A Little Nearer to Discovering What Grew to become of Moses Schönfinkel, Inventor of Combinators—Stephen Wolfram Writings

For many large concepts in recorded mental historical past one can reply the query: “What grew to become of the one that originated it?” However late final 12 months I tried to answer that for Moses Schönfinkel, who sowed a seed for what’s most likely the one largest thought of the previous century: abstract computation and its universality.
I managed to seek out out rather a lot about Moses Schönfinkel. However I couldn’t determine what grew to become of him. Nonetheless, I stored on digging. And it seems I used to be capable of finding out extra. So right here’s an replace….
To recap a bit: Moses Schönfinkel was born in 1888 in Ekaterinoslav (now Dnipro) in what’s now Ukraine. He went to school in Odessa, after which in 1914 went to Göttingen to work with David Hilbert. He didn’t publish something, however on December 7, 1920—on the age of 32—he gave a lecture entitled “Elemente der Logik” (“Parts of Logic”) that launched what are now called combinators, the primary full formalism for what we’d now name summary computation. Then on March 18, 1924, with a paper based mostly on his lecture simply submitted for publication, he left for Moscow. And principally vanished.
It’s mentioned that he had psychological well being points, and that he died in poverty in Moscow in 1940 or 1942. However we have now no concrete proof for both of those claims.
Once I was researching this final 12 months, I discovered that Moses Schönfinkel had a youthful brother Nathan Scheinfinkel (sure, he used a special transliteration of the Russian Шейнфинкель) who grew to become a physiology professor at Bern in Switzerland, and later in Turkey. Late within the course of, I additionally discovered that Moses Schönfinkel had a youthful sister Debora, who we might inform graduated from highschool in 1907.
Moses Schönfinkel got here from a Jewish service provider household, and his mom got here from a fairly outstanding household. I suspected that there may be different siblings (Moses’s mom got here from a household of 8). And the primary “new discover” was that, sure, there have been certainly two further youthful brothers. Listed below are the recordings of their births now to be discovered within the State Archives of the Dnipropetrovsk (i.e. Ekaterinoslav) Region:
So the entire complement of Шейнфинкель/Schönfinkel/Scheinfinkel youngsters was (together with beginning dates each of their authentic Julian calendar kind, and of their trendy Gregorian kind, and graduation dates in trendy kind):

And having failed to seek out out extra about Moses Schönfinkel immediately, plan B was to analyze his siblings.
I had already discovered a good quantity about Nathan. He was married, and lived not less than properly into the Nineteen Sixties, ultimately returning to Switzerland. And more than likely he had no youngsters.
Debora we might discover no hint of after her high-school graduation (we regarded for marriage information, however they’re not available for what we assume is the related time interval).
By the way in which, fairly surprisingly, we discovered good (alphabetically ordered), printed class lists from the high-school graduations (apparently these had been distributed to higher-education establishments throughout the Russian Empire so anybody might confirm “commencement standing”, and had been deposited within the archives of the training district, the place they’ve now remained for greater than a century):
(We are able to’t discover any specific hint of the 36 different college students in the identical group as Moses.)
OK, so what in regards to the “newly discovered siblings”, Israel and Gregory? Properly, right here we had a bit extra luck.
For Israel we discovered these considerably unusual traces:
They’re World Battle I hospital admission information from January and December 1916. Apparently Israel was a personal within the 2nd Finnish Regiment (which—regardless of its title—by then didn’t have any Finns in it, and in 1916 was part of the Russian 7th Army pushing west in southern Ukraine in the effort to retake Galicia). And the paperwork we have now present that twice he ended up in a hospital in Pavlohrad (solely about 40 miles from Ekaterinoslav, although in the wrong way from the place the seventh Military was) with some sort of (presumably not life-threatening) hernia-like downside.
However sadly, that’s it. No extra hint of Israel.
