Lotfi A. Zadeh

Zadeh was born in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR,At this time, the Azerbaijan SSR was an independent republic, created by the Red Army. It would become part of the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic in March 1922, and then part of the Soviet Union in December 1922. as Lotfi Aliasgerzadeh.McNeil & Freiberger, p. 17 His father was Rahim Aleskerzade, an Iranian Muslim AzerbaijaniBlair, Betty (winter 1994) "Interview with Lotfi Zadeh" Azerbaijan International. "Obstinacy and tenacity. Not being afraid to get embroiled in controversy. That's very much a Turkish tradition. That's part of my character, too"

http://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/24_folder/24_articles/24_fuzzylogic.html journalist from Ardabil on assignment from Iran, and his mother was Fanya (Feyga{{cite magazine |last1=Samad |first1=Mohbaddin |title=A Phenomenon in Modern Science or Who Are You Lotfi Zadeh? |url=http://www.visions.az/en/news/49/2bbd742d/ |access-date=30 November 2021 |magazine=Visions of Azerbaijan Magazine |volume=4 |issue=2 |date=Summer 2009 |language=en |quote=...mother Feyga and wife Faina...wife Faina, son Norman and daughter Stella...mother Feyga, father Rahim...(Mohbaddin Samad is the screen writer of the documentary film Far and Near Lotfi Zadeh (in Azerbaijani and English) and the author of a book about Lotfi Zadeh, The World Cannot Survive Without Geniuses)}}) Korenman, a Jewish pediatrician from Odesa, Ukraine, who was an Iranian citizen.{{cite journal |title=Fuzzy logic—a personal perspective |date=2015-05-21 |doi=10.1016/j.fss.2015.05.009 |volume=281 |pages=4–20 |journal=Fuzzy Sets and Systems| last1=Zadeh |first1=Lotfi A.}}[http://www.jinfo.org/Computer_Info_Science.html "Jews in Computer & Information Science"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513125715/http://www.jinfo.org/Computer_Info_Science.html |date=2013-05-13 }} on the JINFO.org website[http://alamjurnal.com/stati/262-zhanet-selimova Анвар Унугви "Жанет Селимова"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714193842/http://alamjurnal.com/stati/262-zhanet-selimova |date=2014-07-14 }} (Memoirs of Lotfi A. Zadeh's cousin in Baku, theatrical director, professor Zhanet Selimova).Gale, Thomson. [http://www.bookrags.com/biography/lotfi-asker-zadeh-wcs/ Lotfi Asker Zadeh Biography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100115180256/http://www.bookrags.com/biography/lotfi-asker-zadeh-wcs/ |date=2010-01-15 }} World of Computer Science The Soviet government at this time courted foreign correspondents, and the family lived well while in Baku.McNeil & Freiberger, p. 18 Zadeh attended elementary school for three years there, which he said "had a significant and long-lasting influence on my thinking and my way of looking at things."{{cite magazine | last1 = Blair | first1 = Betty | date = Winter 1994 | url = https://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/74_folder/74.articles/74_zadeh.html | title = Famous People: Then and Now {{!}} Lotfi Zadeh | magazine = Azerbaijan International | pages = 28–29 | volume = 2 | issue = 4 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231208181813/https://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/74_folder/74.articles/74_zadeh.html | archive-date = 2023-12-08 | access-date = 2024-02-06 | issn = 1075-086X | quote = What experiences and interests in childhood would you say shaped your life and career? I went through the first three grades of elementary school in Baku. Those three years - from age 7 to 10 - had a significant and long-lasting influence on my thinking and my way of looking at things.}}

In 1931, when Stalin began agricultural collectivization, and Zadeh was ten, his father moved his family back to Tehran, Iran. Zadeh was enrolled in Alborz High School, a missionary school, where he was educated for the next eight years, and where he met his future wife, Fay (Faina) Zadeh, who said that he was "deeply influenced" by the "extremely decent, fine, honest and helpful" Presbyterian missionaries from the United States who ran the college. "To me they represented the best that you could find in the United States – people from the Midwest with strong roots. They were really 'Good Samaritans' – willing to give of themselves for the benefit of others. So this kind of attitude influenced me deeply. It also instilled in me a deep desire to live in the United States." During this time, Zadeh was awarded several patents.

Zadeh sat for the Iran national university exams and placed third in the nation. As a student, he ranked first in his class in his first two years. In 1942, he graduated from the University of Tehran with a degree in electrical engineering, one of only three students in that field to graduate that year, due to the turmoil created by World War II, when the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union invaded Iran. Over 30,000 American soldiers were based there, and Zadeh worked with his father, who did business with them as a contractor for hardware and building materials.McNeil & Freiberger, p. 19

In 1943, Zadeh decided to leave for the United States to continue his education. He travelled to Philadelphia by way of Cairo after months of delay waiting first for the proper papers and later for the right ship to appear.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}} He arrived in mid-1944, lived in New York and worked for an electronic association, and entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as a graduate student in September that year. While in the United States, he shortened his family name, creating a new middle name from the part he removed, and was thenceforth known as Lotfi Aliasker Zadeh. He received an MS degree in electrical engineering from MIT in 1946.

