John Florian Sowa is a computer scientist who invented
conceptual graphs[?], a graphic notation for logic and natural language, based on the structures in
semantic networks and on the
existential graphs[?] of
Charles S. Peirce. He is currently developing high-level "
ontologies" for
artificial intelligence and automated
natural language understanding. International conferences on conceptual graphs have been held for over a decade. Sowa combines ideas from numerous disciplines and eras modern and ancient, for example, applying ideas from
Aristotle and
Alfred North Whitehead to
database schemas[?] theory.
He spent most of his professional career at IBM and is currently teaching at SUNY Binghamton[?].
homepage (http://www.jfsowa.com/)