OK, what in regards to the “child brother”, Gregory, 11 years youthful than Moses? Properly, he reveals up in World Battle II information. We discovered 4 paperwork:
Document #4 accommodates one thing attention-grabbing: an tackle for Gregory in 1944—in Moscow. Keep in mind that Moses went to Moscow in 1924. And considered one of my speculations was that this was the results of some household connection there. Properly, not less than 20 years later (and doubtless additionally a lot earlier, as we’ll see), his brother Gregory was in Moscow. So maybe that’s why Moses went there in 1924.
OK, however what story do these World Battle II paperwork inform about Gregory? Document #1 tells us that on July 27, 1943, Gregory arrived on the army unit designated 15 зсп 44 зсбр (15 ZSP 44 ZSBR) at transit level (i.e. principally “army tackle”) 215 азсп 61А (215 AZSP 61A). It additionally tells us that he had the rank of personal within the Red Army.
Someday quickly thereafter he was transferred to unit 206 ZSP. However sadly he didn’t final lengthy within the area. Round October 1, 1943, he was wounded (later, we study he has “one wound”), and—as document #2 tells us—he was considered one of 5 individuals picked up by hospital practice #762 (at transit level 206 зсп ЗапФ). On November 26, 1943, document #3 information that he was discharged from the hospital practice (particularly, the doc explains that he’s not getting paid for the time he was on the hospital practice). And, lastly, document #4 information that on February 18, 1944—presumably after a interval of evaluation of his situation—he’s discharged from the army altogether, returning to an tackle in Moscow.
OK, so first some army factors. When Gregory arrived within the military in July 1943 he was assigned (as a reserve or “alternative”) to the forty fourth Rifle Brigade (44 зсбр) within the 15th Rifle Division (15 зсп) within the 61st Army (61A)—presumably as a part of reinforcements introduced in after some heavy Soviet losses. Later he was transferred to the 206th Rifle Division within the 47th Army, which is the place he was when he was wounded round October 1, 1943.
What was the overall army scenario then? In the summertime of 1943 the foremost story was that the Soviets had been making an attempt to push the Germans again west, with the entrance just about alongside the Dnieper River in Ukraine—which, curiously sufficient, flows proper by way of the center of Ekaterinoslav. On October 4, 1943, right here’s how the New York Times introduced issues:
However army historical past being what it’s, there’s far more detailed data obtainable. Right here’s a modern map exhibiting troop movements involving the forty seventh Military in late September 1943:
The Soviets managed to get greater than 100,000 males throughout the Dnieper River, however there was intense preventing, and on the finish of September the 206th Rifle Division (as a part of the forty seventh Military) was most likely concerned within the later phases of the combat for the Bukrin Bridgehead. And that is most likely the place Gregory Schönfinkel was wounded.
After being wounded, he appears to have been taken to some sort of service space for the 206th Rifle Division (206 зсп ЗапФ), from which he was picked up by a hospital train (and, sure, it was truly a shifting hospital, with a number of vehicles with pink crosses painted on high).
However extra vital in our quest for the story of Gregory Schönfinkel is different data within the army paperwork we have now. They document that he’s Jewish (versus “Russian”, which is how principally all the opposite troopers in these lists are described). Then they are saying that he has “larger training”. One says he’s an “engineer”. One other is extra particular, and says he’s an “engineer economist” (Инж. Эконом.). Additionally they say that he’s not a member of the Communist Get together.
They are saying he’s a widower, and that his spouse’s title was Evdokiya Ivanovna (Евдокия Иван.). Additionally they record his “mom”, giving her title as Мария Григ. (“Maria Grig.”, maybe brief for “Grigorievna”). After which they record an tackle: Москва С. Набер. д. 26 кв. 1ч6, which is presumably 26 Sofiyskaya Embankment, Condo 1-6, Moscow.