In 1947, as his parents had settled in New York City, Zadeh went to work as an engineer at Columbia University. Zadeh then applied to Columbia University. Columbia admitted him as a doctoral student and offered him an instructorship as well. He received his PhD in electrical engineering from Columbia in 1949 and became an assistant professor the next year. Zadeh taught for ten years at Columbia and was promoted to full professor in 1957.

The chairman of the electronic engineering department at the University of California, wrote and offered him work. In 1959, Zadeh joined the Electrical Engineering faculty at the University of California, Berkeley. During his lengthy research career, Zadeh made important scientific contributions in two distinct areas: (1) linear system theory and classical control systems, and (2) fuzzy sets, fuzzy logic, and related science and technology.

Zadeh was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1967 for Natural Sciences in Applied Mathematics.{{cite web |title=Lotfi A. Zadeh |url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/lotfi-a-zadeh/ |website=John Simon Guggenheim Foundation |access-date=30 November 2021}}

Zadeh's first important research contribution, well known among scholars of his generation in the electrical engineering community, was in the area of classical control systems. His pioneer work, co-authored with Charles Desoer, Linear System Theory: The State Space Approach, laid a critical foundation for all modern approaches to system analysis and control.Zadeh, Lotfi and Desoer, Charles, Linear System Theory: The State Space Approach, Courier Dover Publications, 2008 (reprint). The second and more well-known contribution of Zadeh's research is his lifelong dedication to the creation, enhancement and the real-world impacts of a broad collection of science and technology based on fuzzy sets and fuzzy logic. He published his seminal work on fuzzy sets in 1965, in which he described the motivation of replicating human-like reasoning and detailed the mathematics of fuzzy set theory.

In 1973 he proposed his theory of fuzzy logic. Together, fuzzy sets and fuzzy logic provide the necessary foundations for a broad class of related innovations, including (but not limited to):

• fuzzy control – a practical approach to non-linear control using fuzzy if-then rules in fuzzy logic
• fuzzy pattern recognition – a generalization of conventional pattern recognition techniques using fuzzy sets (e.g., fuzzy k-means generalizes k-means clustering)
• fuzzy database – generalizes classical database query language using fuzzy sets and fuzzy logic
• fuzzy mathematics – generalizes conventional mathematics using fuzzy sets and fuzzy logic
• neuro-fuzzy systems – a synergistic combination of fuzzy logic and neural networks, providing the first interpretable AI system based on neural network learning

He was also on the Board of Governors for International Neural Network Society (INNS) in 2003.

Zadeh became the Chair of Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1963. One of the lasting impacts of his leadership in this role is the expansion and the integration of computer science. He initiated and completed (in 1968) the transformation of the Electrical Engineering department at UC Berkeley to the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). This strategic move not only led UC Berkeley's advancement into the top ranks of computer science education and research, but also led other research universities globally to add computer science to their electrical engineering departments.

In 1973, Zadeh received the prestigious (Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers) IEEE Education Award, largely in recognition of his performance as chair of EE and then EECS. Other important services to UC Berkeley include his Academic Senate committee memberships: Academic Planning & Resource Allocation (1992–95); Committees (1969–70; 1980–81); Courses of Instruction (1975–80); and Faculty Awards (1990–92). Professor Zadeh graduated more than 50 PhD students, many of whom went on to become leaders in various areas of engineering, management and information sciences.[https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/in-memoriam/files/lotfi-a-zadeh.html Lotfi A Zadeh], Academic Senate, University of California

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| image1 =[https://static01.nyt.com/images/2017/09/12/arts/11zadeh-obit-1/11zadeh-obit-1-jumbo.jpg Zadeh, at his office, with camera, 1988]

| image2 =[https://newsletter.eecs.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Lotfi-Zadeh-Computer-Science-Division-Electrical-Engineering-and-Computer-Sciences-UC-Berkeley.jpg Zadeh, self-portrait]{{cite news |last1=Roberts |first1=Siobhan |title=Remembering Lotfi Zadeh, the Inventor of Fuzzy Logic |url=https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/remembering-lotfi-zadeh-the-inventor-of-fuzzy-logic |access-date=30 November 2021 |magazine=The New Yorker |publisher=Condé Nast |date=19 September 2017}}

| image3 = [https://newsletter.eecs.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Claude-Shannon-Information-Theory-MIT.jpg Claude Shannon, by Zadeh]

| image4 = [https://newsletter.eecs.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Edgar-Varese-Composer-Electronic-Music.jpg Edgar Varese, by Zadeh]

| image5 = [https://newsletter.eecs.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Fay-Zadeh-Wife-of-Lotfi-Zadeh.jpg Fay Zadeh, by Zadeh]

| image6 = [https://newsletter.eecs.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Lotfi-n-Fay.jpg Fay and Lotfi, by Zadeh]

| image7 = [https://newsletter.eecs.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Rahim-Zadeh-Father-of-Lotfi-Zadeh.jpg Rahim Zadeh, by Zadeh]

