The second call for papers for ICALP 2013 is available here. I hope that several readers of this blog will submit some of their best work to the conference. The deadline for submissions is February 15.
This is the 40th ICALP and, in addition to the invited talks and the award addresses, will also feature a special EATCS Lecture by Jon Kleinberg to celebrate this festive occasion.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Pearls of Computation: A new seminar series
This coming Friday I will kick off a new seminar series organized by ICE-TCS at Reykjavik University. The seminar series is called Pearls of Computation and aims at presenting the work of some of the recipients of the ACM Turing Award (or of some other major award related to computer science) in an accessible way. The target audience consists of students in computer science and anyone with a potential interest in the subject. (The inspiration for this seminar series comes from the Pearls of Theory talks that were held at BRICS in Aarhus in a past that looks so far away now.)
We will try to tell the stories behind the scientific contributions of some of the key figures in computer science in a non-technical way, highlighting the context in which they were made, the state of the art at the time, why they are important and what impact they have had. In the process, I believe that both the attendees and the speakers will all learn something new and develop an increased appreciation (and, why not, pride) for the contributions of some of the people who have shaped our field.
My inaugural talk in this series will be devoted to the life and work of Robin Milner (1934-2010), whose work has had a deep and lasting influence on my modest contribution to concurrency theory. The schedule for the talks that will take place this semester is available here.
We will try to tell the stories behind the scientific contributions of some of the key figures in computer science in a non-technical way, highlighting the context in which they were made, the state of the art at the time, why they are important and what impact they have had. In the process, I believe that both the attendees and the speakers will all learn something new and develop an increased appreciation (and, why not, pride) for the contributions of some of the people who have shaped our field.
My inaugural talk in this series will be devoted to the life and work of Robin Milner (1934-2010), whose work has had a deep and lasting influence on my modest contribution to concurrency theory. The schedule for the talks that will take place this semester is available here.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Jaco de Bakker, 1939-2012
Jaco de Bakker, one of the founding fathers of the EATCS and a prominent Dutch TCS researcher, passed away on December 13, 2013. The following obituary by Jan Bergstra, Jan Willem Klop and Jan Rutten has been circulated recently on the Concurrency mailing list and appears on the web site of the Academia Europaea as well as on the EATCS web site.
On December 13, 2012, our colleague Jacobus Willem (Jaco) de Bakker, member of the Section Informatics of the Academia Europaea since 1990, passed away surrounded by his family in his home in Amsterdam after a short illness. He is survived by his wife Angeline, his children Bas, Jaska, Catrien, Jacob and Lisa, and two grandchildren.
Jaco was born on March 7, 1939, in Ede, the Netherlands. He was for more than 38 years, from 1964 until 2002, connected as Head of the Computer Science Department to the Mathematical Centre, later called CWI (Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica) in Amsterdam. He was a Fellow of CWI since 2002. In 1973 he was appointed as Professor in Computer Science, in particular for the mathematical semantics of programming languages and reasoning on program correctness, at the VU University Amsterdam, at that time called Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He occupied this professorship until his emeritate in 2002. In 1989 he was appointed as a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), in the Section Mathematics. In 1972, Jaco was one of the founding fathers of the EATCS, the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science; he was Vice-President of the EATCS from 1972 until 1982, and Member of the Board until 1988. Since 1998 he was honorary member of IFIP Working Group 2.2, Formal Description of Programming Concepts. In 2002, during his retirement symposium at CWI, he received the Royal Decoration Knight of the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands (Ridder in de Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw).
Jaco de Bakker started his scientific career with his Ph.-D. thesis in 1967 at the University of Amsterdam, with promotor Adriaan (Aad) van Wijngaarden, entitled: Formal Definition of Programming Languages: with an Application to the Definition of ALGOL 60. Jaco de Bakker was world-wide known and recognized for his pioneering work in developing the denotational and operational semantics of many basic features in programming languages, in a precise and rigorous mathematical style. One of its highlights became known as
the induction rule of De Bakker and Scott. This culminated in his book Mathematical Theory of Program Correctness (1980). Later on, in the early eighties, he turned to the theory of communicating processes, introduced by Hoare and Milner, a theory known in those days as "concurrency". His initial investigations in this field were in cooperation with Jeffery Zucker. The basic features in this theoretical area were treated in the same mathematically rigorous style in his book Control Flow Semantics (1996) together with Erik
de Vink. Apart from these books, he wrote more than 150 scientific articles.
In the Netherlands Jaco de Bakker was the originator of an extensive school of theoretical computer scientists. He supervised many Ph.D.-theses, and was the driving force in the eighties, together with Willem-Paul de Roever and Grzegorz Rozenberg, behind several nation-wide programmes for research and education in the Netherlands, such as REX (Research and Education in Concurrent Systems). REX lasted from 1988 to 1993; it was preceded by LPC (Landelijk Project Concurrency, National Project Concurrency) from 1984-1988. Prior to these programmes Jaco was Director, together with Jan van Leeuwen, of the 'Advanced Course on Foundations of Computer Science', a biennial series of influential courses with international attendance, from 1974 to 1982, held in Amsterdam. Jaco was also one of the founding fathers in 1979 of the Dutch Association for Theoretical Computer Science (WTI, Werkgemeenschap Theoretische Informatica), since 1995 called NVTI (Nederlandse Vereniging voor Theoretische Informatica). Jaco was Chairman of the WTI from 1979 until 1987. Jaco was proud of the fact that 32 scientists who at some time worked in his group were eventually appointed full professor.
