Herbert Simon
Herbert Simon received the 1978 prize in Economic Sciences. This profile brings together the official award record and attributed background on the economist’s work and career.
Personal and professional profile
- Name
- Herbert Simon [1]
- Full name
- Herbert A. Simon [2]
- Birth date
- 1916-06-15 [2]
- Birthplace
- Milwaukee, WI, USA [2]
- Education
- University of Chicago [3]
- Fields / occupation
- politician; economist; computer scientist; sociologist; university teacher; political scientist [3]
- Prize
- Economic Sciences · 1978 [2]
- Research recognized
- for his pioneering research into the decision-making process within economic organizations [2]
- Prize share
- 1 [2]
- Affiliation at the award
- Carnegie Mellon University [2]
- Death date
- 2001-02-09 [2]
- Institutions in career record
- Illinois Institute of Technology; Carnegie Mellon University [3]
Research, education and career background
Herbert Alexander Simon (June 15, 1916 – February 9, 2001) was an American scholar whose work influenced the fields of computer science, economics, and cognitive psychology. His primary research interest was decision-making within organizations and he is best known for the theories of "bounded rationality" and "satisficing". He and Allen Newell received the ACM Turing Award in 1975, and he received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1978. [4]
His research was noted for its interdisciplinary nature, spanning the fields of cognitive science, computer science, public administration, management, and political science. He was at Carnegie Mellon University for most of his career, from 1949 to 2001, where he helped found the Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science, one of the first such departments in the world. [4]
Notably, Simon was among the pioneers of several modern-day scientific domains such as artificial intelligence, information processing, decision-making, problem-solving, organization theory, and complex systems. He was among the earliest to analyze the architecture of complexity and to propose a preferential attachment mechanism to explain power law distributions. [4]
Selected introductory text by Wikipedia contributors — Herbert A. Simon, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Official facts are cited separately.
Award and academic affiliation
The official Nobel record dates the Economic Sciences award to 1978 and lists Carnegie Mellon University as the affiliation at the time. [2]
An affiliation attached to an award describes that point in the person’s career; it does not establish a current appointment. [2]
Education and career timeline
Source-supported connections
Frequently asked questions
When did Herbert Simon receive the prize in Economic Sciences?
The official award record gives the year as 1978. [2]
Which institution was Herbert Simon affiliated with at the time of the Economic Sciences award?
Carnegie Mellon University. This is the award-time affiliation. [2]
Herbert Simon connection map
Select a node to inspect the relationship and source.
Links retain their source-specific meaning. Award-time affiliations and links to related reading are not claims about current appointments or economic causation.
Sources and review dates
- Nobel Prize — official biography and award record ↗
- Nobel Prize — official biography and award record ↗
- Wikidata background facts (CC0) ↗
- Wikipedia contributors — Herbert A. Simon (CC BY-SA 4.0) ↗
Reviewed 23 October 2026. Historical dates and award-time affiliations retain their original context. A review date is not an event date. Background sources are identified separately from official records.