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Zadeh photographed people around him.{{cite web |last1=Crowley |first1=Magdalene L. |title=Portraits by Lotfi Zadeh |url=https://newsletter.eecs.berkeley.edu/2018/02/zadeh-portraits/ |website=EECS Department Newsletter |publisher=UC Berkeley |access-date=30 November 2021 |date=27 February 2018}}

{{anchor|Nationality}} Zadeh was called "quick to shrug off nationalism, insisting there are much deeper issues in life", and was quoted as saying in an interview: "The question really isn't whether I'm American, Russian, Iranian, Azerbaijani, or anything else. I've been shaped by all these people and cultures, and I feel quite comfortable among all of them."{{cite magazine | last1 = Blair | first1 = Betty | date = Winter 1994 | url = https://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/24_folder/24_articles/24_zadeh.html | title = Lotfi Zadeh {{!}} Short Biographical Sketch | magazine = Azerbaijan International | pages = 49 | volume = 2 | issue = 4 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231204143910/https://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/24_folder/24_articles/24_zadeh.html | archive-date = 2023-12-04 | access-date = 2024-02-06 | issn = 1075-086X | quote = He's quick to shrug off nationalism, insisting there are much deeper issues in life. "The question really isn't whether I'm American, Russian, Iranian, Azerbaijani, or anything else," he'll tell you. "I've been shaped by all these people and cultures and I feel quite comfortable among all of them."}} He noted in the same interview: "Obstinacy and tenacity, not being afraid to get embroiled in controversy – that's very much a Turkish tradition. That's part of my character, too. I can be very stubborn. That has probably been beneficial for the development of fuzzy logic."{{cite magazine | last1 = Blair | first1 = Betty | date = Winter 1994 | url = https://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/24_folder/24_articles/24_fuzzylogic.html | title = Interview with Lotfi Zadeh {{!}} Creator of Fuzzy Logic | magazine = Azerbaijan International | pages = 46–47, 50 | volume = 2 | issue = 4 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240205084733/https://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/24_folder/24_articles/24_fuzzylogic.html | archive-date = 2024-02-05 | access-date = 2024-02-06 | issn = 1075-086X | quote = And what about the influence from Azerbaijanis? [...] Obstinacy and tenacity. Not being afraid to get embroiled in controversy. That's very much a Turkish tradition. That's part of my character, too. I can be very stubborn. That's probably been beneficial for the development of Fuzzy Logic.}} He described himself as "an American, mathematically oriented, electrical engineer of Iranian descent, born in Russia."

He and his wife Fay Zadeh had two children, Stella and Norman Zada. His wife wrote a book, My Life and Travels with the Father of Fuzzy Logic{{cite book | last1 = Zadeh | first1 = Fay | title = My Life and Travels with the Father of Fuzzy Logic | publisher = TSI Press | date = 1998 | isbn = 978-1889335056 | oclc = 40252107 | ol = OL12186678M }} about their travels and experiences together, visiting "exotic places" and meeting interesting people around the world.

Zadeh died in his home in Berkeley, California, on 6 September 2017, at the age of 96.{{Unreliable source?|date=December 2021}} He was buried at the First Alley of Honors, on 29 September 2017{{cite web |title=Prominent scientist Lotfi Zadeh buried in Baku - PHOTO |url=https://www.azernews.az/nation/119740.html |website=AzerNews.az |access-date=30 November 2021 |language=en |date=29 September 2017 |quote=...Lotfi Zadeh was laid to rest at the First Alley of Honors in Baku on September 29. State and government officials, scientists and representatives of the general public attended the funeral, Azertac reported...}} in Baku, Azerbaijan, the city in which he was born. His funeral was well attended by "highly respected people."Brewer, Jared and Shakeel, Azwar (September 17, 2017) [http://www.dailycal.org/2017/09/17/uc-berkeley-professor-creator-fuzzy-logic-lotfi-zadeh-dies-96/ "UC Berkeley professor, creator of 'fuzzy logic' Lotfi Zadeh dies at 96"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170920044136/http://www.dailycal.org/2017/09/17/uc-berkeley-professor-creator-fuzzy-logic-lotfi-zadeh-dies-96/ |date=2017-09-20 }} The Daily Californian A month prior to his death, the University of Tehran had released an erroneous report that Zadeh had died, but withdrew it several days later.{{cite news |title=Lotfi Zadeh, Father Of Fuzzy Logic Dies At 96 |url=https://en.radiofarda.com/a/iranian-mathematician-lotfi-zadeh-dies/28729659.html |work=Radio Farda |date=11 September 2017 |language=en}}

