Noam Chomsky was a human.
Noam Chomsky . Sometimes described as `` the father of modern linguistics '' , Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy and one of the founders of the field of cognitive science . Born to middle-class Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants in Philadelphia , Chomsky developed an early interest in anarchism from alternative bookstores in New York City . From 1951 to 1955 he was appointed to Harvard University 's Society of Fellows , where he developed the theory of transformational grammar for which he was awarded his doctorate in 1955 .