Also in the eighties, Jaco was instrumental in stimulating the involvement and participation of the Dutch research community in the big European computer science frameworks such as FAST, Meteor, ESPRIT (European Programme for Research in Information Technology) and BRA (Basic Research Actions). As Head of the CWI Department Software Engineering he stimulated intensive contacts with the European research community, resulting in a lively and productive research atmosphere in which researchers of many nationalities cooperated on a regular basis.
In addition to playing a crucial role in education and research in theoretical computer science, Jaco de Bakker was also a gifted and respected science director and administrator. He influenced the lives of many of us. We all remember him as a great scientist and an amiable person. Moreover many computer scientists will remember him as a friend.
Jan Bergstra, Jan Willem Klop and Jan Rutten
On December 13, 2012, our colleague Jacobus Willem (Jaco) de Bakker, member of the Section Informatics of the Academia Europaea since 1990, passed away surrounded by his family in his home in Amsterdam after a short illness. He is survived by his wife Angeline, his children Bas, Jaska, Catrien, Jacob and Lisa, and two grandchildren.
Jaco was born on March 7, 1939, in Ede, the Netherlands. He was for more than 38 years, from 1964 until 2002, connected as Head of the Computer Science Department to the Mathematical Centre, later called CWI (Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica) in Amsterdam. He was a Fellow of CWI since 2002. In 1973 he was appointed as Professor in Computer Science, in particular for the mathematical semantics of programming languages and reasoning on program correctness, at the VU University Amsterdam, at that time called Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He occupied this professorship until his emeritate in 2002. In 1989 he was appointed as a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), in the Section Mathematics. In 1972, Jaco was one of the founding fathers of the EATCS, the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science; he was Vice-President of the EATCS from 1972 until 1982, and Member of the Board until 1988. Since 1998 he was honorary member of IFIP Working Group 2.2, Formal Description of Programming Concepts. In 2002, during his retirement symposium at CWI, he received the Royal Decoration Knight of the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands (Ridder in de Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw).
Jaco de Bakker started his scientific career with his Ph.-D. thesis in 1967 at the University of Amsterdam, with promotor Adriaan (Aad) van Wijngaarden, entitled: Formal Definition of Programming Languages: with an Application to the Definition of ALGOL 60. Jaco de Bakker was world-wide known and recognized for his pioneering work in developing the denotational and operational semantics of many basic features in programming languages, in a precise and rigorous mathematical style. One of its highlights became known as
the induction rule of De Bakker and Scott. This culminated in his book Mathematical Theory of Program Correctness (1980). Later on, in the early eighties, he turned to the theory of communicating processes, introduced by Hoare and Milner, a theory known in those days as "concurrency". His initial investigations in this field were in cooperation with Jeffery Zucker. The basic features in this theoretical area were treated in the same mathematically rigorous style in his book Control Flow Semantics (1996) together with Erik
de Vink. Apart from these books, he wrote more than 150 scientific articles.
In the Netherlands Jaco de Bakker was the originator of an extensive school of theoretical computer scientists. He supervised many Ph.D.-theses, and was the driving force in the eighties, together with Willem-Paul de Roever and Grzegorz Rozenberg, behind several nation-wide programmes for research and education in the Netherlands, such as REX (Research and Education in Concurrent Systems). REX lasted from 1988 to 1993; it was preceded by LPC (Landelijk Project Concurrency, National Project Concurrency) from 1984-1988. Prior to these programmes Jaco was Director, together with Jan van Leeuwen, of the 'Advanced Course on Foundations of Computer Science', a biennial series of influential courses with international attendance, from 1974 to 1982, held in Amsterdam. Jaco was also one of the founding fathers in 1979 of the Dutch Association for Theoretical Computer Science (WTI, Werkgemeenschap Theoretische Informatica), since 1995 called NVTI (Nederlandse Vereniging voor Theoretische Informatica). Jaco was Chairman of the WTI from 1979 until 1987. Jaco was proud of the fact that 32 scientists who at some time worked in his group were eventually appointed full professor.
Also in the eighties, Jaco was instrumental in stimulating the involvement and participation of the Dutch research community in the big European computer science frameworks such as FAST, Meteor, ESPRIT (European Programme for Research in Information Technology) and BRA (Basic Research Actions). As Head of the CWI Department Software Engineering he stimulated intensive contacts with the European research community, resulting in a lively and productive research atmosphere in which researchers of many nationalities cooperated on a regular basis.
In addition to playing a crucial role in education and research in theoretical computer science, Jaco de Bakker was also a gifted and respected science director and administrator. He influenced the lives of many of us. We all remember him as a great scientist and an amiable person. Moreover many computer scientists will remember him as a friend.
Jan Bergstra, Jan Willem Klop and Jan Rutten
Thursday, January 03, 2013
Heidelberg Laureate Forum
I have been asked to distribute this announcement, which was sent on the IMU Newsletter. This sounds like a potentially interesting initiative, which might be of interest to some of the young researchers in TCS.
You may have heard of the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings
which are now in their 63rd year and have become a unique
platform for the dialogue between different scientific
generations in medicine, physics, chemistry, and the
economic sciences, fields for which Nobel Prizes are
awarded, see http://www.lindau-nobel.org/.
Creating a similar event for mathematics and/or computer
science has been contemplated by various persons and groups.
Thanks to Klaus Tschira and his foundation, this idea has
now become reality.
The first Heidelberg Laureate Forum will take place from
September 22 until 27, 2013 and bring together the best
students in mathematics and computer science with winners
of the most prestigious awards in these two disciplines:
Abel, Fields, and Turing Laureates. Detailed information
can be found at http://www.heidelberg-
The Heidelberg Laureate Forum is supported by various
institutions, among these are
- The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters
- The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
- The International Mathematical Union (IMU)
which award the three outstanding prizes.
