James Sacra Albus (May 4, 1935 – April 17, 2011) was an American engineer, Senior NIST Fellow and founder and former chief of the Intelligent Systems Division of the Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Biography

Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Albus received the B.S. degree in physics from Wheaton College, Illinois, in 1957 and the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from Ohio State University, Columbus, in 1958. In 1972 he received a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park.

thumb|150px|right|James S. Albus, 1970s

From 1957 to 1973 Albus worked at NASA starting in 1957 as Physicist-Engineer on Project Vanguard at the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington DC. From 1958 to 1969 he was Physicist-Engineer at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and from 1963 Acting Head of the Video Techniques Section. From 1969 to March 1973 he was head of the Cybernetics and Subsystems Development Section. In the 1960s he was associated with the early Vanguard satellite program and responsible for the optical aspect sensors on seven Goddard satellites, more than ten sounding rockets, Peoples' Capitalism is similar to the ideas of Louis O. Kelso and discusses the question "how would we live without jobs?". Albus himself described the impact of his economic ideas as "slight". that modified and extended a previous theory published by David Marr in 1969.

Neural nets

Based on his cerebellar model, Albus invented a new type of neural net computer, the Cerebellar Model Articulation Controller (CMAC), for which he received the IR-100 award from Industrial Research Magazine as one of the 100 most important industrial innovations of the year 1976. Albus (2009) described:

<blockquote>This extended architecture is designed to enable any level of intelligent behavior, up to and including human levels of performance in driving vehicles and coordinating tactical behaviors between autonomous air, ground, and amphibious vehicle systems. It addresses the fundamental theoretical questions regarding whether computational processes are capable of emulating the functional processes in the brain, and provides a theoretical basis for understanding how the machinery of the brain generates the processes of the mind. Albus' work has led to a biologically plausible model of representation and computation in the human cortex. journal articles, and government studies

on intelligent systems and robotics, and authored or coauthored six books:

  • 1976. Peoples' Capitalism: The Economics of the Robot Revolution. New World Books.
  • 1981. Brains, Behavior, and Robotics. Byte/McGraw-Hill.
  • 2001. Engineering of Mind: An Introduction to the Science of Intelligent Systems. Wiley.
  • 2001. The RCS Handbook: Tools for Real-Time Control Systems Software Development. Wiley.
  • 2002. Intelligent Systems: Architecture, Design, and Control. Wiley.
  • 2011. Path To A Better World: A Plan for Prosperity, Opportunity, and Economic Justice. iUniverse.

References

  • Dr. James Albus James Albus.org
  • James S. Albus at NIST

;About Peoples' Capitalism

  • Peoples' Capitalism Home includes full text of the book
  • Peoples' Capitalism: A Pathway to Abundance James S. Albus writes in h+ Magazine