The place is that tackle? Properly, it seems it’s within the very middle of Moscow (“contained in the Garden Ring”), with the entrance trying over the Moscow River immediately on the Kremlin:

Right here’s a present image of the building
in addition to one from maybe 100 years earlier:
The building was constructed by a household of retailers named the Bakhrushins in 1900–1903 to offer free flats for widows and orphans (apparently there have been about 450 one-room 150-to-300-square-foot flats). Within the Russian Revolution, the constructing was taken over by the federal government, and set as much as home the Ministry of Oil and Gas. However some “communal flats” had been left, and it’s presumably in a type of that Gregory Schönfinkel lived. (At the moment the constructing is the headquarters of the Russian state oil firm Rosneft.)
OK, however let’s unpack this a bit additional. “Communal flats” principally means dormitory-style housing. A swank constructing, however apparently not so swank lodging. Properly, truly, in Soviet instances dormitory-style housing was fairly typical in Moscow, so this actually was a swank setup.
However then there are a few mysteries. First, how come a extremely educated engineering economist with a swank tackle was only a non-public within the military? (When the hospital practice picked up Gregory, together with 4 different privates, one of many others was listed as a carpenter; the others had been all listed as “с/хоз” or “сельское хозяйство”, principally which means “farm laborer”, or what earlier than Soviet instances would have been referred to as “peasant”).
Perhaps the Russian military was so determined for recruits in spite of everything their losses that—regardless of being 44 years previous—Gregory was drafted. Perhaps he volunteered (although then we have now to elucidate why he didn’t do this earlier). However no matter how he wound up within the military, perhaps his standing as a personal needed to do with the truth that he wasn’t a member of the Communist Get together. At the moment, a big fraction of the city-dwelling “elite” had been members of the Communist Get together (and it wouldn’t have been a serious downside that he was Jewish, although coming from a service provider household may need been a damaging). But when he wasn’t within the “elite”, how come the swank tackle?
A primary commentary is that his spouse’s first title Evdokiya was a well-liked Russian Orthodox title, not less than earlier than 1917 (and is outwardly in style once more now). So presumably Gregory had—not uncommonly within the Soviet period—married somebody who wasn’t Jewish. However now let’s have a look at the “mom’s” title: “Мария Григ.” (“Maria Grig.”).
We all know Gregory’s (and Moses’s) mom’s title was Maria/“Masha” Gertsovna Schönfinkel (née Lurie)—or Мария (“Маша”) Герцовна Шейнфинкель. And in keeping with different data, she died in 1936. So—until somebody miswrote Gregory’s “mom’s” title—the patronymics (second names) don’t match. So what’s happening?
My guess is that the “mom” is definitely a mother-in-law, and that it was her condominium. Maybe her husband (more than likely at that time not her) had labored on the Ministry of Oil and Gasoline, and that’s how she ended up with the condominium. Perhaps Gregory labored there too.
OK, so what was an “engineer economist” (Инженер Экономист)? Within the planning-oriented Soviet system, it was one thing fairly necessary: principally an individual who deliberate and arranged manufacturing and labor in some specific business.
How did one develop into an “engineer economist”? No less than a bit later, it was a 5-year “grasp’s stage” course of examine, together with programs in engineering, arithmetic, bookkeeping, finance, economics of a specific sector, and “political economy” (à la Marx). And it was a really Soviet sort of factor. So the truth that that was what Gregory did presumably implies that he was educated within the Soviet Union.
He will need to have completed highschool proper when the Tsar was being overthrown. Most likely too late to be concerned in World Battle I. However maybe he received swept up within the Russian Civil War. Or perhaps he was in faculty then, getting an early Soviet training. However, in any case, as an engineer economist it’s fairly shocking that in World Battle II he didn’t get assigned to one thing technical within the military, and was only a easy non-public within the infantry.
From the info we have now, it’s not clear what was happening. However perhaps it had one thing to do with Moses.
It’s claimed that Moses died in 1940 or 1942 and was “dwelling in a communal condominium”. Properly, perhaps that communal condominium was truly Gregory’s (or not less than his mother-in-law’s) condominium. And right here’s a maybe fanciful principle: Gregory joined the military out of some sort of despondency. His spouse died. His older brother died. And in February 1942 any of his relations nonetheless in Ekaterinoslav most likely died within the massacre of the Jewish population there (not less than in the event that they hadn’t evacuated because of earlier bombing). Gregory hadn’t joined the military earlier within the conflict, notably through the Battle of Moscow. And by 1943 he was 44 years previous. So maybe in some despondency—or anger—he volunteered for the military.