Application:
============
In the attachment is the press release which describes
how young researchers in the fields of mathematics and
computer science can apply for participation. The
application Web page is:
http://www.heidelberg-
IMU asks the readers of IMU-Net to distribute this
information among their friends and colleagues so
that as many potential candidates for participation
as possible are reached. Please note that the
application deadline is
February 15, 2013.
You may have heard of the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings
which are now in their 63rd year and have become a unique
platform for the dialogue between different scientific
generations in medicine, physics, chemistry, and the
economic sciences, fields for which Nobel Prizes are
awarded, see http://www.lindau-nobel.org/.
Creating a similar event for mathematics and/or computer
science has been contemplated by various persons and groups.
Thanks to Klaus Tschira and his foundation, this idea has
now become reality.
The first Heidelberg Laureate Forum will take place from
September 22 until 27, 2013 and bring together the best
students in mathematics and computer science with winners
of the most prestigious awards in these two disciplines:
Abel, Fields, and Turing Laureates. Detailed information
can be found at http://www.heidelberg-
The Heidelberg Laureate Forum is supported by various
institutions, among these are
- The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters
- The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
- The International Mathematical Union (IMU)
which award the three outstanding prizes.
Application:
============
In the attachment is the press release which describes
how young researchers in the fields of mathematics and
computer science can apply for participation. The
application Web page is:
http://www.heidelberg-
IMU asks the readers of IMU-Net to distribute this
information among their friends and colleagues so
that as many potential candidates for participation
as possible are reached. Please note that the
application deadline is
February 15, 2013.
Wednesday, January 02, 2013
2013 AMS David P. Robbins Prize to Alexander Razborov
TCS folks might like to know that the American Mathematical Society has announced that Alexander Razborov is the recipient of the 2013 AMS David
P. Robbins Prize. The Robbins Prize is given every three years for a
paper that reports on novel research in algebra, combinatorics, or
discrete mathematics.
Razborov receives the prize for his paper "On the minimal density of triangles in graphs" (Combinatorics, Probability and Computing, 17 (2008), no. 4, 603-618), and for introducing flag algebras to solve problems in extremal combinatorics.
The full citation for this prize and additional information can be found in the massive Joint Mathematics Meetings Prize Booklet. Bloggers may like to read the response by John Baez to receiving the 2013 AMS Levi L. Conant Prize. (Presented annually, the Conant Prize recognizes the best expository paper published in either the Notices of the AMS or the Bulletin of the AMS in the preceding five years.) John writes:
Razborov receives the prize for his paper "On the minimal density of triangles in graphs" (Combinatorics, Probability and Computing, 17 (2008), no. 4, 603-618), and for introducing flag algebras to solve problems in extremal combinatorics.
The full citation for this prize and additional information can be found in the massive Joint Mathematics Meetings Prize Booklet. Bloggers may like to read the response by John Baez to receiving the 2013 AMS Levi L. Conant Prize. (Presented annually, the Conant Prize recognizes the best expository paper published in either the Notices of the AMS or the Bulletin of the AMS in the preceding five years.) John writes:
I put a lot of energy into explaining math and physics online. Blogging is no substitute for more formal writing about academic subjects, but it fills a gap, especially for the millions who don’t live near a good research university. Socrates complained that “writing is unfortunately like painting, for the creations of the painter have the attitude of life, yet if you ask them a question they preserve a solemn silence.” This is no longer true with blogs: the author is there to answer your questions! So, I am hoping that eventually blogs will be taken seriously by academia and the AMS will have an award for the best mathematics blog. But I am very happy to receive this prize for a more traditional form of mathematics exposition.Congratulations to all the prize recipients and happy 2013 to everyone.
Friday, December 28, 2012
A Short Play on Alan Turing
The inspiration from this piece, which I post as a finale for the Turing Year events at Reykjavik University, comes from "Il Bivio di Alan" by Mario Cristiani, Chiara Bodei and Maria Rita Lagana, which was in turn inspired by the radio drama "Turing's Test" by Phil Collinge and Andy Lord. I thank Chiara Bodei for sharing their piece with me. The text below is not much more than a translation of "Il Bivio di Alan", which you can watch here (in the original Italian version). The version of the play below was acted at Reykjavik University on Thursday, 29 March 2012.
This dialogue is set in a simply furnished bedroom. A man, Alan Turing, is lying on the bed motionless. On the side table lies a half-eaten red apple. A desktop computer suddenly materializes out of thin air on a desk next to the bedroom's window. The computer screen lights up, the machine boots up and produces a jingle similar to the Window's one .
Computer: Start-up completed. Time reset. Welcome everyone. Today is the 7th of June 1954. The man who lies on the bed next to me is Alan Mathison Turing. He just committed suicide by eating an apple poisoned with cyanide, just like Snow White in his favourite fairy tale.
Many of you probably won't know who Alan Turing was, but you all use computers like me without knowing that we are children of his genius. His code-breaking work at Bletchley Park during World War II was instrumental in deciphering the Enigma code used by the Nazi Navy, and definitely shortened the war. Alan Turing is also considered by many to be the father of Artificial Intelligence. He realized very early on that computing machines could be used to solve symbolic manipulation problems, such as playing checkers and chess, and solving jigsaw puzzles. This realization led him to ask a fundamental philosophical and scientific question: "When can a computing machine be said to be intelligent?" To answer this question, Turing proposed the Turing Test, which was based on the idea that a computer could be said to exhibit intelligence if a human interrogator could not distinguish it from a human being. HAL 9000, the computer in 2001 Space Odyssey supposedly passed the Turing test. To this day, I am not aware of any of my fellow machines that can do so. However, in 2012, often humans are tested using CAPTCHAs, which are reverse forms of the Turing Test in which humans try to convince a computer that they are indeed humans!