File:Lotfi A. Zadeh stamp 2021.png

According to Google Scholar, as of November 2021, Zadeh's work has been cited at least 269,091 times in scholarly works,{{cite web |title=Lotfi A. Zadeh |url=https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=S6H-0RAAAAAJ&hl=en |website=Google Scholar |access-date=30 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130203932/https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=S6H-0RAAAAAJ |archive-date=30 November 2021 |quote=All Citations: 269091}} with the 1965 Fuzzy sets paper receiving at least 122,743 citations.{{cite web |last1=Zadeh |first1=Lotfi |title=Fuzzy Sets |url=https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=S6H-0RAAAAAJ&citation_for_view=S6H-0RAAAAAJ:QKtdBID3u5MC |website=Google Scholar |access-date=30 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130203157/https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=S6H-0RAAAAAJ&citation_for_view=S6H-0RAAAAAJ%3AQKtdBID3u5MC |archive-date=30 November 2021 |date=1965 |quote=Total citations: Cited by 122743}}

Zadeh, in his theory of fuzzy sets, proposed using a membership function (with a range covering the interval [0,1]) operating on the domain of all possible values. He proposed new operations for the calculus of logic and showed that fuzzy logic was a generalisation of classical and Boolean logic. He also proposed fuzzy numbers as a special case of fuzzy sets, as well as the corresponding rules for consistent mathematical operations (fuzzy arithmetic).McNeil & Freiberger, passim

Zadeh's research career has had a lasting impact on artificial intelligence (AI). Fuzzy sets and fuzzy logic are both motivated by our understanding of human cognition: that we are comfortable with concepts that have vague boundaries. This is well aligned with the Physical symbol system assumption in AI (by Allen Newell and Herbert A. Simon), inspired by another aspect of human cognition: that humans are comfortable with concepts that are described by symbols.

The concept of a linguistic variable in fuzzy logic connects a symbol that is typically a predicate in classical logic (e.g., "John is Bold", or in predicate logic – Bold(John)) – to linguistic values (e.g., "John is somewhat bold." or in fuzzy logic – Bold(John)=Somewhat ) – which generalizes the binary value of predicate logic in two ways.

First, the two possible values (True or False) in predicate logic are generalized to a continuum (typically from 0, which corresponds to False, to 1, which corresponds to True). This allows the expression of Bold(John)= 0.5, which indicates that John is midway between being devoid of boldness and being entirely bold.

The second generalization enabled by fuzzy logic is to use a fuzzy set such as "somewhat bold" to describe a person's boldness level in a way that is more natural to human understanding and communication. Without this generalization, we can only describe the value of a person's boldness as a number (e.g., 0.5) or as an interval (e.g., [0.25, 0.75]). With this generalization, one can express the semantic meaning of "somewhat bold" as a fuzzy set in the domain of 0 and 1.

Zadeh was also an active contributor to the AI community, including at the Dartmouth Workshop that coined the term "artificial intelligence". He was subsequently a frequent contributor to leading AI conferences such as AAAI and IJCAI, as well as other top venues such as AI Magazine.

Zadeh is credited, along with John R. Ragazzini, in 1952, with having pioneered the development of the Z-transform method in discrete time signal processing and analysis. These methods are now standard in digital signal processing, digital control, and other discrete-time systems used in industry and research. He was an editor of the International Journal of Computational Cognition.

Zadeh's work also included computing with words and perceptions. His later papers include "From Search Engines to Question-Answering Systems"{{cite book |last=Zadeh |first=Lotfi A. |date=2006 |chapter=From search engines to question answering systems—The problems of world knowledge, relevance, deduction and precisiation |editor-last=Sanchez |editor-first=Elie |title=Fuzzy Logic and the Semantic Web |series=Capturing Intelligence |volume=1 |publisher=Elsevier |pages=[https://archive.org/details/fuzzylogicsemant0000unse/page/163 163–210] |isbn=9780444519481 |oclc=62475292 |doi=10.1016/S1574-9576(06)80011-0 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/fuzzylogicsemant0000unse/page/163 |chapter-url-access=registration |citeseerx=10.1.1.89.3883}} and "Toward a Generalized Theory of Uncertainty (GTU)—An Outline".{{cite journal |last=Zadeh |first=Lotfi A. |date=June 2005 |title=Toward a generalized theory of uncertainty (GTU)—an outline |journal=Information Sciences |volume=172 |issue=1 |pages=1–40 |doi=10.1016/j.ins.2005.01.017 |citeseerx=10.1.1.95.1834}}

A complete list of publications is available.