We don’t know. And at this level the path appears to go chilly. It doesn’t seem that Gregory had any youngsters, and we haven’t been capable of finding out something extra about him.
However I contemplate it progress that we’ve managed to determine that Moses’s youthful brother lived in Moscow, doubtlessly offering a believable motive that Moses may need gone to Moscow.
Truly, there could have been different “household causes”. There appears to have been numerous back-and-forth within the Jewish inhabitants between Moscow and Ekaterinoslav. And Moses’s mom got here from the Lurie family, which was outstanding not solely in Ekaterinoslav, but additionally in Moscow. And it seems that the Lurie household has achieved a good quantity of family tree analysis. So we had been in a position, for instance, to achieve a primary cousin as soon as eliminated of Moses’s (i.e. somebody whose dad or mum shared a grandparent with Moses, or 1/32 of the genetics). However thus far no one has recognized something about what occurred to Moses, and no one has mentioned “Oh, and by the way in which, we have now a suitcase filled with unusual papers” or something.
I haven’t given up. And I’m hoping that we’ll nonetheless be capable to discover out extra. However that is the place we’ve received thus far.
One Extra Factor
Along with pursuing the query of the destiny of Moses Schönfinkel, I’ve made one different potential connection. Partly in compiling a bibliography of combinators, I found a complete assortment of literature about “combinatory categorial grammars” and “combinatory linguistics”.
What are these? Nowadays, the most typical approach to parse an English sentence like “I’m making an attempt to trace down a chunk of historical past” is a hierarchical tree construction—analogous to the way in which a context-free computer language can be parsed:

However there’s an alternate—and, because it seems, considerably older—method: to make use of a so-called dependency grammar by which verbs act like capabilities, “relying” on a set of arguments:

In one thing like Wolfram Language, the arguments in a operate would seem in some particular order and construction, say as f[x, y, z]. However in a pure language like English, every part is simply given in sequence, and a operate by some means has to have a approach to determine what to seize. And the thought is that this course of may work like how combinators written out in sequence “seize” sure components to behave on.
This concept appears to have a reasonably tortuous historical past, combined up with makes an attempt and confusions about connecting the syntax (i.e. grammatical construction) of human languages to their semantics (i.e. which means). The core problem has been that it’s completely attainable to have a syntactically right sentence (“The flying chair ate a cheerful semicolon”) that simply doesn’t appear to have any “real-world” which means. How ought to one take into consideration this?
I believe the concept of computational language that I’ve spent so a few years creating truly makes it pretty clear. If one can specific one thing in computational language there’s a approach to compute from it. Perhaps the ensuing computation will align with what occurs in the true world; perhaps it gained’t. However there’s some “significant place to go” with what one has. And the purpose is {that a} computational language has a well-defined “inner computational representation” for issues. The actual syntax (e.g. sequence of characters) that one may use for enter or output within the computational language is simply one thing superficial.
However with out the thought of computational language individuals have struggled to formalize semantics, tending to attempt to cling what they’re doing on the detailed construction and syntax of human languages. However then what ought to one do about syntactically right constructions that don’t “imply something”? An instance of what I contemplate to be a fairly weird answer—embodied in so-called Montague grammars from the Nineteen Seventies—is actually to show items of sure sentences into capabilities, by which there’s nothing “concrete” there, simply “slots” the place issues might go (“x_ ate y_”)—and the place one can “maintain off meaninglessness” by finding out issues with out explicitly filling within the slots.
Within the authentic formulation, the “capabilities” had been considered by way of lambdas. However combinatory categorial grammars view them as a substitute by way of combinators, by which in the middle of a sentence phrases in a way “apply to one another”. And even with out the notion of slots one can do “combinatory linguistics” and picture discovering the construction of sentences by taking phrases to “apply themselves” “throughout the sentence” like combinators.
