Ehud Shapiro
[2] With international reputation, he made contributions to many scientific disciplines,[3] laying in each a long-term research agenda by asking a basic question and offering a first step towards answering it, including how to computerize the process of scientific discovery, by providing an algorithmic interpretation to Karl Popper's methodology of conjectures and refutations;[4][5][6] how to automate program debugging, by algorithms for fault localization;[7][8] how to unify parallel, distributed, and systems programming with a high-level logic-based programming language;[9][10] how to use the metaverse as a foundation for social networking;[11] how to devise molecular computers that can function as smart programmable drugs;[12][13] [14] how to uncover the human cell lineage tree, via single-cell genomics;[15][16][17] how to support digital democracy, by devising an alternative architecture to the digital realm grassroots.[citation needed] Shapiro's PhD work with Dana Angluin in computer science at Yale university attempted to provide an algorithmic interpretation to Popper's philosophical approach to scientific discovery, resulting in both a computer system for the inference of logical theories from facts;[5] and a methodology for program debugging,[7] developed using the programming language Prolog.His thesis, "Algorithmic Program Debugging",[7] was published by MIT Press as a 1982 ACM Distinguished Dissertation, followed in 1986 by "The Art of Prolog", a textbook co-authored with Leon Sterling.[9] In 1993, Shapiro took leave of absence from his tenured position at Weizmann to found Ubique Ltd. (and serve as its CEO), an early Israeli Internet software startup.Building on Concurrent Prolog, Ubique developed "Virtual Places", a 2D metaverse and social networking software that included instant messaging, chat rooms, collaborative browsing, online events and games, and voice-over-IP.Being a novice to biology, Shapiro realized his first design for a molecular computer as a LEGO-like mechanical device built using 3D stereolithography, which was patented upon his return to Weizmann in 1998.[12][13][29][30][31][32][33] In 2011, Shapiro designed an effective method of synthesizing error-free DNA molecules from error-prone building blocks,[34] and founded the CADMAD consortium (Computer-Aided Design and Manufacturing of DNA libraries): [35] In 2005, Shapiro presented a vision of the next grand challenge in human biology: To uncover the Human cell lineage tree.By testing a finite number of ground atoms for their truth in the model the algorithm can trace back a source for this contradiction, namely a false hypothesis, and can demonstrate its falsity by providing a counterexample to it.It aimed to create an "epoch-making computer" with-supercomputer-like performance and to provide a platform for future developments in artificial intelligence.In 1993, Shapiro took a leave of absence from the Weizmann Institute to found and serve as CEO of Ubique Ltd., an Israeli Internet software startup.Ubique developed an early 2D metaverse and social networking software that included instant messaging, chat rooms, collaborative browsing, online events and games, and voice-over-IP.In 2009, Shapiro and Ph.D. student Tom Ran presented the prototype of an autonomous programmable molecular system, based on the manipulation of DNA strands, which is capable of performing simple logical deductions.If introduced into the body, this system has immense potential to accurately target specific cell types and administer the appropriate treatment, as it can perform millions of calculations at the same time and 'think' logically.Shapiro's team aimed to make these computers perform highly complex actions and answer complicated questions, following a logical model first proposed by Aristotle over 2000 years ago.In 2012, Shapiro, Tom Ran and students succeeded in creating a genetic device that operates independently in bacterial cells.