{{refbegin|30em}}

• {{cite Q | Q25938993 | author-mask = 1 | journal = Information and Control | doi-access = free }}
• {{cite conference | url = https://archive.org/details/proceedingsofsym15symp/mode/1up | url-access = registration | title = Proceedings of the Symposium on System Theory, New York, N.Y., April 20, 21, 22, 1965 | editor1-last = Fox | editor1-first = Jerome | year = 1965 | conference = Symposium on System Theory | conference-url = | first1 = L. A. | last1 = Zadeh | author-link1 = Lotfi A. Zadeh | author-mask = 1 | chapter = FUZZY SETS AND SYSTEMS | chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/proceedingsofsym15symp/page/29/mode/1up | chapter-url-access = registration | volume = XV | book-title = | publisher = Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn | pages = 29{{ndash}}39 | asin = B000L4NPSY | ol = OL24217402M | oclc = 1102587 | access-date = 2021-11-30 | via = Internet Archive | language = en}}
• {{cite Q | Q109944346 | author-mask = 1 | journal = Journal of Cybernetics }}
• {{cite Q | Q56083455 | author-mask = 1 | journal = IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics }}
• {{cite conference | last1 = Zadeh | first1 = L.A. | author-link1 = Lotfi A. Zadeh | author-mask = 1 | editor1-last = Rosenfeld | editor1-first = Jack L. | date = 1974-12-04 | chapter = Fuzzy Logic and Its Application to Approximate Reasoning. |title = Information Processing, Proceedings of the 6th IFIP Congress 1974, Stockholm, Sweden, August 5-10, 1974 | chapter-url = https://dblp.org/db/conf/ifip/ifip74.html |chapter-url-access= |chapter-format= |type= |series= |language= |volume= |edition= |publication-place= |location= | publisher = North-Holland Publishing |pages= 591{{ndash}}594 | isbn = 978-0720428032 | lccn = 74076063 | ol = OL22108197M |access-date= |via= |quote= |quote-page= |quote-pages=}}
• {{cite Q | Q57275767 | author-mask = 1 | publisher = Springer }}
• {{cite book|year=1975|chapter = Calculus of fuzzy restrictions |last1 = Zadeh| first1= Lotfi A. | author-link1 = Lotfi A. Zadeh | author-mask = 1 | last2= Fu |first2= King-Sun | author-link2 = King-Sun Fu | last3=Tanaka | first3=Kokichi | last4= Shimura | first4=Masamichi |title=Fuzzy Sets and their Applications to Cognitive and Decision Processes|place= New York|publisher= Academic Press |pages=1{{ndash}}39| doi=10.1016/C2013-0-11734-5|isbn=978-0-12-775260-0|language=en}}
• {{cite Q | Q109950743 | author-mask = 1 }}
• {{cite Q | Q109951641 | author-mask = 1 }}
• {{cite Q | Q109951958| author-mask = 1 }}
• {{cite journal|last1=Zadeh|first1=Lotfi A. | author-link1 = Lotfi A. Zadeh | author-mask = 1 |title=From Computing with Numbers to Computing with Words|journal= Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences |volume=929|issue=1 |year=2006 |pages=221–252 |pmid=11357866 |doi=10.1111/j.1749-6632.2001.tb05718.x| s2cid=60538650}}
• {{cite book | last1 = Zadeh | first1 = L.A. | author-link1 = Lotfi A. Zadeh | author-mask = 1 | date = 2012-07-12 | title = Computing with Words: Principal Concepts and Ideas | series = Studies in fuzziness and soft computing | language = en | volume = 277 | edition = 2012 | publisher = Springer-Verlag | doi = 10.1007/978-3-642-27473-2 | eissn = 1860-0808 | isbn = 978-3-642-27472-5 | issn = 1434-9922 | lccn = 2012937218 | oclc = 818324681 | ol = OL27026389M}}

{{refend}}

• 1991 - [https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/object/bb6690734s Fuzzy logic: principles, perspectives, and applications] Lecture sponsored by the Dept. of Electrical and Computer engineering, University of California, San Diego. Electrical and Computer Engineering Distinguished Lecture Series. Digital Object Made Available by UC San Diego Library.

File:Lütfi Zadənin məzarı.jpg.]]

Zadeh was a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Association for Computing Machinery, the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence and the International Fuzzy Systems Association, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.{{Cite web |url=http://www.nae.edu/MembersSection/MemberDirectory/28316.aspx |title=Dr. Lotfi A. Zadeh was elected in 1973 as a member of National Academy of Engineering in Computer Science & Engineering and Electronics, Communication & Information Systems Engineering. |access-date=2015-12-08 |archive-date=2015-12-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208190559/http://www.nae.edu/MembersSection/MemberDirectory/28316.aspx |url-status=live }} He was also a member of the Academies of Science of Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Finland, Korea and Poland, and of the International Academy of Systems Studies in Moscow. He received 24 honorary doctorates.

Awards received by Zadeh include, among many others:

