Quick Facts
Biography
Dr. Cynthia Solomon is a pioneer in the fields of artificial intelligence, computer science and educational computing. Forty years ago while at Bolt, Beranek & Newman, Cynthia, along with Seymour Papert and Wally Feurzeig created the first programming language for children, Logo. She was Vice President of R&D for Logo Computer Systems, Inc. when Apple Logo was developed and was the Director of the Atari Cambridge Research Laboratory.
Solomon taught at Milton Academy for seven years. After that, she was the Technology Integration Coordinator at Monsignor Haddad Middle School in Needham, MA. Recently, Solomon directed the creation of educational materials for the One Laptop per Child Foundation.
Dr. Solomon has maintained a long relationship with the MIT Media Lab and the One Laptop Per Child Foundation in addition to her teaching, consulting and scholarship. Her doctoral research at Harvard led to the publication of the critical book, Computer Environments for Children: A Reflection on Theories of Learning and Education. Solomon is also the co-author of Designing Multimedia Environments for Children, with Allison Druin.
In 2016, Dr Solomon was awarded the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) Pioneer Award.
Writings
- Twenty Things to Do with a Computer (1971). Papert, Seymour, and Solomon, Cynthia. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/5836
- LogoWorks: Challenging Programs in Logo (1986). Solomon, Cynthia, Minsky, Margaret, and Harvey, Brian