One would expect that, during his life, Turing would have been celebrated for all these monumental achievements. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Turing's life was a sad one. He was a homosexual at a time when homosexuality was a crime in the UK, he was convicted of gross indecency and was given a choice between imprisonment or chemical castration via oestrogen hormone injections. He chose the latter and, on this day, he committed suicide.
Computer: Alan, Alan, wake up! Can you hear me?
Turing: Who....what are you?
Computer: I am the product of your imagination. I am your machine.
Turing (as if talking to himself): I did not know that poison had this effect.
Computer: This has nothing to do with poison. I am the incarnation of your Universal Turing Machine, of the programmable computer you dreamt up in 1936 while solving a problem in mathematical logic. Since then, it was only a matter of time before someone built me based on your detailed plans. You could have done so yourself, had you not stopped dreaming.
Turing: I did not want to stop, but they turned my life into a nightmare. They came to ask for my help when my nation needed me to understand encrypted messages exchanged by the Nazi forces, but then I became a liability because of my homosexuality.
In all honesty, I loved to work at Bletchey Park and to develop algorithms for code breaking, to discover meaning where there seemed to be none, to develop machines that could help us analyze increasingly more sophisticated encrypted messages. It was like a game, it was like testing oneself by running a marathon in 2 hours and 46 minutes. I am still proud of that time.
Then, the same people who enlisted my help forced me to act against my own self. But why am I saying this to you? You do not think!
Computer: Are you sure? After all, you are the one who argued that machine intelligence might be possible and invented the Turing Test! Didn't you suggest that a machine be built to emulate the thinking process of a child and that it be trained to develop into a machine that could think like an adult human being?
Turing: Yes, I did. The times were not ripe though. Just as they were not ripe for my active homosexuality. The authorities were afraid that I could leak secrets to handsome Russian spies, I guess. (Laughs bitterly.)
Turing the scientist was of help to them: they treated that one well during the war and honoured him with an OBE. However, Turing the man was indecent, immoral and even dangerous for national security.
Computer: But, the man and the scientist are one! They should have seen what your worth to humanity had been.
Turing: My worth.... Do you know how much I am worth? A shirt, five fish knives, a pair of trousers, three pairs of shoes, a compass, an electric shaver and an open bottle of sherry. This is what I am worth!
Computer: What is that?
Turing: This is what my boyfriend took from my apartment. This is the list of things I denounced to the police as stolen goods. I was in love with him. I do not think that you can understand.
Computer: Perhaps not. What happened afterwards?
Turing: I admitted my homosexuality and told them that there was nothing wrong with it, that one day homosexuality will not be a crime any more.
They offered me a choice: imprisonment or a "cure" via injections with female hormones.
Computer: I know that you chose the latter.
Turing: Yes, and look at what I have become. I have started growing breasts, I have the voice of a female actress and my mind has gone with my body. Do you know how it feels not to be able to recognize yourself any more? This is what remains of Alan Turing: a broken mind in a broken body --- the body of a loser.
Computer: You are wrong. This is not what will remain of you. So many ideas and technological advances converged to create a modern computer like me that it is foolhardy to give one person the credit for inventing it. But the fact remains that everyone who, in the year 2012, taps at a keyboard, sending an email, or opening a spreadsheet or a word-processing program, is working on an incarnation of your Universal Turing Machine.
You will be remembered for your scientific legacy, which will have a far greater impact than, perhaps, even a visionary like you could have ever imagined.
Turing: This will not help me now that I am dead.
Computer: May I ask you why someone like you, who could run a marathon and endure the ensuing pain, ended up committing suicide?
Turing (after a long pause): Perhaps so that the memory of Turing the man could live forever like the one of Turing the scientist. Perhaps, for once and unexpectedly, logic failed me.
The lights slowly fade and the room darkens.
Alan M. Turing: The Man and the Scientist
This dialogue is set in a simply furnished bedroom. A man, Alan Turing, is lying on the bed motionless. On the side table lies a half-eaten red apple. A desktop computer suddenly materializes out of thin air on a desk next to the bedroom's window. The computer screen lights up, the machine boots up and produces a jingle similar to the Window's one .
Computer: Start-up completed. Time reset. Welcome everyone. Today is the 7th of June 1954. The man who lies on the bed next to me is Alan Mathison Turing. He just committed suicide by eating an apple poisoned with cyanide, just like Snow White in his favourite fairy tale.
Many of you probably won't know who Alan Turing was, but you all use computers like me without knowing that we are children of his genius. His code-breaking work at Bletchley Park during World War II was instrumental in deciphering the Enigma code used by the Nazi Navy, and definitely shortened the war. Alan Turing is also considered by many to be the father of Artificial Intelligence. He realized very early on that computing machines could be used to solve symbolic manipulation problems, such as playing checkers and chess, and solving jigsaw puzzles. This realization led him to ask a fundamental philosophical and scientific question: "When can a computing machine be said to be intelligent?" To answer this question, Turing proposed the Turing Test, which was based on the idea that a computer could be said to exhibit intelligence if a human interrogator could not distinguish it from a human being. HAL 9000, the computer in 2001 Space Odyssey supposedly passed the Turing test. To this day, I am not aware of any of my fellow machines that can do so. However, in 2012, often humans are tested using CAPTCHAs, which are reverse forms of the Turing Test in which humans try to convince a computer that they are indeed humans!
One would expect that, during his life, Turing would have been celebrated for all these monumental achievements. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Turing's life was a sad one. He was a homosexual at a time when homosexuality was a crime in the UK, he was convicted of gross indecency and was given a choice between imprisonment or chemical castration via oestrogen hormone injections. He chose the latter and, on this day, he committed suicide.
Computer: Alan, Alan, wake up! Can you hear me?