• IEEE Education Medal; 1973{{cite web |url=http://www.ieee.org/documents/education_rl.pdf |title=IEEE James H. Mulligan, Jr. Education Medal Recipients |publisher=IEEE |access-date={{Format date|2011|9|3}} |archive-date=2010-11-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101124235219/http://ieee.org/documents/education_rl.pdf |url-status=live }}
• Eringen Medal; 1976
• IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal, for "seminal contributions to information science and systems, including the conceptualization of fuzzy sets"; 1992{{cite web |url=http://www.ieee.org/documents/hamming_rl.pdf |title=IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal Recipients |publisher=IEEE |access-date={{Format date|2011|5|29}} |archive-date=2015-06-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150612152243/http://www.ieee.org/documents/hamming_rl.pdf |url-status=live }}
• American Society of Mechanical Engineers Rufus Oldenburger Medal; 1993.{{cite web |url=http://www.asme.org/about-asme/honors-awards/achievement-awards/rufus-oldenburger-medal |title=Rufus Oldenburger Medal |publisher=American Society of Mechanical Engineers |access-date={{Format date|2013|2|12}} |archive-date=2019-11-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191107200153/https://www.asme.org/about-asme/honors-awards/achievement-awards/rufus-oldenburger-medal |url-status=live }}
• Honorary Professorship from the Azerbaijan State Oil Academy; 1993
• IEEE Medal of Honor, for "pioneering development of fuzzy logic and its many diverse applications"; 1995{{cite web|url=http://www.ieee.org/documents/moh_rl.pdf |title=IEEE Medal of Honor Recipients |publisher=IEEE |access-date={{Format date|2011|9|3}} |url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150422004457/http://www.ieee.org/documents/moh_rl.pdf |archive-date=2015-04-22 }}
• American Automatic Control Council's Richard E. Bellman Control Heritage Award; 1998.{{cite web |url=http://a2c2.org/awards/richard-e-bellman-control-heritage-award |title=Richard E. Bellman Control Heritage Award |publisher=American Automatic Control Council |access-date={{Format date|2013|2|10}} |archive-date=2018-10-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181001032837/http://a2c2.org/awards/richard-e-bellman-control-heritage-award |url-status=live }}
• ACM Allen Newell Award; 2001
• Outstanding Contribution Award, Web Intelligence Consortium (WIC), Halifax, Canada, 2003.
• Wall of Fame, Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum (HNF), Paderborn, Germany, 2004.
• V. Kaufmann Prize and Gold Medal, International Association for Fuzzy-Set Management and Economy (SIGEF), Barcelona, Spain, Nov. 15, 2004.
• J. Keith Brimacombe IPMM Award in recognition of his development of fuzzy set theory and fuzzy logic, 2005.
• Benjamin Franklin Medal in Electrical Engineering from The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, for inventing and developing the field of "fuzzy logic"; 2009
• Induction into the IEEE Intelligent Systems' AI's Hall of Fame, 2011, "for his work on soft computing, fuzzy logic, and neural-net theory".{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1109/MIS.2011.64 | title = AI's Hall of Fame | url = http://www.computer.org/cms/Computer.org/ComputingNow/homepage/2011/0811/rW_IS_AIsHallofFame.pdf | journal = IEEE Intelligent Systems | volume = 26 | issue = 4 | pages = 5–15 | year = 2011 | access-date = 2015-09-04 | archive-date = 2011-12-16 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111216235804/http://www.computer.org/cms/Computer.org/ComputingNow/homepage/2011/0811/rW_IS_AIsHallofFame.pdf | url-status = dead }}
• BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the category of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), Spain, 2012.
• Honorary Doctor of the Óbuda University (Budapest, Hungary) 2011{{cite web | title = Tudósítás Prof. Dr. Lotfi A. Zadeh díszdoktoravatásáról | trans-title = Report on the inauguration of Prof. Dr. Lotfi A. Zadeh | website = Óbudai Egyetem | language = hu | date= 2011-11-08 | url = http://news.uni-obuda.hu/articles/2011/11/08/tudositas-prof-dr-lotfi-a-zadeh-diszdoktoravatasarol | access-date = 2021-11-30 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200803151347/http://news.uni-obuda.hu/articles/2011/11/08/tudositas-prof-dr-lotfi-a-zadeh-diszdoktoravatasarol | archive-date = 2020-08-03 | url-status = live | quote = A Nobel-díjas Dr. Oláh György díszdoktorrá avatását követően Prof. Dr. Lotfi A. Zadeh, az University of California, Berkeley professzora, a Berkeley Initiative in Soft Computing (BISC) intézet igazgatója részesült Doctor Honoris Causa kitüntetésben 2011. november 7-én. | trans-quote = Following the inauguration of Nobel Laureate Dr. George Oláh as an Honorary Doctor, Prof. Dr. Lotfi A. Zadeh, Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, Director of the Berkeley Initiative in Soft Computing (BISC), received the Doctor Honoris Causa Award on November 7, 2011. | via = Google Translate }}
• Golden Goose Award, for Fuzzy Logic; 2017{{Cite web|url=https://www.goldengooseaward.org/awardees/fuzzy-logic|title=2017: Fuzzy Logic, Clear Impact|website=The Golden Goose Award|language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-13|archive-date=2019-12-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191213213147/https://www.goldengooseaward.org/awardees/fuzzy-logic|url-status=dead}}

In 2014, the IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society established the "Lotfi A. Zadeh Pioneer Award", which is given to honour a person or persons with "outstanding and pioneering contributions to academic and/or industrial research in systems science and engineering, human-machine systems, and/or cybernetics." The award is funded from a $100,000 donation from Zadeh's son, Norm Zadeh, and is administered by the IEEE. Nominees must have "pioneered and developed innovative research, executed in either academe or industry," that has resulted in major scientific advances in "systems science and engineering, human-machine systems, and/or cybernetics." Contributions must have been made at least 15 years prior to the award date.[https://www.ieeesmc.org/about-smcs/awards/lotfi-a-zadeh-pioneer-award "Lotfi A. Zadeh Pioneer Award"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200618001751/https://www.ieeesmc.org/about-smcs/awards/lotfi-a-zadeh-pioneer-award |date=2020-06-18 }} IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society website

