Editing Alain Colmerauer

{{Short description|French computer scientist (1941–2017)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name        = Alain Colmerauer
| image       = A-Colmerauer web-800x423.jpg
| alt         = 
| caption     = 
| birth_name  = 
| birth_date  = {{Birth date|df=yes|1941|01|24}}
| birth_place = [[Carcassonne]], France
| death_date  = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2017|05|12|1941|01|24}}
| death_place = [[Marseille]], France
| thesis_title = Precedences, analyse syntaxique et langages de programmation
| thesis_year = 1967
| doctoral_advisor = Louis Bolliet, Jean Kuntzman
| nationality = 
| other_names = 
| known_for   = [[Prolog]]
| occupation  = 
| spouse = Colette Coursaget
| children = 3
}}
'''Alain Colmerauer''' (24 January 1941 – 12 May 2017) was a French [[computer scientist]]. He was a professor at [[Aix-Marseille University]], and the creator of the [[logic programming]] language [[Prolog]].

==Early life==
Alain Colmerauer was born on 24 January 1941 in [[Carcassonne]].<ref name="idrefcolmerauer">{{cite web|title=Colmerauer, Alain (1941-....)|url=http://www.idref.fr/03305925X|website=IdRef|accessdate=19 May 2017}}</ref> He graduated from the [[Grenoble Institute of Technology]],<ref name="cohen637">{{cite journal|last1=Cohen|first1=Jacques|title=A Tribute to Alain Colmerauer|journal=Theory and Practice of Logic Programming|date=November 2001|volume=1|issue=6|pages=637–646|doi=10.1017/S1471068401001119|arxiv=cs/0402058|s2cid=7946933 }}</ref> and he earned a PhD from the [[École nationale supérieure d'informatique et de mathématiques appliquées de Grenoble|Ensimag]] in [[Grenoble]].<ref name="associationforlogicprogrammingobit">{{cite web|url=https://www.cs.nmsu.edu/ALP/2017/05/in-memoriam-alain-colmerauer/|title=In Memoriam: Alain Colmerauer |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408132745/https://www.cs.nmsu.edu/ALP/2017/05/in-memoriam-alain-colmerauer/ |archive-date=April 8, 2023|url-status=dead |date=15 May 2017|website=Association for Logic Programming|accessdate=18 May 2017}}</ref>

==Career==
Colmerauer spent 1967–1970 as assistant professor at the [[University of Montreal]],<ref name="associationforlogicprogrammingobit"/> where he created [[Q-systems|Q-Systems]], one of the earliest linguistic formalisms used in the development of the TAUM-METEO [[machine translation]] prototype.<ref name="cohen637"/> Developing Prolog III in 1984, he was one of the main founders of the field of [[constraint logic programming]].<ref name="cohen637"/>

Colmerauer became an associate professor at [[Aix-Marseille University]] in Luminy in 1970. He was promoted to full professor in 1979. From 1993 to 1995, he was head of the Laboratoire d'Informatique de Marseille (LIM), a joint laboratory of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, the Université de Provence and the Université de la Méditerranée.<ref name="associationforlogicprogrammingobit"/> Despite retiring as emeritus professor in 2006,<ref name="associationforlogicprogrammingobit"/> he remained a member of the artificial intelligence taskforce in Luminy.<ref name="bnf">{{cite book|title=Colmerauer, Alain|url=http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb123964053|via=Bibliothèque nationale de France|accessdate=19 May 2017}}</ref>