Turing: Who....what are you?
Computer: I am the product of your imagination. I am your machine.
Turing (as if talking to himself): I did not know that poison had this effect.
Computer: This has nothing to do with poison. I am the incarnation of your Universal Turing Machine, of the programmable computer you dreamt up in 1936 while solving a problem in mathematical logic. Since then, it was only a matter of time before someone built me based on your detailed plans. You could have done so yourself, had you not stopped dreaming.
Turing: I did not want to stop, but they turned my life into a nightmare. They came to ask for my help when my nation needed me to understand encrypted messages exchanged by the Nazi forces, but then I became a liability because of my homosexuality.
In all honesty, I loved to work at Bletchey Park and to develop algorithms for code breaking, to discover meaning where there seemed to be none, to develop machines that could help us analyze increasingly more sophisticated encrypted messages. It was like a game, it was like testing oneself by running a marathon in 2 hours and 46 minutes. I am still proud of that time.
Then, the same people who enlisted my help forced me to act against my own self. But why am I saying this to you? You do not think!
Computer: Are you sure? After all, you are the one who argued that machine intelligence might be possible and invented the Turing Test! Didn't you suggest that a machine be built to emulate the thinking process of a child and that it be trained to develop into a machine that could think like an adult human being?
Turing: Yes, I did. The times were not ripe though. Just as they were not ripe for my active homosexuality. The authorities were afraid that I could leak secrets to handsome Russian spies, I guess. (Laughs bitterly.)
Turing the scientist was of help to them: they treated that one well during the war and honoured him with an OBE. However, Turing the man was indecent, immoral and even dangerous for national security.
Computer: But, the man and the scientist are one! They should have seen what your worth to humanity had been.
Turing: My worth.... Do you know how much I am worth? A shirt, five fish knives, a pair of trousers, three pairs of shoes, a compass, an electric shaver and an open bottle of sherry. This is what I am worth!
Computer: What is that?
Turing: This is what my boyfriend took from my apartment. This is the list of things I denounced to the police as stolen goods. I was in love with him. I do not think that you can understand.
Computer: Perhaps not. What happened afterwards?
Turing: I admitted my homosexuality and told them that there was nothing wrong with it, that one day homosexuality will not be a crime any more.
They offered me a choice: imprisonment or a "cure" via injections with female hormones.
Computer: I know that you chose the latter.
Turing: Yes, and look at what I have become. I have started growing breasts, I have the voice of a female actress and my mind has gone with my body. Do you know how it feels not to be able to recognize yourself any more? This is what remains of Alan Turing: a broken mind in a broken body --- the body of a loser.
Computer: You are wrong. This is not what will remain of you. So many ideas and technological advances converged to create a modern computer like me that it is foolhardy to give one person the credit for inventing it. But the fact remains that everyone who, in the year 2012, taps at a keyboard, sending an email, or opening a spreadsheet or a word-processing program, is working on an incarnation of your Universal Turing Machine.
You will be remembered for your scientific legacy, which will have a far greater impact than, perhaps, even a visionary like you could have ever imagined.
Turing: This will not help me now that I am dead.
Computer: May I ask you why someone like you, who could run a marathon and endure the ensuing pain, ended up committing suicide?
Turing (after a long pause): Perhaps so that the memory of Turing the man could live forever like the one of Turing the scientist. Perhaps, for once and unexpectedly, logic failed me.
The lights slowly fade and the room darkens.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Upcoming Deadlines for the EATCS Awards
The deadline for submitting nominations for the EATCS Award 2013 and the Presburger Award 2013 is December 31. You have a little longer to propose papers for the Gödel Prize 2013 (deadline for nomination: 11 January 2013), which is jointly awarded with SIGACT.
I hope that you will take the time to send in nominations for those awards and to honour the work of some of the many outstanding researchers in TCS.
I hope that you will take the time to send in nominations for those awards and to honour the work of some of the many outstanding researchers in TCS.
Xavier Leroy Receives Microsoft Research: 2012 Verified Software Milestone Award
Xavier Leroy of the Paris-Rocquencourt research center of INRIA, France, is the recipient of the 2012 Microsoft Research Verified Software Milestone Award. The award is given in recognition of Xavier's role as architect of the CompCert C Verified Compiler as well as his leadership of the development team.
The formal presentation of the Award will be made to Xavier at POPL 2013, which will take place in Rome, January 23-25, 2013.
The full award citation can be accessed here. Its executive summary reads:
"Microsoft Research is delighted to celebrate the advances made by Dr Leroy in the vital field of software verification. Compilers are the basis for all the software we generate, and by ruling out compiler-introduced bugs, the CompCert project has taken a huge leap in producing strengthening guarantees for reliable critical embedded software across platforms. We congratulate Dr Leroy on his significant achievement in winning this Award."
Congratulations to Xavier for this important recognition of his long-term work on CompCert.
The formal presentation of the Award will be made to Xavier at POPL 2013, which will take place in Rome, January 23-25, 2013.
The full award citation can be accessed here. Its executive summary reads:
"Microsoft Research is delighted to celebrate the advances made by Dr Leroy in the vital field of software verification. Compilers are the basis for all the software we generate, and by ruling out compiler-introduced bugs, the CompCert project has taken a huge leap in producing strengthening guarantees for reliable critical embedded software across platforms. We congratulate Dr Leroy on his significant achievement in winning this Award."
Congratulations to Xavier for this important recognition of his long-term work on CompCert.
Monday, November 12, 2012
Call for post-doctoral research positions at the Warsaw Center of Mathematics and Computer Science
I just received this call from Bartek Klin. Since it might be of interest to readers of this blog, I decided to post it. Warsaw is a hotbed for TCS research. Follow the links below for more details.