In February 2019, ADA University in Baku, Azerbaijan presented the first "Lotfi Zadeh Scholarships", which honour the academic success of undergraduate students in the university's School of IT and Engineering. Winners of the scholarship receive a complete tuition waiver for the semester or semester-equivalent in which they achieved a 4.0 average.Staff (25 February 2019) [https://www.ada.edu.az/en/news/68-lotfi-zadeh-scholarship-is-granted-for-the-first-time-academic-excellence-across-schools-celebrated "Presentation of Inaugural Lotfi Zadeh Scholarships"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331191844/https://www.ada.edu.az/en/news/68-lotfi-zadeh-scholarship-is-granted-for-the-first-time-academic-excellence-across-schools-celebrated |date=2019-03-31 }} ADA University website

On 4 February 2021, the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society and the International Fuzzy Systems Association (IFSA) jointly celebrated the centenary of Zadeh's birth.Staff (April 15, 2021) [https://ieeetv.ieee.org/channels/computational-intelligence/celebrating-the-centenary-of-lotfi-a-zadeh-1921-2017 "Celebrating the centenary of Lotfi A. Zadeh (1921–2017)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507020207/https://ieeetv.ieee.org/channels/computational-intelligence/celebrating-the-centenary-of-lotfi-a-zadeh-1921-2017 |date=2021-05-07 }} IEEE.TV

On 30 November 2021, Google honored Zadeh with a Google Doodle.{{cite web |title=Celebrating Lotfi Zadeh |url=https://doodles.google/doodle/celebrating-lotfi-zadeh/ |website=www.google.com |access-date=30 November 2021 |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Kim |first1=Soo |title=Google Doodle honors Lotfi Zadeh, the late Azerbaijani American scientist |url=https://www.newsweek.com/google-doodle-lotfi-zadeh-scientist-fuzzy-logic-mathematical-concept-1654317 |access-date=30 November 2021 |work=Newsweek |date=30 November 2021 |language=en}} His seminal paper Fuzzy sets was submitted for publication on this day in 1964.

• Concept of Stratification

{{reflist|30em|refs=

{{cite web |url = https://eecs.berkeley.edu/news/2017/09/lotfi-zadeh-has-passed-away | title = Lotfi Zadeh has passed away | last1 = Crowley | first1 = Magdalene L. | date = 2017-09-06 | website = Berkeley {{!}} Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences | publisher = UC Berkeley College of Engineering | language = en-us | access-date = 2021-11-30 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211003002030/https://eecs.berkeley.edu/news/2017/09/lotfi-zadeh-has-passed-away | archive-date = 2021-10-03 | quote = CS Prof. Lotfi Zadeh, known as the Father of Fuzzy Logic, passed away on the morning of September 6, 2017. He was 96. Zadeh touched many lives and had a tremendous impact on many scientific and technological fields. He is best known as the founder of fuzzy mathematics, fuzzy set theory, fuzzy logic, Z numbers and Z-transform. He won many awards including the IEEE Medal of Honor, the Honda Prize, the Okawa Prize, and the IEEE Hamming Medal. He was a founding member of the Eurasian Academy and a member of the Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame. A state funeral will be held in his birth city of Baku, Azerbaijan.}}

{{cite web | title = Faculty Publications - Lotfi A. Zadeh | url = https://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/Faculty/zadeh.html | website = Berkeley {{!}} Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences | publisher = UC Berkeley College of Engineering | access-date = 2021-11-30 | language=en-us | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201125143903/https://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/Faculty/zadeh.html | archive-date = 2020-11-25 | url-status = live}}

{{cite web |url = https://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Faculty/Homepages/zadeh.html | title = Lotfi A. Zadeh: Former Professor Emeritus | date = n.d. | website = Berkeley {{!}} Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences | publisher = UC Berkeley College of Engineering | language = en-us | access-date = 2021-12-04 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211202071134/https://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Faculty/Homepages/zadeh.html/ | archive-date = 2021-12-02 | quote = Lotfi Zadeh was a Professor in the Graduate School of the Computer Science Division of Berkeley EECS. He also e served as the Director of BISC (Berkeley Initiative in Soft Computing). Lotfi Zadeh passed away on September 6, 2017. Zadeh was an alumnus of the University of Tehran, MIT and Columbia University. From 1950 to 1959, he was a member of the Department of Electrical Engineering, Columbia University. He joined the Department of Electrical Engineering at UC Berkeley in 1959 and served as its Chair from 1963 to 1968. During his tenure as Chair, he played a key role in changing the name of the Department from EE to EECS. He held visiting appointments at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ; MIT, Cambridge, MA; IBM Research Laboratory, San Jose, CA; AI Center, SRI International, Menlo Park, CA; and the Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford University.}}

{{cite Q | Q25938993 | author-mask = 1 | journal = Information and Control | doi-access = free }}

{{cite Q | Q56157601 | last1 = Zadeh | first1 = L.A. | author-link1 = Lotfi A. Zadeh | author-mask = 1 }}