If properly designed (as I hope the Wolfram Language is!) computational language has a sure clear, formal construction. However human pure language is stuffed with messiness, which must be untangled by pure language understanding—as we’ve achieved for thus a few years for Wolfram|Alpha, at all times finally translating to our computational language, the Wolfram Language.
However with out the notion of an underlying computational language, individuals are likely to really feel the necessity to search endlessly for formal construction in human pure language. And, sure, some exists. However—as we see on a regular basis in truly doing sensible pure language understanding for Wolfram|Alpha—there’s a giant tail that appears to totally explode any all-encompassing formal principle.
Are there not less than fragments which have formal construction? There are issues like logic (“and”, “or”, and so on.) that get utilized in human language, and that are pretty straightforwardly formalizable. However perhaps there are extra “useful” constructions too, maybe having to do with the operation of verbs. And in combinatory linguistics, there’ve been makes an attempt to seek out these—even for instance immediately utilizing issues like Schönfinkel’s S combinator. (Given S f g x → f[x][g[x]] one can begin imagining—with a slight stretch—that “eat peel orange” operates just like the S combinator in which means “eat[orange][peel[orange]]”.)
A lot of the work on this has been achieved in the previous few many years. Nevertheless it seems that its historical past stretches again a lot additional, and may conceivably truly intersect with Moses Schönfinkel himself.
The important thing potential hyperlink is Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz (1890–1963). Ajdukiewicz was a Polish logician/thinker who lengthy tried to develop a “mathematicized principle” of how which means emerges, amongst different issues, from pure language, and who principally laid the early groundwork for what’s now combinatory linguistics.
Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz was born two years after Moses Schönfinkel, and studied philosophy, arithmetic and physics on the University of Lviv (now in Ukraine), ending his PhD in 1912 with a thesis on Kant’s philosophy of house. However what’s most attention-grabbing for our functions is that in 1913 Ajdukiewicz went to Göttingen to check with David Hilbert and Edmund Husserl.
In 1914 Ajdukiewicz published one paper on “Hilbert’s New Axiom System for Arithmetic”, and one other on contradiction within the gentle of Bertrand Russell’s work. After which in 1915 Ajdukiewicz was drafted into the Austrian military, the place he remained till 1920, after which he went to work on the University of Warsaw.
However in 1914 there’s an attention-grabbing potential intersection. As a result of June of that 12 months is when Moses Schönfinkel arrived in Göttingen to work with Hilbert. On the time, Hilbert was largely lecturing about physics (although he additionally did some lectures about “ideas of arithmetic”). And it appears inconceivable that—given their comparable pursuits within the structural foundations of arithmetic—they wouldn’t have interacted.
In fact, we don’t understand how near combinators Schönfinkel was in 1914; in spite of everything, his lecture introducing them was six years later. Nevertheless it’s attention-grabbing to not less than think about some interplay with Ajdukiewicz. Ajdukiewicz’s personal work was at first most involved with issues like the connection of mathematical formalism and which means. (Do mathematical constructs “truly exist”, provided that their axioms will be modified, and so on.?) However by the start of the Nineteen Thirties he was solidly involved with pure language, and was quickly writing papers with titles like “Syntactic Connexion” that gave formal symbolic descriptions of language (full with “functors”, and so on.) fairly paying homage to Schönfinkel’s work.
As far as I can inform Ajdukiewicz by no means explicitly talked about Schönfinkel in his publications. Nevertheless it looks like an excessive amount of of a coincidence for the thought of one thing like combinators to have arisen utterly independently in two individuals who presumably knew one another—and by no means to have independently arisen anyplace else.
Thanks
Because of Vitaliy Kaurov for locating further paperwork (and to the State Archives of the Dnipropetrovsk Area and Elena Zavoiskaia for offering numerous paperwork), Oleg and Anna Marichev for deciphering paperwork, and Jason Cawley for details about army historical past. Thanks additionally to Oleg Kiselyov for some further recommendations on the unique model of this piece.