-----------------
Call for post-doctoral research positions at the Warsaw Center of Mathematics and Computer Science.
Warsaw Center of Mathematics and Computer Science (WCMCS) is a joint project of two scientific units: the Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Mechanics of the University of Warsaw (MIMUW), and the Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IMPAN). The Center is built on the long-standing cooperation between the two units, in both teaching and research. The Center was designated as a Leading National Research Center (Krajowy Naukowy Osrodek Wiodacy, KNOW) by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education in July 2012. The award comes with a substantial grant which will provide financing of the Center for the next five years. The grant will be used for enhancing the research potential of both participating institutions; this includes financing post-doctoral positions.
The post-doctoral research positions at the WCMCS are aimed at young researchers who have just received their PhD. Successful candidates will be employed as an adiunkt (assistant professor) at one of the following institutions, as indicated in the candidate’s application:
* the Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Mechanics at the University
of Warsaw, http://www.mimuw.edu.pl; or
* the Warsaw branch of the Mathematical Institute of the Polish Academy of
Sciences, http://www.impan.pl
The positions are for 6-12 months, with a possible extension to at most 18 months, altogether. The salary will be 7000 PLN per month, before taxes. In addition, the holder of the position will be eligible for financial support to participate in scientific meetings.
The position comes with a teaching load of up to 60 hours per semester. At least 3/4 of the position’s duration should be between October 1 and June 30.
The applicant should have defended their PhD not earlier than 4 years before the planned beginning of the position. This period can be prolonged by the parental leave.
The candidate applying for a post-doc position at the WCMCS should submit the following documents:
* a cover letter of application addressed to the Board of WCMCS,
indicating the institution (MIMUW or IMPAN) and the period of his/her
employment,
* a CV including a list of publications, and copies of 5 best papers, at
most,
* a document that confirms holding the PhD Degree or information about the
expected date of obtaining such a degree,
* a research plan including a collaboration scheme with researchers from
MIMUW or IMPAN.
All documents should be sent as pdf files to the following e-mail address: wcmcs.postdoc@mimuw.edu.pl In addition, the applicant should ask at most two senior researchers to send their letters of support to the same e-mail address. The deadline for application is December 10, 2012.
A successful candidate can take his or her job immediately after the announcement of the results of the selection and not later than 8 months after that moment. If the candidate has no PhD degree while submitting, before starting the work he or she should present a document that confirms holding the degree.
More information about WCMCS at http://www.wcmcs.edu.pl
-----------------
Call for post-doctoral research positions at the Warsaw Center of Mathematics and Computer Science.
Warsaw Center of Mathematics and Computer Science (WCMCS) is a joint project of two scientific units: the Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Mechanics of the University of Warsaw (MIMUW), and the Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IMPAN). The Center is built on the long-standing cooperation between the two units, in both teaching and research. The Center was designated as a Leading National Research Center (Krajowy Naukowy Osrodek Wiodacy, KNOW) by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education in July 2012. The award comes with a substantial grant which will provide financing of the Center for the next five years. The grant will be used for enhancing the research potential of both participating institutions; this includes financing post-doctoral positions.
The post-doctoral research positions at the WCMCS are aimed at young researchers who have just received their PhD. Successful candidates will be employed as an adiunkt (assistant professor) at one of the following institutions, as indicated in the candidate’s application:
* the Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Mechanics at the University
of Warsaw, http://www.mimuw.edu.pl; or
* the Warsaw branch of the Mathematical Institute of the Polish Academy of
Sciences, http://www.impan.pl
The positions are for 6-12 months, with a possible extension to at most 18 months, altogether. The salary will be 7000 PLN per month, before taxes. In addition, the holder of the position will be eligible for financial support to participate in scientific meetings.
The position comes with a teaching load of up to 60 hours per semester. At least 3/4 of the position’s duration should be between October 1 and June 30.
The applicant should have defended their PhD not earlier than 4 years before the planned beginning of the position. This period can be prolonged by the parental leave.
The candidate applying for a post-doc position at the WCMCS should submit the following documents:
* a cover letter of application addressed to the Board of WCMCS,
indicating the institution (MIMUW or IMPAN) and the period of his/her
employment,
* a CV including a list of publications, and copies of 5 best papers, at
most,
* a document that confirms holding the PhD Degree or information about the
expected date of obtaining such a degree,
* a research plan including a collaboration scheme with researchers from
MIMUW or IMPAN.
All documents should be sent as pdf files to the following e-mail address: wcmcs.postdoc@mimuw.edu.pl In addition, the applicant should ask at most two senior researchers to send their letters of support to the same e-mail address. The deadline for application is December 10, 2012.
A successful candidate can take his or her job immediately after the announcement of the results of the selection and not later than 8 months after that moment. If the candidate has no PhD degree while submitting, before starting the work he or she should present a document that confirms holding the degree.
More information about WCMCS at http://www.wcmcs.edu.pl
Friday, November 09, 2012
Jean van Heijenoort: Kaleidoscope
Yesterday, an email message on the FOM mailing list alerted me to the availability of a special issue of the journal Logica Universalis in celebration of the centenary of the birth of Jean van Heijenoort. I could not resist reading the contribution entitled Jean van Heijenoort: Kaleidoscope by Anita Burdman Feferman. This 15-page piece is a wonderful read and paints the picture of a personality who must have been truly (much) larger than life. How often does one meet a logician who was a personal secretary to Leon Trotsky from 1932 to 1939, and from then until 1947, an American Trotskyist activist? Not to mention that he also had a love affair with Frida Kahlo to boot and that he was killed by his wife in an act of passion.
The book Politics, Logic, Love: The Life of Jean van Heijenoort by
Anita Burdman Feferman is now firmly on my list of things to read. (You can read a review here.)
