Observations About the Development of Theoretical Computer Science

This paper gives a personal account of some early developments in automata theory and the initiation of research in computational complexity theory. Although the account is subjective and deals primarily with the research areas of direct interest to the author, It discusses the underlying beliefs and philosophy that guided this research as well as the intellectual environment and the Ideas and contacts that influenced it. An attempt is also made to draw some general conclusions about computer science research and to discuss the nature of theoretical computer science.