Leon N. CooperBorn 28 Feb 1930.American physicist who shared (with John Bardeen and John Robert Schrieffer) the 1972 Nobel Prize in Physics, for contributing the concept of Cooper electron pairs which forms the basis of the BCS (their initials) theory of superconductivity, which he worked on in his 20s. He went on to become a cofounder and cochairman of Nestor, Inc., an industry leader in applying neural-network systems to commercial and military applications. The company built computer-based adaptive pattern-recognition and risk-assessment systems, with such applications as accurately classifying complex patterns like targets in sonar, radar or imaging systems. He also founded and was director of Brown University’s Institute for Brain and Neural Systems to develop cognitive pharmaceuticals and intelligent systems for electronics, automobiles and communications.« |