) of the National Academy of Sciences. The Award of Excellence, Graduate Faculties Alumni of Columbia University and Descartes Medal, Academie de Paris, Université Rene Descartes were conferred on Professor Cooper in the mid 1970s. In 1985, Professor Cooper received the John Jay Award of Columbia College. He holds seven honorary doctorates.

Professor Cooper has been an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow, 1954-55, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellow, 1959-66 and John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow, 1965-66. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and American Academy of Arts and Sciences; Sponsor, Federation of American Scientists; member of American Philosophical Society, National Academy of Sciences, Society of Neuroscience, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Phi Beta Kappa, and Sigma Xi. Professor Cooper is also on the Governing Board and Executive Committee of the International Neural Network Society and a member of the Defense Science Board.

Professor Cooper is Co-founder and Co-chairman of Nestor, Inc., an industry leader in applying neural-network systems to commercial and military applications. Nestor's adaptive pattern-recognition and risk-assessment systems simulated in small conventional computers learn by example to accurately classify complex patterns such as targets in sonar, radar or imaging systems, to emulate human decisions in such applications as mortgage origination and to assess risks.

Research Description

I am interested in the biological mechanisms that underlie learning and memory storage. One goal of my work is to describe the principles of organization that account for experimental data on the cellular level and can be applied to large numbers of neurons that receive sensory information.

In order to learn there clearly must be physiological changes. But it is not yet known what happens quantitatively at the cellular level when learning takes place and when memory is stored. Working with experimental and theoretical colleagues, I have developed mathematical theories that connect system properties with what happens at the molecular level. These theories have been confirmed in many experimental tests.

I am also studying the construction of artificial neural networks, networks that can learn, associate and reproduce such higher level cognitive acts as abstraction, computation, and language acquisition. Although these tasks are carried out easily by humans, they have not been easy to embody as conventional computer programs.

Degrees

Ph.D., Columbia University

Honors and Awards

1968 Comstock Prize (with J. R. Schrieffer) National Academy of Science

1972 Nobel Prize (with J. Bardeen and J. R. Schrieffer)

1973 Columbia University, Doctor of Science (honoris causa)

1973 University of Sussex, Doctor of Science (honoris causa)

1974 Award of Excellence, Graduate Faculties Alumni of Columbia University

1974 University of Illinois, Doctor of Science (honoris causa)

1974 Brown University, Doctor of Science (honoris causa)

1975 Gustavas Adolphus, College Doctor of Science (honoris causa)

1975 Ohio State University, Doctor of Science (honoris causa)

1977 Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, Doctor of Science (honoris causa)

1977 Descartes Medal, Academie de Paris, Universite Rene Descartes

1982 Yrjo Reenpaa Award Finnish Cultural Foundation

1985 John Jay Award, Columbia University

1995 Alexander Hamilton Award, Columbia University

2000 College de France Medal

Institution

Affiliations

Fellow, American Physical Society

Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences,

Fellow, American Association for Advancement of Science

Fellow, Phi Beta Kappa

Fellow, Sigma Xi

Member, American Philosophical Society

Member, National Academy of Sciences

Member, Society for Neuroscience

Sponsor, Federation of American Scientists

Teaching Experience

Physics 10/Visual Arts 14 Images from Science, Images for Science (with Richard Fishman) Spring 2006. Images and objects that come from nature and science-from Elm trees to galaxies-can be a source of inspiration for the artist. But images, objects and animations can also help in the understanding of deep and subtle scientific ideas. In this course we present some basic ideas of physics and biology. These suggest images that can inspire works of art as well as those that can aid in explaining science.

Physics 10/Theater Arts 10 Science in Confrontation with Authority:
The Drama, the History and the Science (with the assistance of Oskar Eustis and Kenneth Miller) Spring 2004 and 2005. Scientists and scientific ideas have had and continue to have well publicized confrontations with authority. Among the most famous are those of Galileo and Darwin. Current examples include arguments over stem cell research, as well as the creationist/evolution controversy. In this course through a study of the science and the history, as well as through dramatic readings of several especially relevant plays, we will explore the nature and/or the necessity of these confrontations. This new course will feature a dramatic reading by Tony Award Winning Actor Brian Dennehey, and a reading from Trumpery, a new play by Peter Parnell.

Physics 10/Theatre Arts 10 Encounter in Copenhagen: The Drama, The History and The Physics Behind the Visit (with the assistance of Thomas Biersteker, Oskar Eustis, and Abbot Gleason) Spring 2001, Spring 2002. In 1941, the physicist in charge of Germany's Uranium Project, Werner Heisenberg, visited his mentor, Niels Bohr, in Nazi occupied Copenhagen. The purpose of that visit has been a subject of continuing conjecture and is explored on several levels in the recent play, Copenhagen. In this course, along with viewing the play, we present the history as well as the physics necessary to enable the student to propose her or his own answer to the question explored in Michael Frayn's play, "Why did Heisenberg visit Bohr?"

Physics 10, Visual Art 12 (With Richard Fishman and Dietrich Neumann) Spring Semester 2000.This course introduces Newtonian and quantum physics as examples of scientific thinking as well as examples from the world of visual art. Among the questions explored will be to what extent concepts of truth and beauty change with time. In spite of these evident changes do some underlying themes remain constant?

Physics 10, Classics 3 and Media 120 (with Nancy Armstrong and David Konstan) Spring Semester, 1999. The dominant model of knowing today is represented by one physical science. But are there other ways of knowing? Can these explanations challenge the model of science? This course introduces Newtonian physics and modern quantum physics as two examples of scientific thinking, but also questions the range of the scientific model (can it explain such phenomena as history, the emotions, and imaginative literature?) and presents a post-modern interpretation: who knows, how we know, and what we know.

Physics 10 Experience and Explanation - Dialogues Among the Disciplines: Physics 10 attempts to provide us with a deep understanding of the world in which we live. In this course we present Newtonian and quantum physics as examples of physical theory and compare them with other methods for explanation or visualization. In different years we chose different fields for comparison.

Advanced Quantum Mechanics (Physics 207): Relativistic wave equations, Dirace equation: Non relativistic limit, invariance properties, transformation properties of spinors, bilinear covariants, invariant interactions, electro-weak theory.

Current Issues in Neural Science (Physics 261-262): Various topics of current research interest in neural networks and/or the cellular and molecular basis for learning and memory storage are discussed.

Physics 1: The aim of the course is to introduce students, whose primary interest is not in the sciences, to such topics in classical and modern physics as Newtonian mechanics, relativity, and the quantum theory.

Funded Research

Current Funding:

Army Research Office, "Visual Analysis of Complex Scenes: Breaking Camouflage and Detecting Occluded Objects," 07/2004

Recent Past Funding:

Army Research Office, "Time-Frequency Computational Model for Echo-Delay Resolution," 09/2002 - 08/2005

Army Research Office, "Reducing the Cognitive Workload While Operating in Complex Sensory Environments," 09/2001 - 08/2004

DANA, "The Biological Basis for Memory and Learning Storage," 07/1994 - 12/2001

Prior support includes grants from: ONR, ARO, NSF, AEC, A.P. Sloan Foundation, J.S. Guggenheim Foundation, Ittleson Foundation, Charles F. Dana Foundation.

Web Links

Curriculum Vitae

Download Leon Cooper's Curriculum Vitae in PDF Format