Stephen Cook
University Professor Emeritus Stephen Cook is a recipient of the 2020 Centennial Medal, the highest honour bestowed by Harvard University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
The award is presented to “distinguished alumni who have made fundamental and lasting contributions to knowledge, to their disciplines, to their colleagues, and to society.” Cook earned his PhD in mathematics at Harvard in 1966.
The citation highlights Cook’s 1971 introduction of the concept of NP-completeness, which forever changed theoretical computer science. Harvard professor of computer science and applied mathematics Leslie Valiant refers to it as “the most significant development in the theory of computing since the work of Alan Turing.” The introduction of the concept also raised the yet-unanswered question known as P vs. NP, which is considered one of the most important open questions in the fields of computer science and mathematics.
Beyond his significant academic contributions, Cook is “universally admired and respected in the field, in part because he marries his brilliance with humility,” says Harvard computer science professor Harry Lewis.