Gordon Plotkin

{{Short description|Computer Scientist}}

{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}

{{Infobox scientist

| image = Gordon Plotkin.jpg

| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRS|FRSE|MAE|size=100%}}

| caption = Plotkin in 2005

| name = Gordon Plotkin

| birth_name = Gordon David Plotkin

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1946|9|9}}

{{Who's Who | author=Anon| title=Plotkin, Prof. Gordon David | id = U31011 | year = 2013 | edition = online Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U31011}}

| birth_place = Glasgow, Scotland

| field = Logic
Mathematics
Computer science

| work_institution = University of Edinburgh
Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science
School of Informatics
University of Glasgow

| alma_mater = University of Glasgow (BSc)
University of Edinburgh (PhD)

| awards = {{Plainlist|

• Milner Award (2012)
• Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award
• EATCS Award}}

| thesis_title = Automatic methods of inductive inference

| thesis_year = 1972

| thesis_url = https://hdl.handle.net/1842/6656

| known_for = Programming Computable Functions
Unbounded nondeterminism
Operational semantics
Domain theory

| website = {{URL|http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/gdp}}
{{URL|inf.ed.ac.uk/people/staff/Gordon_Plotkin.html}}

| doctoral_advisor = {{Plainlist|

• Rod Burstall{{MathGenealogy|id=95717}}
• Donald Michie}}

| doctoral_students = {{Plainlist|

• Luca Cardelli{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |first=Luca|last=Cardelli |title=An algebraic approach to hardware description and verification |publisher=University of Edinburgh |date=1982 |id={{EThOS|uk.bl.ethos.253190}}|hdl=1842/13308

|author-link=Luca Cardelli}}

• Philippa Gardner{{cite thesis|degree=PhD|publisher=University of Edinburgh|hdl=1842/14888|title=Representing logics in type theory|first= Philippa|last=Gardner|date=1992|id={{EThOS|uk.bl.ethos.651333}}}} {{free access}}
• Doug Gurr{{cite thesis|degree=PhD|publisher=University of Edinburgh|hdl=1842/13968|title=Semantic frameworks for complexity|first= Douglas John|last=Gurr|date=1990|id={{EThOS|uk.bl.ethos.651894}}|oclc=475827463}} {{free access}}
• Eugenio Moggi{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |first=Eugenio|last=Moggi |title=The partial lambda calculus |publisher=University of Edinburgh |date=1999 |hdl=1842/419|author-link=Eugenio Moggi}}
• Lǐ Wèi{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |first=Lǐ|last=Wèi |title=An operational approach to semantics and translation for programming languages |date=1983 |hdl=1842/6636}}

}}

}}

Gordon David Plotkin (born 9 September 1946) is a theoretical computer scientist in the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. Plotkin is probably best known for his introduction of structural operational semantics (SOS) and his work on denotational semantics. In particular, his notes on A Structural Approach to Operational Semantics were very influential.{{Cite journal |last=Crary |first=Karl |last2=Harper |first2=Robert |date=2007 |title=Syntactic Logical Relations for Polymorphic and Recursive Types|journal=Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science |language=en |volume=172 |page=259 |doi=10.1016/j.entcs.2007.02.010|doi-access=free }}{{Citation |last=Curien |first=Pierre-Louis |title=Semantics and syntax, between computer science and mathematics |date=April 2022 |url=https://curien.galene.org/papers/French-school-PLC.pdf |page=2}} He has contributed to many other areas of computer science.{{Google scholar id}}{{ACMPortal|id=81100235459}}{{Scopus id}}{{DBLP|name=Gordon D. Plotkin}}{{Cite journal | last1 = Mitchell | first1 = J. C. | author-link1 = John C. Mitchell| last2 = Plotkin | first2 = G. D.| author-link2 = Gordon Plotkin | doi = 10.1145/44501.45065 | title = Abstract types have existential type | journal = ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems | volume = 10 | issue = 3 | pages = 470 | year = 1988 | s2cid = 1222153 | doi-access = free }}{{Cite journal | last1 = Abadi | first1 = M. N. | author-link1 = Martín Abadi| last2 = Burrows | first2 = M. | author-link2 = Michael Burrows (computer scientist)| last3 = Lampson | first3 = B. | author-link3 = Butler Lampson| last4 = Plotkin | first4 = G. | author-link4 = Gordon Plotkin| title = A calculus for access control in distributed systems | doi = 10.1145/155183.155225 | journal = ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems | volume = 15 | issue = 4 | pages = 706 | year = 1993 | hdl = 1842/207 | url = http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/gdp/publications/Calculus_for_Access_Control.pdf| citeseerx = 10.1.1.72.3756 | s2cid = 13260508 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.lfcs.inf.ed.ac.uk/events/plotkin-symposium/|title=Symposium for Gordon Plotkin|website=www.lfcs.inf.ed.ac.uk}}