Haskell Curry - Definition and Overview

Haskell Brooks Curry (September 12, 1900 - September 1, 1982) was an American mathematician and logician. Born in Millis, Massachusetts, the son of educator Samuel Silas Curry, he was educated at Harvard University and received a doctorate from Göttingen in 1930, under supervision of David Hilbert. He taught at Harvard, Princeton, and then beginning in 1929 for 35 years at Pennsylvania State University. In 1942 he exposited Curry's paradox. In 1966 he became professor of mathematics at Amsterdam. He died in State College, Pennsylvania.

Curry's main work was in mathematical logic, especially in the theory of formal systems and processes - combinatory logic, the foundation for functional programming languages. His works include Combinatory Logic (1958) and Foundations of Mathematical Logic (1963).

The functional computer languages Haskell and Curry are named after him, as is the process of currying in functional programming languages.

External links

• Haskell B. Curry (http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/Mathematicians/Curry.html) - MacTutor History of Mathematics archive.
• 1920-1931 block notes (http://www.sadl.uleth.ca/gsdl/cgi-bin/library?a=p&p=about&c=curry)
• CLg. bibliography 587 pp (http://adam.science.uva.nl/~inge/Bib/bib.ps)