Conrad Wolfram (born 10 June 1970) is a British technologist and businessman known for his work in information technology and mathematics education reform.Bing and WolframAlpha catching up with Google in search engine battle? In June 2020, Wolfram released his first book, The Math(s) Fix: An Education Blueprint for the AI Age.The Math(s) Fix: An Education Blueprint for the AI Age
Education and early life Born in Oxford, England, in 1970, Wolfram was educated at Dragon School and Eton College where he learned to program on a BBC Micro. He was an undergraduate student at Pembroke College, Cambridgegiving away software in push into China, The News Gazette, 9 March 2008. where he studied the Natural Sciences tripos graduating with a Master of Arts degree from the University of Cambridge.
Career Wolfram has been a proponent of Computer-Based Math—a reform of mathematics education to "rebuild the curriculum assuming computers exist."Have We Gotten Math Education All Wrong Huffington Post 11 April 2006Stop teaching kids to add up - maths is more important Financial Times, 7 October 2015 We need to base maths lessons on computers, The Daily Telegraph, 3 December 2009.Closing the gap between modern life and the math curriculum New York Times, 10 February 2013 and is the founder of computerbasedmath.org.computerbasedmath.org. The despair of the dissenting government expert The New Statesman
He argues, "There are a few cases where it is important to do calculations by hand, but these are small fractions of cases. The rest of the time you should assume that students should use a computer just like everyone does in the real world."Introducing the 'sat-nav' maths exam, Channel 4 News, Channel 4, UK And that "School mathematics is very disconnected from mathematics used to solve problems in the real world".Students fleeing mathematics El Pais, Spain, In an interview with the Guardian he described the replacement of hand calculation by computer use as "democratising expertise".WolframAlpha Online Search Engine Calculations, The Guardian, 2 September 2009. He argues that "A good guide to how and what you should do with a computer in the classroom is what you'd do with it outside. As much as possible, use real-world tools in the classroom in an open-ended way not special education-only closed-ended approaches."edtech digest 10 Dec 2010
In 2009, he spoke about education reform at the TEDx Conference at the EU Parliament.I calculate therefore I am, Conrad Wolfram, TedX Brussels, YouTube, 2009. and again at TED Global 2010 where he argued that "Maths should be more practical and more conceptual, but less mechanical,"Conrad Wolfram wants to reboot the maths curriculum , Wired Magazine, 19 July 2010. and that "Calculating is the machinery of math - a means to an end."
In August 2012, he was a member of the judging panel at the Festival of Code, the culmination of Young Rewired State 2012.Past Judges youngrewiredstate.org Wolfram is also part of Flooved advisory board.Company Overview of Flooved Limited, Bloomberg. Retrieved 3/10/17.
On 10 June 2020, Wolfram released his first book, The Math(s) Fix: An Education Blueprint for the AI Age.Released today: "The Math(s) Fix"The Math(s) Fix: An Education Blueprint for the AI AgeRedefining The Value Proposition Of Math Education Forbes Jan 2022 The book summarises Wolfram's thoughts on the current state of mathematics education and sets out a vision for a new core subject based on computational thinking.
In October 2021, Wolfram appeared on the *Messy and Masterful* podcast, discussing his Computer-Based Math initiative and stating that “when the automation gets good, you can go much further by doing it on the machine than you can by hand.”
Wolfram Research Wolfram co-founded Wolfram Research Europe Ltd.Wolfram Alpha goes live, Channel 4 News, Channel 4, UK. in 1991 and remains its CEO. In 1996, he additionally became Strategic and International DirectorA computational knowledge engine for factual queries, The Hindu, India, 25 May 2009. of Wolfram Research, Inc., making him also responsible for Wolfram Research Asia Ltd, and communications such as the wolfram.com website.
Wolfram Research was founded by his brotherCan Wolfram Take on Google?, The Daily Telegraph, UK. Stephen Wolfram, the maker of Mathematica software and the Wolfram Alpha knowledge engine.Wolfram promises new way to probe the web, The Independent, UK.
Wolfram has led the effort to move the use of Mathematica from pure computation system to development and deployment engine,Wolfram Releases Mathematica Player 7, Inside HPC, 10 December 2008.Wolfram Releases Mathematic Player Pro 7, Dr. Dobb's Journal. instigating technology such as the Mathematica Player family and web Mathematica and by pushing greater automation within the system.webMathematica Japanese Edition: Unique Product Brings Computation to the Web , Mathematica Journal, volume 8, issue 4.
He has also led the focus on interactive publishing technologyMaking Science Leap From the Page The New York Times, 17 December 2011 with the stated aim of "making new applications as everyday as new documents"The day that documents and applications merged, Wolfram Research. claiming that "If a picture is worth a thousand words, an interactive document is worth a thousand pictures."Interactive deployment, Wolfram Research. These technologies converged to form the Computable Document FormatWolfram Alpha Creator plans to delete the PDF The Telegraph (UK) which Wolfram says can "transfer knowledge in a much higher-bandwidth way".Conrad Wolfram: computation will release data overload Wired 28 June 2012
Personal life Wolfram's father Hugo Wolfram was a textile manufacturer and novelist (Into a Neutral Country) and his mother Sybil Wolfram was a professor of philosophy at the University of Oxford. He is the younger brother of Stephen Wolfram.
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