}}

{{refbegin|30em}}

• {{cite book | last1 = McNeill | first1 = Daniel | last2 = Freiberger | first2 = Paul | date = 1993-02-25 | title = Fuzzy Logic: The Discovery Of A Revolutionary Computer Technology {{mdash}} And How It Is Changing Our World | url = https://archive.org/details/fuzzylogic00mcne/mode/2up | url-access = registration | language = en-us | publisher = Touchstone Books | asin-tld = | isbn = 978-0671738433 | lccn = 92042631 | oclc = 894862117 | ol = OL1737492M | via = Internet Archive}}

{{refend}}

{{refbegin|30em}}

• {{cite book | last1 = Seising | first1 = Rudolf | date = 2007-06-19 | title = The Fuzzification of Systems: The Genesis of Fuzzy Set Theory and its Initial Applications - Developments up to the 1970s | series = Studies in Fuzziness and Soft Computing | language = en,de | volume = 216 | edition = 1st | publisher = Springer | doi = 10.1007/978-3-540-71795-9 | isbn = 978-3-540-71794-2 | lccn = 2007926120 | oclc = 799809616 | ol = OL9063652M | ol-access = free}}
• {{cite book | last1 = Zadeh | first1 = Fay | title = My Life and Travels with the Father of Fuzzy Logic | publisher = TSI Press | date = 1998 | isbn = 978-1889335056 | oclc = 40252107 | ol = OL12186678M }}
• Zadeh, Lofti A. "Lotfi Visions", two-part interview with Jack J. Woehr, Dr. Dobb's Journal, [http://www.drdobbs.com/architecture-and-design/184409272 July 1994 (part 1)] and [http://www.drdobbs.com/architecture-and-design/184409290 August 1994 (part 2)].
• {{cite book |last1=Seising |first1=Rudolf |last2=Trillas |first2=Enric |last3=Moraga |first3=Claudio |last4=Termini |first4=Settimo |title=On Fuzziness: A Homage to Lotfi A. Zadeh – Volume 1 |date=12 January 2013 |publisher=Springer |location=Berlin |isbn=978-3642356407 |language=en |oclc=840905604}}
• {{cite book |last1=Seising |first1=Rudolf |last2=Trillas |first2=Enric |last3=Moraga |first3=Claudio |last4=Termini |first4=Settimo |title=On Fuzziness: A Homage to Lotfi A. Zadeh – Volume 2 |date=15 December 2012 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-642-35643-8 |language=en |oclc=910975146}}
• Trillas, Enric. [https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=6238153&orden=0&info=link In Memory of L.A. Zadeh] Mathware & soft computing, ISSN-e 1134–5632, Vol. 24, Nº. 2, 2017, págs. 16-18
• I. Dzitac, F.G. Filip, M.J. Manolescu, [http://univagora.ro/jour/index.php/ijccc/article/view/3111 Fuzzy Logic Is Not Fuzzy: World-renowned Computer Scientist Lotfi A. Zadeh], International Journal of Computers Communications & Control (December), Vol 12 No 6 (2017), 748–789.
• {{cite journal |last1=Trillas |first1=Enric |author1-link=:es:Enrique Trillas Ruiz |title=Zadeh in My Life |journal=Informatik-Spektrum |date=December 2015 |volume=38 |issue=6 |pages=471–475 |doi=10.1007/s00287-015-0934-5 |s2cid=13172144 }}

{{refend}}

{{Commons category}}

{{wikiquote}}

• [http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Faculty/Homepages/zadeh.html Lotfi A. Zadeh] , Academic profile, College of Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of California, Berkeley
• {{cite web |title=Lotfi A. Zadeh |url=https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=S6H-0RAAAAAJ&hl=en |website=Google Scholar }}
• Dubois, Didier; Prade, Henri. {{YouTube|id=fcvTw7IuAwM|title="Celebrating the centenary of Lotfi A. Zadeh (1921-2017)"}}
• Azerbaijan International:
• Lotfi Zadeh (interview): [http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/24_folder/24_articles/24_fuzzylogic.html Reflections on the Beginnings of "Fuzzy Logic"] in Azerbaijan International, Vol. 2:4 (1994), pp. 46–47.
• Lotfi Zadeh, Berkeley Commencement Speech: [http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/61_folder/61_articles/61_zadeh.html "Commercialism and Human Values: When You Can't Stop for Lunch,"] in Azerbaijan International, Vol. 6:1 (Spring 1998), p. 65.
• "[http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/74_folder/74.articles/74_zadeh.html Famous People: Then and Now, Lotfi Zadeh] (reflecting on his childhood) in Azerbaijan International, Vol. 7:4 (Winter 1999), pp. 28–29.
• Lotfi Zadeh: "[http://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/24_folder/24_articles/24_zadeh.html Short Biographical Sketch]". Azerbaijan International, Vol. 2:4 (Winter 1994), p. 49.
• Lotfi Zadeh, Honorary Chair and Keynote Speaker, [https://archive.today/20121221103235/http://www.iccc.univagora.ro/ ICCCC 2008]. Agora University of Oradea
• {{AIGenealogy|id=599}}

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