Lotfi Zadeh took more than his fair share of criticism for his outside-the-box idea. Well, actually it was more of a do-away-with-the-box-entirely idea. The name he gave his original concept in 1965, “fuzzy sets” – a critical part of fuzzy math or fuzzy logic – was almost designed to invite criticism.

Learn more about this “Golden Goose” award-winning idea here:

The Golden Goose Awards are given annually in recognition of research that might sound silly or negligible but actually has big impacts on society. Read more about the 2017 winners here, and explore news about past winners here.