Colmerauer won an award from the [[Regional council (France)|regional council]] of [[Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur]], and in 1985 the [[Michel Monpetit Award]], from the [[French Academy of Sciences]].<ref name="bnfprixdecommissions">{{cite news|title=PRIX DE COMMISSIONS|url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5471020z/texteBrut|accessdate=19 May 2017|work=La Vie des sciences|date=1985|via=Bibliothèque nationale de France}}</ref> In 1986, he was made a knight of the [[Legion of Honour]] by the French government.<ref name="associationforlogicprogrammingobit"/> He became Fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence in 1991,<ref name="aaaielected">{{cite web|title=ELECTED AAAI FELLOWS|url=http://www.aaai.org/Awards/fellows-list.php|website=American Association of Artificial Intelligence|accessdate=19 May 2017}}</ref> and in 1997 the [[Association for Logic Programming]] bestowed upon him and fourteen other select researchers the title of ''Founder of Logic Programming''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-04-13 |title=ALP Awards {{!}} Association for Logic Programming |url=http://www.cs.nmsu.edu/ALP/the-association-for-logic-programming/alp-awards/ |access-date=2023-07-08 |archive-date=13 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130413021210/http://www.cs.nmsu.edu/ALP/the-association-for-logic-programming/alp-awards/ |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> He then received the Association for Constraint Programming's Research Excellence Award in 2008.<ref name="associationresearchexcellenceaward">{{cite web|title=Research Excellence Award|url=http://www.a4cp.org/awards/research-excellence-award|website=Association for Constraint Programming|accessdate=19 May 2017}}</ref> He was also a correspondent of the [[French Academy of Sciences]] in the area of mathematics.<ref name="academiedessciences">{{cite web|title=Alain Colmerauer|url=http://www.academie-sciences.fr/fr/Liste-des-membres-de-l-Academie-des-sciences-/-C/alain-colmerauer.html|website=Académie des sciences|accessdate=19 May 2017}}</ref>

==Death==
Colmerauer died on 12 May 2017.<ref name="associationforlogicprogrammingobit"/><ref name="ACM">{{cite web|last1=Fisher|first1=Lawrence M.|title=In Memoriam Alain Colmerauer: 1941–2017|url=https://cacm.acm.org/news/217533-in-memoriam-alain-colmerauer-1941-2017/fulltext|website=Communications of the ACM|publisher=ACM|accessdate=23 May 2017}} — According to this obituary, Alain Colmerauer died on 15 May.</ref><ref>[http://binaire.blog.lemonde.fr/2017/05/18/prolog-est-orphelin lemonde.fr] (in French)</ref><ref>[http://ensimag.grenoble-inp.fr/recherche/les-mots-pour-parler-d-alain-colmerauer-ne-seront-jamais-aussi-vrais-que-ceux-ecrits-par-une-personne-qui-le-connaissait-bien-890131.kjsp ensimag.grenoble-inp.fr] (in French)</ref>

==The ALP Alain Colmerauer Prize==
The ''ALP Alain Colmerauer Prize'' (in short: ''Alain Colmerauer Prize'')<ref>{{Cite web
|url=https://logicprogramming.org/alain-colmerauer-prize/
|title=The ALP Alain Colmerauer Prize
|website=Association for Logic Programming
|access-date=2024-07-05}}</ref> is organized by the [[Association for Logic Programming]].
The Prize is given for recent accomplishments and practical advances in Prolog-inspired computing, understood in a broad sense, where foundational, technological, and practical contributions are eligible with proven evidence or potential for the future development of Logic Programming. The award of the inaugural edition of the Prize in 2022, in cooperation with the Prolog Heritage Association,<ref>{{Cite web
|url=https://prolog-heritage.org/
|title=Prolog Heritage
|website=Prolog Heritage
|access-date=2024-11-18}}</ref> was a highlight of the Year of Prolog<ref>{{Cite web
|url=https://prologyear.logicprogramming.org/
|title=2022: The Year of Prolog
|website=Association for Logic Programming
|access-date=2024-11-18}}</ref> celebrating 50 years of Prolog and logic programming.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Official website|http://alain.colmerauer.free.fr/}}
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74Ig_QKndvE/ Alain Colmerauer, L'aventure Prolog (Movie)]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BW0J7wwqO4/ Prolog Day (Movie)]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colmerauer, Alain}}
[[Category:French computer scientists]]
[[Category:Programming language designers]]
[[Category:1941 births]]
[[Category:2017 deaths]]
[[Category:Members of the French Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the Université de Montréal]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Aix-Marseille University]]
[[Category:Grenoble Institute of Technology alumni]]
[[Category:People from Carcassonne]]
[[Category:20th-century French scientists]]
[[Category:21st-century French scientists]]
[[Category:20th-century French engineers]]
[[Category:21st-century French engineers]]
[[Category:Scientists from Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur]]