Noam Chomsky was born on December 7, 1928, in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. His undergraduate and graduate years were spent at the
University of Pennsylvania, where he received his PhD in linguistics in
1955. From 1951-55, he was a Junior Fellow of the Harvard University
Society of Fellows. While a Junior Fellow he completed his doctoral
dissertation, entitled, "Transformational Analysis." The major
theoretical viewpoints of the dissertation appeared in the monograph
"Syntactic Structure", published in 1957. This formed part of a more
extensive work, "The Logical Structure of Linguistic Theory",
circulated in mimeograph in 1955 and published in 1975.
Chomsky joined the staff of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
in 1955 and in 1961 was appointed full professor in the Department of
Modern Languages and Linguistics (now the Department of Linguistics and
Philosophy.) From 1966 to 1976 he held the Ferrari P. Ward
Professorship of Modern Languages and Linguistics. In 1976 he was
appointed Institute Professor. From 1958-59 he was in residence at the
Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, NJ. In the spring of 1969 he
delivered the John Locke Lectures at Oxford; in January 1970 he
delivered the Bertrand Russell Memorial Lecture at Cambridge
University; in 1972, the Nehru Memorial Lecture in New Delhi; and in
1977 the Huizinga Lecture in Leiden, among many others. Prof. Chomsky
has received honorary degrees from the University of London, the
University of Chicago, Loyola University of Chicago, Swarthmore
College, Delhi University, Bard College, the University of
Massachusetts, the University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University,
Amherst College, Cambridge University, the University of Buenos Aires,
McGill University, the Universitat Rovira I Virgili, Tarragona,
Columbia University, the University of Connecticut, Scuola Normale
Superiore, Pisa, the University of Western Ontario, the University of
Toronto, Harvard University, the University of Calcutta and Universidad
Nacional De Colombia. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences and the National Academy of Science. He is also a member
of other professional and learned societies in the United States and
abroad, and is a recipient of the Distinguished Scientific Contribution
Award of the American Psychological Association, the Kyoto Prize in
Basic Sciences, the Helmholtz Medal, the Dorothy Eldridge Peacemaker
Award, the Ben Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science, and
others. Chomsky has written and lectured widely on linguistics,
philosophy, intellectual history, contemporary issues, international
affairs and U.S. foreign policy. His works include "Aspects of the
Theory of Syntax"; "Cartesian Linguistics"; "Sound Pattern of English"
(with Morris Halle); "Language and Mind"; "American Power and the New
Mandarins"; "At War with Asia"; "For Reasons of State"; "Peace in the
Middle East?"; "Reflections on Language"; "The Political Economy of
Human Rights, Vol. I and II" (with E.S. Herman); "Rules and
Representations"; "Lectures on Government and Binding"; "Towards a New
Cold War"; "Radical Priorities"; "Fateful Triangle"; "Knowledge of
Language"; "Turning the Tide"; "Pirates and Emperors"; "On Power and
Ideology"; "Language and Problems of Knowledge"; "The Culture of
Terrorism"; "Manufacturing Consent" (with E.S. Herman); "Necessary
Illusions"; "Deterring Democracy"; "Year 501"; "Rethinking Camelot:
JFK, the Vietnam War and US Political Culture"; "Letters from
Lexington"; "World Orders, Old and New"; "The Minimalist Program";
"Powers and Prospects"; "The Common Good"; Profit Over People"; "The
New Military Humanism"; "New Horizons in the Study of Language and
Mind"; "Rogue States"; "A New Generation Draws the Line"; "9-11"; and
"Understanding Power".