The book Politics, Logic, Love: The Life of Jean van Heijenoort by
Anita Burdman Feferman is now firmly on my list of things to read. (You can read a review here.)
Wednesday, November 07, 2012
Guide for Application to Obtain an Italian National Scientific Qualification
The new recruiting process for full and associate professor positions in Italian universities is based on a two phase process.
Candidates must first obtain the so-called Abilitazione, and then apply for a
position at an Italian university. See here for more details.
In order to facilitate international participation in the first stage of this process, the University of Rome "La Sapienza" has created a guide and a series of video tutorials to help researchers who are not fluent in Italian or familiar with Italian rules apply.
For what they are worth (i.e. nothing), here are two considerations off the top of my head.
In order to facilitate international participation in the first stage of this process, the University of Rome "La Sapienza" has created a guide and a series of video tutorials to help researchers who are not fluent in Italian or familiar with Italian rules apply.
For what they are worth (i.e. nothing), here are two considerations off the top of my head.
- First of all, kudos go to "La Sapienza" for producing this supporting material. I am not aware of other Italian institutions that are taking this step and/or who have search committees that are actively looking for foreign applicants. (If you are, please post a comment.)
- There is probably something not quite right with a system that needs to be explained using four videos on YouTube :-)
Friday, October 26, 2012
Call for nominations: Gödel Prize 2013
The Call for Nominations for the 2013 Gödel Prize has been posted (pdf). Nominations for the award should be submitted to the Chair of the Award Committee, Sanjeev Arora -
goedelchair@gmail.com. The deadline for nominations is January 11, 2013.
Any research paper or series of papers by a single author or by a team of authors is deemed eligible if
Let me close with a message to the "volume B community". Perhaps the logic/semantics/programming languages community should think strategically, look at the most prominent journal papers meeting the eligibility requirements and drum up the strongest possible support for those. Feel free to look at your crystal ball and suggest candidates for nomination using comments to this post.
As the new president of the EATCS until ICALP 2014, I am taking a sabbatical from issuing nominations in order to avoid any possible conflict of interest.
Any research paper or series of papers by a single author or by a team of authors is deemed eligible if
- the paper was published in a recognized refereed journal no later than December 31, 2012;
- the main results were not published (in either preliminary or final form) in a journal or conference proceedings before January 1st, 2000.
Let me close with a message to the "volume B community". Perhaps the logic/semantics/programming languages community should think strategically, look at the most prominent journal papers meeting the eligibility requirements and drum up the strongest possible support for those. Feel free to look at your crystal ball and suggest candidates for nomination using comments to this post.
As the new president of the EATCS until ICALP 2014, I am taking a sabbatical from issuing nominations in order to avoid any possible conflict of interest.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
John Cleese on creativity
Recently, I posted a link to a lecture on creativity in computer science by one of my PhD students. After having done so, I was struck by the thought that, at some point, I had watched an excellent, and very funny, lecture by John Cleese on creativity. Here it is, in case any of my readers wants to have a look.
Call for nominations: Presburger Award 2013
The call for nominations for the EATCS Presburger Award 2013 is out. The Presburger Award is given to a young scientist (in exceptional cases to several
young scientists) for outstanding contributions in theoretical computer
science, documented by a published paper or a series of published
papers.
Scientists nominated for the award have to be at most 35 years old at the time of the deadline of nomination, which is the 31st of December 2012. This means that the date of birth of researchers nominated for the Presburger Award 2013 should be in 1977 or later.
The award committee for 2013 consists of Monika Henzinger (chair), Antonin Kucera (who is one of the vice-presidents of the EATCS) and Peter Widmayer.
I hope that you will sharpen your pencils and nominate your favourite young TCS researcher for this award.
Scientists nominated for the award have to be at most 35 years old at the time of the deadline of nomination, which is the 31st of December 2012. This means that the date of birth of researchers nominated for the Presburger Award 2013 should be in 1977 or later.
The award committee for 2013 consists of Monika Henzinger (chair), Antonin Kucera (who is one of the vice-presidents of the EATCS) and Peter Widmayer.
I hope that you will sharpen your pencils and nominate your favourite young TCS researcher for this award.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Call for nominations: EATCS Award 2013
The call for nominations for the EATCS Award 2013 is about to be published officially. However, you can already see it here.
I hope that you will consider submitting a nomination. There are many colleagues out there who would be worthy of this honour, but they can only receive the award if someone nominates them. (I know that this is a triviality, but sometimes people do not send in nominations for their favourite candidates and then wonder why they did not get the prize :-))
Expect more calls for nominations over the next few days.
I hope that you will consider submitting a nomination. There are many colleagues out there who would be worthy of this honour, but they can only receive the award if someone nominates them. (I know that this is a triviality, but sometimes people do not send in nominations for their favourite candidates and then wonder why they did not get the prize :-))
Expect more calls for nominations over the next few days.
Friday, October 19, 2012
Lecture on creativity by one of my PhD students
Last week, Eugen-Ioan Goriac, who is a third-year PhD student of mine, delivered a lecture on creativity as part of the Research Methodology course that I am running at Reykjavik University.
Eugen has made a video of his lecture available on YouTube. Here it is, in case it might be of interest to some of my readers.
Enjoy it!
Eugen has made a video of his lecture available on YouTube. Here it is, in case it might be of interest to some of my readers.
Enjoy it!
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
The Feit-Thompson theorem checked in Coq!
The Feit-Thompson Theorem is a key result in the theory of finite groups. Its original proof is 255 pages long and is perhaps the first example of a very long and highly complex proof in group theory.
