Hao Wang

Hao Wang (May 20, 1921 – May 13, 1995) was a Chinese-American logician, philosopher, mathematician, and commentator on Kurt Gödel. Born in Jinan, Shandong, Republic of China, Wang received his early education in China, earning a BSc in mathematics from National Southwestern Associated University (1943) and an MA in philosophy from Tsinghua University (1945). He pursued graduate studies in the United States, earning a Ph.D. in logic from Harvard University in 1948 under W. V. O. Quine. Wang held academic positions at Harvard University, University of Oxford, and Rockefeller University. In 1959, he used an IBM 704 computer to prove hundreds of mathematical logic theorems from Whitehead and Russell's *Principia Mathematica*. His work in the 1950s critiqued the view of cognitive processes as mechanical computation, proposing that human reason is personal and influenced by historical conditions. Wang is credited with the invention of Wang tiles and Wang B-machines. His student, Robert Berger, discovered the first noted example of aperiodic tiling using Wang tiles. Wang significantly influenced the theory of computational complexity. He also developed an interpretation of Wittgenstein's later philosophy of mathematics, termed "anthropologism," and analyzed Gödel's philosophical ideas. His own philosophy, "substantial factualism," sought to bridge abstract theory and ordinary language. In 1983, he received the first Milestone Prize for Automated Theorem-Proving. Wang died in New York City in 1995 from lymphoma.