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Stephen Wolfram (born August 29, 1959 in London) is a scientist known for his work in particle physics, cellular automata and computer algebra, and is the creator of the computer program Mathematica.

Wolfram's father, Hugo Wolfram, was a novelist and his mother, Sybil Wolfram, was a professor of philosophy at Oxford. Wolfram was educated at the exclusive Eton public school. Often described as a child prodigy (though he says he had difficulty with arithmetic as a child), he published an article on particle physics at age 15 and entered Oxford (St John's College) at age 17. He received his Ph.D. in particle physics from Caltech at age 20 and joined the faculty there. At age 21, Wolfram won the MacArthur "Genius" award.

He developed a computer algebra system at Caltech, but the school's patent rules denied him ownership of the invention. He left for the School of Natural Sciences of the Institute For Advanced Study, where he studied cellular automata, mainly with computer simulations.

Wolfram left for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and started to develop the computer algebra system Mathematica in 1986, to be released in 1988. He founded a company, Wolfram Research, which continues to extend the program and market it with considerable success. Wolfram Research also pays Eric W. Weisstein to work on his math encyclopedia MathWorld, which is hosted at the company's web site.

From 1992 to 2002, Wolfram worked on his controversial book A New Kind of Science, which introduced and justified the study of simple, abstract systems of the type easily embodied as simple computer programs. Additionally, it argued that for fundamental reasons these types of systems, rather than traditional mathematics, are needed to model and understand complexity in nature. The book has widely received criticism and some praise. Some critics have declaimed improper footnoting, vagueness, eschewing peer review, and having a flawed premise. Some, even of those who are broadly sympathetic to the aims of the book, point out that it is hardly a "new kind of science" (as Wolfram so loudly proclaims in the text) in that many scientists (for example at the Santa Fe Institute) have been investigating cellular automata in the context of complexity theory for many years. The book has an online version which is available for free viewing.

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 '''Stephen Wolfram''' (born [[August 29]], [[1959]] in [[London]]) is a [[scientist]] known for his work in [[particle physics]], [[cellular automaton|cellular automata]] and [[computer algebra]], and is the creator of the computer program [[Mathematica]].
-Wolfram's father, [[Hugo Wolfram]], was a novelist and his mother, Sybil Wolfram, was a professor of philosophy at Oxford. Wolfram was educated at the exclusive [[Eton]] public school.  Often described as a [[child prodigy]] (though he says he had difficulty with arithmetic as a child), he published an article on particle physics at age 15 and entered [[University of Oxford|Oxford]] ([[St John's College, Oxford|St John's College]]) at age 17. He received his [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] in particle physics from [[Caltech]] at age 20 and joined the faculty there. At age 21, Wolfram won the [[MacArthur Fellowship|MacArthur "Genius" award]].
+Wolfram's father, [[Hugo Wolfram]], was a novelist and his mother, Sybil Wolfram, was a professor of philosophy at Oxford. Wolfram was educated at the exclusive [[Eton College|Eton]] public school.  Often described as a [[child prodigy]] (though he says he had difficulty with arithmetic as a child), he published an article on particle physics at age 15 and entered [[University of Oxford|Oxford]] ([[St John's College, Oxford|St John's College]]) at age 17. He received his [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] in particle physics from [[Caltech]] at age 20 and joined the faculty there. At age 21, Wolfram won the [[MacArthur Fellowship|MacArthur "Genius" award]].
 He developed a [[computer algebra system]] at Caltech, but the school's patent rules denied him ownership of the invention. He left for the School of Natural Sciences of the [[Institute For Advanced Study]], where he studied cellular automata, mainly with computer simulations.