At 5:46 p.m. on September 20, Georges Gonthier sent an email to his colleagues at the Microsoft Research-Inria Joint Centre in Paris announcing the completion of a six-year effort to prove the Feit-Thompson Theorem in the Coq proof assistant. The mail read, in full: “This is really the End.”
You can read more about this work here and here.
Congratulations to Georges and his coworkers on this monumental achievement!
At 5:46 p.m. on September 20, Georges Gonthier sent an email to his colleagues at the Microsoft Research-Inria Joint Centre in Paris announcing the completion of a six-year effort to prove the Feit-Thompson Theorem in the Coq proof assistant. The mail read, in full: “This is really the End.”
You can read more about this work here and here.
Congratulations to Georges and his coworkers on this monumental achievement!
Thursday, September 06, 2012
Invitation to becoming a member of the Italian Committees for professorships
The letter below will be sent to some mailing lists soon. I am posting it here since it is in the interests of the TCS community as a whole to be well represented in this exercise. Despite being amongst the signatories of this letter, I have no academic position in Italy. I am simply an interested observer of academic life in my home country.
Dear colleagues,
The recruitment system for academic staff at Italian universities has recently been changed. The new procedure requires that academics attain the so-called National Scientific Qualification in order to take up a position in an Italian university at the level of associate or full professor. The qualification is granted by National Committees, one for each group of disciplines. All committees are made up of five members, four affiliated to Italian universities and one affiliated to a foreign university located in an OECD country. Members from foreign universities must hold a position equivalent to that of a full professor.
We think that it would be very useful for our research community if you submitted a candidacy to become a foreign member of the National Committee. If you are interested in doing so, you can register your candidacy at
https://abilitazione.cineca.it
by September 24.
To submit your candidacy, you will have to include a curriculum vitae, the list of scientific publications, the selected disciplinary fields, the number of citations received by your work and your h-index. As part of this process, you will be asked to select one or more Italian Scientific fields from a scroll-down menu (choose at least 01/B1 - Informatics) and some ERC Scientific fields. (There is a scroll-down menu for that too.)
Based on this information, the Italian national agency for the evaluation of universities and research Institutes (ANVUR) will select at least four possible foreign members for each scientific group. The foreign member of each committee will then be randomly selected among those in the lists. The committee will be in service for two years, during which two rounds of evaluations will be carried out. Names and CVs of the selected candidates will be published on the ANVUR website. Members of the evaluation groups will receive an honorarium of 16,000 € for the whole period, plus expenses.
We hope that you will consider submitting your candidacy.
All the best,
Luca Aceto, Rocco De Nicola, Mariangiola Dezani-Ciancaglini
Dear colleagues,
The recruitment system for academic staff at Italian universities has recently been changed. The new procedure requires that academics attain the so-called National Scientific Qualification in order to take up a position in an Italian university at the level of associate or full professor. The qualification is granted by National Committees, one for each group of disciplines. All committees are made up of five members, four affiliated to Italian universities and one affiliated to a foreign university located in an OECD country. Members from foreign universities must hold a position equivalent to that of a full professor.
We think that it would be very useful for our research community if you submitted a candidacy to become a foreign member of the National Committee. If you are interested in doing so, you can register your candidacy at
https://abilitazione.cineca.it
by September 24.
To submit your candidacy, you will have to include a curriculum vitae, the list of scientific publications, the selected disciplinary fields, the number of citations received by your work and your h-index. As part of this process, you will be asked to select one or more Italian Scientific fields from a scroll-down menu (choose at least 01/B1 - Informatics) and some ERC Scientific fields. (There is a scroll-down menu for that too.)
Based on this information, the Italian national agency for the evaluation of universities and research Institutes (ANVUR) will select at least four possible foreign members for each scientific group. The foreign member of each committee will then be randomly selected among those in the lists. The committee will be in service for two years, during which two rounds of evaluations will be carried out. Names and CVs of the selected candidates will be published on the ANVUR website. Members of the evaluation groups will receive an honorarium of 16,000 € for the whole period, plus expenses.
We hope that you will consider submitting your candidacy.
All the best,
Luca Aceto, Rocco De Nicola, Mariangiola Dezani-Ciancaglini
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Research Methodology in Computer Science
Our autumn semester starts on Monday and I will be teaching the Research Methodology course for master students in computer science and software engineering. This is a 15-week course and I am looking forward to the challenge of keeping the students interested and busy over 30 course sessions. (I have taught short courses on this topic at master and PhD level at different institutions, but this is a substantially larger endeavour.)
At the end of the course, my students are expected to be able to
At the end of the course, my students are expected to be able to
- Explain research, research methodologies, and research in Computer Science;
- Select a research subject and conduct a research project;
- Write technical reports, papers, theses, and proposals effectively;
- Give good presentations;
- Read and review a technical paper properly;
- Explain professional ethics: allocation of credit, authorship issues, conflict of interest and misconduct in science.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
CadiaPlayer GGP Champion Again!
I am proud to announce that the general-game-playing agent CadiaPlayer, developed at my own department by Yngvi Björnsson, Hilmar Finnsson, Stefán Freyr Guðmundsson and Stephan Schiffel, won this year's General Game Playing competition hosted at the AAAI conference, thereby reclaiming the title
it lost in 2009. On its road to the title it defeated among others the
winners from the previous two years. As a winner of the competition
CadiaPlayer also played an exhibition match consisting of three games
against a human player --- Chris Welty from IBM --- and won
convincingly.
With this title CadiaPlayer has become the most victorious GGP agent ever, and the only agent so far to win the competition three times.
Congratulation to the CadiaPlayer team!
With this title CadiaPlayer has become the most victorious GGP agent ever, and the only agent so far to win the competition three times.
Congratulation to the CadiaPlayer team!
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