Author: Vaclav Pinkava
Dr Václav Jaroslav Karel Pinkava, MPhil, PhD (Prague), AFBPsS, Chartered Psychologist, Hon. Research Fellow at King's College, London (*9.12.1926 Prague ~ 13.8.1995 Colchester)
A psychologist by profession, he began in the 1960s to apply mathematical logics to model behavioural and psychological conditions, but finding binary logic suboptimal for the purpose, later turned to multi-valued logic. In this field, his major contribution is the invention of a functionally complete class of multiple valued logics, or algebras, which bear his name 'The Pi- (Pinkava) many valued logic systems', which have found application in subjects such as expert systems, protection structures, classification algorithms and as a basis for so called fuzzy logics. (cf the Encyclopedia of Optimization). In recognition of his contribution to the field of General Systems Theory he was awarded a posthumous Outstanding Scholarly Contribution Award from The International Institute for Advanced Studies in Systems Research and Cybernetics.
An anti-communist, he emigrated to Britain with his wife and four children following the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet-led armies of the Warsaw pact. A polymath and polyglot, he worked as a Clinical Psychologist until his early retirement in 1982, when he turned to full-time prose and poetry writing, under his main pseudonym of Jan Kresadlo. His first novel Mrchopevci (GraveLarks) was published by Josef Škvorecký's emigre publishing house '68 publishers, and obtained the 1984 Egon Hostovský prize.
For a reference selection of his scientific publications see http://www.kresadlo.cz/scipapers.htm
A psychologist by profession, he began in the 1960s to apply mathematical logics to model behavioural and psychological conditions, but finding binary logic suboptimal for the purpose, later turned to multi-valued logic. In this field, his major contribution is the invention of a functionally complete class of multiple valued logics, or algebras, which bear his name 'The Pi- (Pinkava) many valued logic systems', which have found application in subjects such as expert systems, protection structures, classification algorithms and as a basis for so called fuzzy logics. (cf the Encyclopedia of Optimization). In recognition of his contribution to the field of General Systems Theory he was awarded a posthumous Outstanding Scholarly Contribution Award from The International Institute for Advanced Studies in Systems Research and Cybernetics.
An anti-communist, he emigrated to Britain with his wife and four children following the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet-led armies of the Warsaw pact. A polymath and polyglot, he worked as a Clinical Psychologist until his early retirement in 1982, when he turned to full-time prose and poetry writing, under his main pseudonym of Jan Kresadlo. His first novel Mrchopevci (GraveLarks) was published by Josef Škvorecký's emigre publishing house '68 publishers, and obtained the 1984 Egon Hostovský prize.
For a reference selection of his scientific publications see http://www.kresadlo.cz/scipapers.htm
Publications
Publication period start: 1976
Publications
Pinkava, Vaclav (1981): Classification in Medical Diagnostics: On Some Limitations of Q-Analysis. In International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 15 (2) pp. 221-237.
Pinkava, Vaclav (1977): On the Nature of Some Logical Paradoxes. In International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 9 (4) pp. 383-398.
Pinkava, Vaclav (1976): "Fuzzification" of Binary and Finite Multivalued Logical Calculi. In International Journal of Man-Machine Studies, 8 (6) pp. 717-730.